Progress

Y'all. Y'ALL. This kid seemingly has suddenly discovered empathy?

I'm not sure what happened, exactly, but somehow Mila has gone from being delightfully self-centered to losing her mind as she worries about the rest of the world. I legit don't know what snapped in her little brain, but here we are. There are now two kids who read a sign that a homeless person is holding and start crying.

Both Alexis and Mila want to fix the world.

I have a million examples of how this whole thing is new and recently prominent, but there's one that is making me extra cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Lost dog signs.

Mila has started to notice all of the lost dog signs that are scattered all around the world. The first time she truly understood the meaning, she quickly turned on me. "Why don't we ever look for the lost dogs?" I have a million answers to that question, but the one that matters is the one I said out loud. "I keep an eye out for dogs that don't seem to be where they belong all of the time."

It's true. I do. I nearly hit one that wasn't where he belonged earlier this summer, in fact. A giant yellow lab was standing right in the middle of the road as I came around a bend, so I slammed on the brakes to keep from missing him. It was a spot where it wasn't safe to stop the car, so instead I drove a little past, pulled over to a safe place, and started trying to lure the dog towards me. The whole time Mila was in the car and I was worried she was about to witness a cry flying around the curve and taking out the dog, but luckily she didn't. I was able to read the pup's tags and send him on his way home.

But I guess that was before Mila discovered empathy? It must be because it didn't come to her mind. She was too busy yelling at me for all of the lost dogs and GEESH, MOM. TRY HARDER.

I've since turned the whole thing into a way to keep Mila from driving me nuts in the car. I tell her I saw a lost dog poster, describe the dog, and tell her to hunt and look and see if she can find it. Good luck, kiddo! I'm sure that lost dogs will just rain from the sky as we're driving around!

Still, this empathy thing looks good on Mila. With any luck, she'll keep it because she's a force of nature and if she decides to channel that towards making the world better? We'll all win.