"My Bama"

With the election less than two months away it's hard for anyone to ignore the all-out media circus going on between the candidates. This includes my 2 1/2 year old as well.

Our morning ritual is this: Paul is up and out of bed at the crack of dawn. I sleep in ('sleep in' being used lightly, as in till maybe 7am) until Sienna wakes me up. And this is the dialog that I am awoken to. Every morning. Seven days a week.

"MAMA!"
"MOM!"
"MAAAAAAAMMMMMMMAAAAAHHHH!"

By now I'm rustled slowly from a dream and begin to realize that Sienna is not calling me from across a vast, grassy field; but in fact she is in the very next room and wants out from her crib.

"MAAAAAMAAAAHHHHH!"
Then a loud thud. And I know from past experience Elephant has been hurled across her room.

"MAAMMAAAAAHHHHHHH I need a diaper change!"
Yes, you would think that when a toddler tells you she needs a diaper change that it's time for the same toddler to lose the Pampers and hit the potty. Not this toddler. I'm pretty sure she'll be wearing her diaper well into the winter. And yes, she does turn three this February.

Finally I stumble into her room and pull Sienna up out of the crib, peel Elephant from off the floor, and change her diaper (Sienna's, not the Elephant's). I deposit Sienna onto my bed, then it's off to get her milk and on the re-bound retrieve her sister. Luna is typically awake in her crib, yet laying still and quiet as a mouse. When I lean over to reach for her, she gives me a big toothless smile and pounds the matress with her chubby leggies.

The three of us flop into bed together, and if Sienna lets me, I put on Good Morning America. Lately the story is about Obama, wife Michelle, Biden, McCain or Palin. Each time Obama flashes on the screen I say to Sienna, "that is Obama. He is running for president and Mommy and Daddy are voting for him"

So, this morning was no different. Us girls laid in bed, and each time Obama appeared on the screen, I would say, "That's Obama". and Sienna, in perfect two-year-old spirit, would fire back, "No, MY BAMA!".