President-elect Obama

I've been trying to wait a respectful amount of time before waxing rhapsodic about Obama's victory in my blog. After all, I heard on NPR the other day that gloating is not very civil. I guess it's not really time to gloat anyway considering that the country has some serious problems what with the economy in the toilet, two wars, and all of that kind of thing. It won't be an easy road for Obama. I also realized the other day that the only way that Obama won is because at least some people who typically vote Republican voted for Obama this time. I whole heartedly commend their choice.

I have a hard time picturing an election where I would choose a Republican over the Democratic candidate. I am a proponent of BIG government. I am the big government, being a government employee myself. And I absolutely believe in the need for laws to get some people and some corporations to do the right thing. Without the national environmental policy act, the clean water act, the clean air act, and the endangered species act, I think our environment would be in even worse shape that it is now. Anyway, all this is to say, it was a bold move for those Republicans to jump ship and come over to the democratic side. Thanks.

Rock on President-Elect Obama.

Hand Jive

Before I forget, I want to take note of the fact that Josie is a crazy hands baby. She is always doing things with her hands, waving them around, grabbing things (she reminds me of my friend Tiffany with her expressive hands). When she is going to sleep she especially likes to hold your hand and will mess about with your hand in her hand (holding it 50 million different ways) for a long time (like 30 minutes). She is way into hands. Maybe she'll be a sign language interpreter or a sculptor when she grows up.

Lucy Goes to the Polls

Mitch took the girls with him to vote today. As he was leaving the house, he told Lucy they were going to vote. Lucy asked, "for Barack Obama?" When Mitch told her yes, she said she wanted to tell Barack Obama about twinkle twinkle little star. Mitch told her that Barack Obama would not be at the polls. At which point Lucy asked, "why not??? where is he?" When Mitch told her that he was at home in Illinois, Lucy then said that she wanted to vote. When Mitch told her she couldn't, she said, "Why not??" So Mitch told her that she was too young. "That's not fair!!", was Lucy's response. I'm happy for her enthusiasm and her interest in participating in our democracy, but I don't think we need a bunch of three year olds voting...

Josie strikes out into baby speak

Josie has been making lots of word-like sounds but hasn't really known many words except mama, until now. In the past week she has learned banana (anana, according to her), ball (mball), bye, hi, and the baby signs for dog and bird. She already knows the baby signs for more and all finished. She's not as much of a verbal powerhouse as Lucy was at this age, but she is on her way. Go Josie go!! By the way, Jos, if you read this later in life - we're not worried about your language skills and besides, you learned to walk months before Lucy, so you're even steven in the global perspective.

A Glimpse of the Future

Maybe you think this post is going to be about Obama winning the election. Luckily it is looking that way now at 7:40 PM on Tuesday Nov. 4th. But this post is about a more personal vision of the future. Last night I made Lucy mad in the bathtub by revoking her wash cloth privileges after unauthorized activities (flinging water across the bathroom). Lucy was pouting in one corner of the bathtub and Josie started trying to cheer her up. Josie would creep up to Lucy and peer around her shoulder and make little happy noises. Lucy would push her off and then Josie would do the whole routine again. Until finally both Lucy and Josie were laughing hysterically.

After bathtime they then spent a glorious 20 minutes in Lucy's bed, jumping on the bed, sharing dolls, sharing stuffed animals, and playing pizza party. You have to understand, Lucy almost NEVER shares anything with Josie. She more typically spends a lot of time trying to take things away from Josie.

They are finally getting to the point where they can play together. Lucy is really starting to enjoy Josie and Josie, of course, has been crazy about Lucy from the get go. I think it is actually starting to get fun for the two of them to be sisters. I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit too. I gave Lucy lots of praise for sharing and playing so well with Josie. We had a good session of bed playtime again tonight. Let's just hope that this is a prelude for what a lot of the future sister vibe will be.