Leveling Up

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap. " -Barbara Jordan

My husband has a theory in video games.  He is not what they call a "completionist", but he does spend an awful long time puttering around each level, 'grinding' as they call it, to get his character as leveled-up as possible before moving on.  It saves him time, so he doesn't have to go back and get one more item, etc, before the big boss fight at the end.  That was me pulling out my big gaming vocabulary right there.

Oddly enough, watching Maeve develop and grow can sometimes feel the same.  She investigates, plays, practices, tries a skill about sixteen times the wrong way before she finds something that works.  Sometimes it's hard to be patient, watching her.  There are things I try and let her figure out on her own and times I intervene (honey, oatmeal does not stick on your spoon when you turn it upside down!). 

But there's also an almost-magical element to her growth.  Yesterday she took a three and a half hour nap, which tells me that something is up.  Either she's about to get a huge mental leap in skills, or she's going to completely outgrow her 3T-sized pajamas and her size 7 1/2 shoes.  Or both.  But long naps and eating more (she consumed an entire Costco hot dog yesterday at 10 am) both indicate that there's a change a-comin'.

I just can't wait to see what she figures out next.

Not quite big enough for Daddy's shoes yet.