Long Naps
Yesterday was a Camp Whitworth day for Simon, but I’m afraid he didn’t take full advantage of it. It seems that while Simon played with Grandma and Papaw and even kicked a ball around their house (this a new trick), he also took a three-and-a-half-hour nap. Three and one half hours!
As he usually does, he was too excited to be at a new house to take a morning nap at the usual time of 10:30. So he crashed around 11:45. That’s par for the course. But this time, he didn’t wake up at 1:00 wanting lunch. Or at 2:00. Or even 3:00. Nope, he slept straight through and woke up at 3:15, just in time for linner (the brunch of the mid-afternoon).
He didn’t nap quite as long today, but he did take a later than usual (11:30) longer than usual (2 hrs) morning nap. If he does this for another day or so, I’ll know it’s time to start stretching out his morning wakeful period until after lunch as part of a migration to a single nap. If he doesn’t, I’ll know these odd naps are merely part and parcel of Simon being generally off-schedule from teething. (He’s cutting several more and is having a hard time with them.)
Idle Hands
During all these marathon naps, I was supposed to be getting stuff done. Organizing stuff. Work stuff. Cooking stuff. Cleaning stuff. You know, the stuff of life. Instead I’ve been reading, thinking, reading some more, and posting a letter or two over at Salon.
What’s behind all this sloth is that I’ve finally started paying attention to the upcoming presidential election. I’ve grown to truly despise the way the U.S. handles elections, and so for the past several years, I’ve taken an ostrich approach. I watch a little PBS, I listen to a little NPR, I read the New York Times, the Economist, and a few other periodicals, and I otherwise avoid all media. I am particularly careful to avoid all political commercials and frankly think they do a disservice to democracy.
I was all set to do the same this year. Then my chosen candidate, John Edwards, left the race, and suddenly I realized I had a choice to make in the coming months. With this in mind, I watched my first debate Thursday night, and I’ve been reading about it and thinking about it all day. One debate isn’t enough to help me make my choice, and this isn’t the place to discuss my political views anyway.
Except for one thing.
Looking up at the podium on Thursday night I saw two intelligent, passionate, and civilized candidates representing one of our nation’s two major parties. It was hard to miss that one happens to be a woman and the other a biracial man. As much as I’m trying not to care about either of these things and don’t want to reduce complicated people to simple labels, I just can’t help but notice and feel a tingle of excitement this time.
Two weeks ago we celebrated MLK, Jr. Day, a day when we are reminded of how far we have come and far we still we have to go to realize King’s dream of judging people by the content of their character. I don’t think for a minute that we’ve suddenly realized this dream and erased all misogyny and bigotry from our society. But we’ve clearly made some progress, and it gives me great hope that Simon will grow up in a fairer, more open society than I did, just as I grew up in a fairer, more open society than my mother or her mother before her.