Elephant & Donkey

Matilda's favorite game is Elephant and Donkey. When I set up her baby gym, I realized that two of the toys we had to hang on it were an elephant and an ambiguous four-legged creature that could be a cow or a horse, but whom I decided to call Donkey. So, appropriately enough, I hung Elephant on Matilda's right and Donkey on her left. When we lie her under her gym we rattle each of them, introduce them to her ("Hello, Matilda! I'm Elephant! And I'm Donkey!") And then we see whether she looks right or left, rattles Elephant or Donkey. In this way, we try to discern our infant daughter's political leanings. Inevitably, she will favor one one day and the other the next. Sometimes, she grabs hold of both of them and shakes them vigorously in her own baby admonition of the futility of the two-party system.

We can leave her there for ages. She loves to have conversations with Elephant and Donkey, and I love to imagine what her coos and shrieks and gurgles must mean. "Elephant, I'm very disappointed with the Republican response to the Foley scandal," or "Donkey, when will the Democrats grow a pair?" And so on.

I think we will register her as an Independent.