"That's the true genius of America"

When I was growing up, kids at school used to ask me, "what are you?" It's an oddly stated question isn't it? But since I had heard the question hundreds of times, I knew the answer they were searching for..."half-Japanese, Swedish & German."

As I grew into my teen years, that question kept on coming and I would get clever with my answers. "I'm a girl", or "I'm just a human being," were good responses.

And finally, I reached my breaking point in college, when I always answered back with their exact question, "hmmm, what are YOU?"

In college though, my peers were a little bolder, and like clockwork, there was always a follow-up question from whomever asked me. They'd say, "No, I meant, I'm American. What are you?"

I'd reply, "I'm American." This answer never went over well.

Frustration would set in and inevitably, I'd have to fully explain myself, "if you're asking me what my heritage is, then I'll tell you.
But, I am American."

Why was it that so often being white was "American" and being anything else was not? Why could everyone talk about the proverbial melting pot, but not see it in front of them? I think maybe ignorance and innocence were equally involved. There is truly such a fine line between the two and both can be equally divisive, even without malintent.

Last night, however, as J and I could hear people honk their horns in the distance, and a dull buzz from several helicopters flying overhead gave us background noise, as the eyes of the world were focused on Chicago. We watched a man, Barack Obama, claim victory to the Presidency of the United States of America, as he stood in Grant Park. There are not words to describe what an amazing moment this was to witness. Not because he is half white and half black, but because over the course of almost 2 years of grassroots campaigning, this man inspired a country and a world community like no other before him. Over two years he has redefined hope and change.

This is not to take away from the fact that he is the first African American to be elected to the office of President. That alone is awe-inspiring and significant for sure. But this man, who won a majority of the popular vote, which has not been done in over 30 years took a country, so divided on every issue, and brought them together to work towards the common good.

In his speech, he said this:

"Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."

With every interview, every replay of his beautiful speech, & every picture montage, I had no control over my emotions. It was impossible to control the flow of tears. I spent all night thinking about why it was so emotional for me, and as I listened to journalists, formal civil rights activists, and politicians from both sides of the aisle describe the significance of this moment my answer came from my husband. It wasn't about Obama's policies on health care, foreign relations or the economy. It was that, "our kids will never understand how significant this is." That was it! Maybe my children won't have to answer questions about being American because it will not cross their peers' minds that they are not? Maybe, just maybe, this country's younger generations were pushing the older generations into understanding that people are people, not defined by their skin, eyes, or hair, but by what is inside?

This is why I was crying at each mention of President-Elect Obama's win. His win was significant on so many levels, but personally, to me, it was solid evidence of how America can evolve. It was about how my childrens' America will not be the same as the one I grew up in during the 1970's & 1980's... just as my America was certainly not the same as my parents' America during the 1950's & 1960's. I got it! Evolution, or as President-Elect Obama says so often, "change", it happened before my eyes.

"I'm American". That's the true genius of America.

I'll get right to it...yesterday J said that he and I spend about 4 hours of our day sitting on G1's floor waiting for him to sleep. FOUR HOURS! That's a lot of time. In that time, I read magazines or books, surf the internet, and even sleep if I can. At first this may seem like a great break for us, but it's not. #1, it's uncomfortable to sit on the floor. #2, it's not productive sitting on the floor- wasting time surfing CNN or celebrity gossip sites is not the same as cleaning the house, getting laundry done, & returning many back logged phone calls.

Anyway, right now as I sit on his floor, G1 is giving himself high-five's. Literally he's laying in his bed, holding one hand out, whispering to himself, "give me a high-five," and then he's slapping his own hand five. He's on probably his 50th slap.

Often times he'll talk to himself, wave his hands in the air so he can see them, wiggle his own fingers in front of his face to make funny images in his eyes, or laugh out loud at his own clever toddler thoughts. He tries extra hard to keep himself from falling asleep. Ahhhh, hours and hours go by this way.

