Voting for change... in Ari's room *EDIT*

Let's see how I did with my To-Do List from yesterday, shall we?

1. Vote.

Check. I was really excited about going to vote last night, not only because it's my sacred right as an American citizen, but because I recently read a blog entry (I forget where) that really spoke to me. She wrote about how she's taken her son with her every single time she has voted for president--at first, it was out of necessity (she simply had nowhere else to leave him while she voted), and then it quickly became a tradition. She ended the entry by talking about how this year's election will be his first time voting all by himself. Anyway, inspired by her words, I decided to stop fretting about having to take a squirmy toddler to the polls with me, and to view it as a chance to start a similar tradition.

Naturally, the evening wasn't quite as magical as I might have hoped, despite my attempts to talk it up to her with stuff like, "Ari, we're going to go VOTE!" and "Ari, do you want to help Mommy VOTE?" She refused to stand silently with either of us, preferring instead to roam about, and when I held her while Tony voted, she writhed in my arms. But luckily, there were no lines, and we were done quickly. And then she got her very own "I voted" sticker.

But I'm not discouraged, because next time we need to vote for president, she'll be 6 years old, and this whole procedure will be slightly more meaningful to her.

2. Install child-proof lock things on Ari's drawers (and pray that she cannot figure them out).

Check, though it was really Tony who did it, while I kept the munchkin distracted and out of his way. Turns out the drawers on her dresser are not a style that's fully conducive to child locks, but we managed to rig them up. If you yank hard enough on the drawers, you can pop them out, but we're hoping the resistance will be enough of a deterrent for Ari. (What? Why are you laughing?)

3. Seriously look into the idea of finding out if her crib can actually convert into a toddler bed, instead of just musing about it out loud to each other.

I knew her crib was a convertible one, and that it could eventually convert into a full-size bed, but I wasn't sure if there was a transitional stage. It doesn't quite convert into a toddler bed--at least, not my idea of one--but it does convert into a day bed. Basically, all we did was remove the movable side railing (which was down all the time anyway) and install a small guardrail that ran about parallel with the top edge of the mattress.

And then we proceeded to make a huge deal about the bed. We encouraged her to climb in and out and filled her head with propoganda about her awesome "big-girl bed" and how "big girls stay in bed." We even both made a slightly bigger deal about bedtime--we both put her bed together, again singing the praises of her big-girl bed and reminding her of "the rules."

Of course, things did not go smoothly, as things with toddlers rarely do. She still sobbed at us to leave her door open (which we did, with our compromise of opening it halfway), and she still got out of bed once or twice. But it was not the worst night ever, and as Tony wisely pointed it, "If this is the worst issue we have to deal with at bedtime, we're pretty lucky." And he's right. I mean, at least she's not screaming down the house for hours every night.

The only problem is that the "guardrail" kind of fails in the "guard" department. I checked on Ari once last night, and she was lying with her back along the guardrail, and hanging slightly over the edge. I really don't know how she maintained that balance, because she looked like she should be toppling out. Luckily, it's not a long fall to the floor, but still--we may need to go search for a better guardrail.

4. If said crib will not turn into a toddler bed, go to walmart.com and order cute little toddler bed I found last night.

N/A. (See above.)

5. Eat chocolate.

Crap. I knew I forgot something.

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***** EDIT *****

Just wanted to add a couple Ari pics. She had some crazy hair going on after her nap today, and I had to get photos for future blackmailing purposes.

By the way, she gets that insanely curly hair from me. Sure, it looks cute now, but wait until it starts to thicken like mine and get really unruly. Then it won't be quite so fun.



She and Ivan pretty much adore each other.



Oh, and also, here's a picture of her newly-revised bed, complete with the poser guardrail that really guards nothing. (Unless it's meant to only guard the mattress from sliding off the bed, in which case, it's doing a stellar job.)