With a Single Tear.

Note the passage of time: when asked if she wanted to watch “Elmo or Tayo,” Evangeline replied “No.”

“Elmo?” I asked more carefully.

“No,” she answered.

“Tayo then?” I said.

“No,” she answered again.

“...George?” I asked reluctantly.

“No,” she quickly dismissed as she had for months.

I was confounded. I landed the cursor incredulously on “Bella and the Bulldogs,” (because one of the creators is a good friend of my sister). She said yes. Surely she’d lose interest a minute in, I thought, it’s not a cartoon at all! What transpired left me in knots. Most progressions are systematic and largely unnoticed until you think to yourself “Hm, she’s not doing that anymore.” But on the eve of her birthday, I watched her as she sat totally engaged by a “big kid’s show,” unable to deny that she had grown. Today she is a goofy ham of a toddler, loaded with party tricks, a bit sassy and very inclusive. With a single tear in my eye I proudly proclaim that my daughter is TWO!