Sunday, November 09, 2008

Change

In the context of a blog about a three-year-old, the title could mean almost anything, as change is what Dear Alex is all about these days. I went away for a week and came back to a slightly more Alex version of Dear Alex, a little bigger, a little smarter, a little wiser. It's no single thing that I can put my finger on, but she grew, and there's a bit more personality there. Or maybe I just missed her, and have been watching more closely over the past few days, to see if she'd noticed that I was gone. She's been a little closer and a little more loving around me, so I'm guessing that she noticed - and we've talked about California, and the delights of video chat (that's really fun for a three-year old, by the way - seeing herself and daddy on a computer screen - it stuck with her a little bit.) "Am I in the computer?" "Yes you are, big girl."

One of the first things that Beautiful Wife and I did when I got back was to fulfill another promise that we'd made to Dear Alex - that she would get a real bed. The move from sleeping in a crib to a 'toddler bed' was something that Dear Alex had been looking forward to for a long time, and had even worked for by being reminded that all she had to do was not wake up screaming for mommy and/or daddy in the middle of the night for a few weeks. That worked wonders for us, as she got it and stopped the middle of the night wakings - and it worked for Dear Alex as she'd proved that she was big enough for a bed. She took to it immediately, and is so proud that she has a 'toddler bed' It's great to see how eager she is to show everyone and anyone her bed, and the night table next to it that she built with BW for her night-light candle and her cup of water and her box of tissues. The kid is definitely a Virgo, and has to have a well-ordered place for everything (and everything in it's place) If only I could get her to be that way with the rest of the things in her life. The bed thing has done wonders for her confidence and sense of control, and she mostly stays in it and best of all, actually sleeps. It's a funny thing, how little milestones help you see change so clearly - giving her a bed, and dismantling the crib just confirmed something that I've known for a while - Dear Alex really isn't a baby anymore.

Of course, there's that other Change:

Though lil'screamie is apolitical, I'll out myself and say that I wept with joy over the stunning victory speech of President-Elect Obama. After 8 years of W, I think we the people collectively had enough of the slow erosion of liberty, the dissembling and the lack of a forward-looking vision of the world and how it could be. I'm sincerely hoping that we as a nation have turned our backs on the narrowness of living in fear, and will be open to embrace the changes that will surely be needed to move from where we've been stuck for the last few years.

We need to rejoin the world as leaders and friends, and this election did a little ( I hope) to prove to the world that we're not closing up shop as the last bastion of hope. It's weird to say, but as a parent I want to live in a world that looks forward, is open , and most importantly has the willingness to try. The campaign and election of this new president proved to me that there is still room for hope and optimism in this country, that's what I support, and that's the kind of place I want my kid to live in.