G2 doesn't give us sitting on the floor issues. He's more of a daylight mover. When he's awake, you can't even hold him for more than a few seconds before he squirms his way out of your arms. He never stops moving. Now that he walks, he goes everywhere. Up and down the halls, into bedrooms, opens the oven drawers, dumps the dog bowls, opens drawers looking for sharp things. He is giving us a run for our money. In a way, where G1 is fairly easy to deal with during his waking hours, G2 takes over for him.

It's no wonder our house is a complete mess. Oh, and it's no wonder J & I are always exhausted.

The first entry...

This is my first entry. I know, it's pretty obvious it's the first, but when you first start a blog, it's hard to know how to start off. I don't have a clever line, so I'm just saying, "it's my first entry". The idea behind this is to keep a record of stuff that goes on from day-to-day so my kids can see what they did as babies. I'm not a scrapbooker, baby book keeper, or journal writer, but I am a floor sitter...

I have two kids so far, G1 & G2.

G1 is 2.5 right now and he's a handful, like most 2.5 year-olds I guess. However, I'll say it up front, he's a crazy kid. Got a ton of quirks, but here are the two major issues we deal with on a daily basis:

1) The kid does not sleep. Literally does not sleep. My husband, "J", and I go through a 2-3 hour process of putting him to bed at night. Please don't send suggestions on what we're doing wrong. We've ready every book, internet posting, and talked to doctors, therapists, and anyone else who will listen. The conclusion is that he's just a kid who's difficult. Really, really difficult. He has been this way since he entered this world. The night of his birth, the nurses from the baby nursery rolled him into my room at 4am and told me he wouldn't stop crying and that he "wants his mommy." Are you kidding me? What 12 hour old baby knows his mommy from a hole in the wall? All these babies want to do is sleep...unless they are G1.

Thus the name of the blog--I plan on writing all of my entries here while I'm sitting on G1's floor putting him to bed or waiting for him to nap. These past months I've surfed the internet, replied to emails, or read books. It seems I should do something more productive with my time on the floor.

2) G1 does not eat. OK, yes, that's exaggerating, he actually eats several things, but only 3 things as his main course: hot dogs (highly nutritious), chicken (breaded chicken parts in the shape of dinosaurs), and veggie burgers (the only real veggies he's EVER eaten). Again, don't send your suggestions my way on this topic. He has seen a food therapist (yes, they are real and highly paid), and his doctor's solution is that we try feeding him stew (no clue how this would work if he only eats things that never appear in stew).

Try attempting to give this kid anything else besides his 3 staples, and his head spins. Literally spins. He has an anxiety attack, and it is truly painful to watch. As a baby, he had severe acid reflux, and from that experience I am convinced he has a legitimate fear of food. He is so scared he shakes at the mere suggestion of a new food- which leads me to believe that eating as a baby really was painful. (So sorry for that by the way.) It's common sense isn't it? If something hurts you over and over again, it's no surprise that you won't keep on trying it. Poor kid.

Then there is G2. He is 13 months right now. He's walking, but he's walking like a 20 year-old fraternity kid who drank a few too many beers at the after hours party. It's heavy steps, no staight lines, drooling, and hitting walls. Cute stuff. He's also starting to talk, which makes G1 a happy kid too. G1 laughs and looks at me like, "can you believe this baby?", when G2 calls a ball, "gall." He also says, "hello", "bye-bye", "uh-oh", and makes this evil laugh noise (it's halfway between a laugh and a cough) when he's about to do something bad. Without a doubt, he is definitely plotting destructive acts at all times. It won't be long before I can't go into stores because of the "you break it, you buy it" policies. I'll be broke.

Unlike G1, G2 will sleep anywhere, anytime. He will also eat anything you give him. Whew, at least something is easy.

I'm not the only one who sits on the floor, J does too. So he'll probably be posting something witty or even serious on here too.

That's the first entry...I feel much better now that I'm started.