deportment /n./ a manner of personal conduct; behavior. actions. bearing. mannerism. mien. air or appearance. demeanor.

deportment /n./ 1. Ethan's deportment, especially in comparison to all the other darlings in my home, can only be described as "enthusiastic" (wild). Tonight he went to my parent's house for games and waffles and came home with a deep gash over his eye. David, who had big plans to watch the final episode of the Amazing Race, sighed deeply as he prepared to go and pick him up. I asked him if we was sighing about fatherhood in general or just this one boy. For a man who loves being at the hospital, David's whole deportment showed real reluctance to go sit in the ER with his little boy tonight. I was off to a Girls' Camp meeting (yes, already!) and so David steri-stripped his eyelid together and called it good.

deportment /n./ 2. Olivia was in tears after primary today and, sobbing, accused us of "lying to her all this time." What about? She claimed we never told her that the blessing of living together forever as a family depended on our deportment. She was quite discomfited to know that she had to be good in order to have this blessing. Oh my. That's a rather large hole in her spiritual education.

deportment /n./ 3. We have a new "wholesome recreational activity" that is an absolute riot. We've taken up bike riding. I gave David a tandem bike for Christmas and we have been riding all around our neighborhood. On Saturday we went on our first really long ride...about 6 miles?...and had so much fun. Our new hobby has even had some effect on our general deportment...David was home before 6:00 two nights this week (!) so we could take a bike ride, and I have actually enjoyed the fresh air and exercise.

This photo was taken on our family bike ride around Mackinac Island this past summer... easily one of the best days of my life.

deportment /n./ 4. To my utter wonder, the "word of the week" is changing the deportment of bloggers everywhere...well, at least in my corner of the blogosphere. I think there were eight word-of-the-weekers who wrote about "charily." This personally brought me endless delight, not to mention the joy it most certainly brought these eloquent writers. Fabulous.