New Design / First Compliment

First off, if you come to my actual web page to read my blog vs. getting updates via RSS feed you'll notice I picked a new design template for my blog and have chosen to "go green" so to speak.  The layout is still the same so you can still access all the features and fun stuff as before but I thought it was time for a change.  At some point in the future down the road I may eventually go to a hosted site & start using something like Wordpress so I can have more flexibility in my design but for now this offers very low maintenance, easy startup, and best of all, it's free.

And now for something completely different.

In the last few months my 2yr old daughter Anna has just been exploding with how much she's talking, the words she's using, the sentences she's making, and in general just how much she's communicating and showing us how much she understands things.  This has also started to define her personality more as she's able to communicate what she's thinking, how she's feeling, her wants, etc.

This past week as I was coming upstairs, she was standing at the top of the stairs waiting for me and holding out a bracelet for me to take while saying "Reach Dad, reach."  When I got to the top of the stairs and took it from her she gave me possibly the first genuine compliment she's given me by simply saying, "Good reach Dad, good reach."  The next day I had just finished helping her in the bathroom and while she did most of the actual "work",  as we were finishing up she told me, "Good job Dad, good job."  

I can't remember the last time I got a compliment that was as meaningful.  It reminded me that genuine compliments between adults seem to come way too infrequently and are usually "scheduled" events that involve a boss or manager at review time.  At the same time, it also taught me that perhaps we should be more casual in giving compliments to each other so long as it's sincere and not trite or repetitive.  

"... and a little child shall lead them."  Isaiah 11:6