Sometimes I fail miserably, but sometimes I manage to get something to stick with Alexis. She most definitely embraces the concept that it's OK to be different.
She will often say exactly that -- "It's OK that he's different," she will say while we're walking down the street. She could be referring to clothing or shoes or even something that the person said. More significantly, I think, she also knows that it's OK that there are things about her that are different.
Her tiny leprechaun feet, for example. Alexis wears her tiny midget feet with pride. If you ask her, she will happily tell you that her feet never grow and that it's cool because she gets to wear shoes for as long as she wants.
She also wears her ability to get by on minimal sleep as a badge of honor. It's bragging rights to her. While everybody else loves sleep and wants to marry it, she often says, "Sleep is SO boring." She's wrong, obviously, but I don't even bother to tell her because she will call me out for not sticking to my OK is Different Mantra. So, I sort of embrace it while telling her that it's weird that she doesn't need sleep.
Mila agrees with me, by the way. She totally and completely agrees with me. Mila thinks that sleep is better than peanut butter and chocolate together. It's better than anything, in fact. Sleep is the greatest thing of all time. Mila says so.
Late last week, Mila was happily drifting off to Napland while I cleaned up the kitchen. She wasn't actually asleep, but she was working on making that happen. As I swept the kitchen floor, I heard Alexis go into Mila's room. I quickly turned on the video monitor and watched as Alexis leaned over the side of the crib and gave Mila a kiss.
Just when I thought I was going to explode from all of the cute, Alexis started to talk to the baby who was supposed to be asleep. She told Mila all sorts of crazy things, but there is one statement that stood out more than anything else. The words she whispered will haunt my nightmares, in fact.
"Mila, you don't have to sleep if you don't want to. They can't make you, you know."
