Vote for Obama

Mommy:
 
Yesterday was the election for president and other things.  We were driving to "preschool" and the radio was still on talk a talk station from listening to election results and so I switched it to the front of the car.  Rush Limbaugh was talking about Romney and Obama in a way that I felt was acceptable for Sarah to hear (I don't usually listen to him because I don't enjoy his disrespectful rants. At this time he was simply saying a vote for Romney was a vote for the idea that being a hard worker is good). 
 
You called from the backseat that you would vote for Obama.  I asked why he would be your choice and you got smiley and said it might be a silly reason and didn't want to share your reasoning.  I was able to politely coax it out of you.  You said, "I would vote for Obama because I like the color of his skin."  I asked, "Oh, you like the color of his skin?" and expected you would mention Jenna.  You said that it reminded you of the boy we went camping with in the cabin (Daniel Kissling).  You paused, then you said he had the same color skin as Jenna. You proceeded to brainstorm all the people you know with similar skin color.  
 
Now I get to use this as a teachable idea that we can like the colors of our skin because all the variations are beautiful but we should compare people for their character and their actions and not let the color of their skin sway our decisons.       

When You Grow Up

Uncle Steve: 

 

I walked with you to 7-11 for Slurpees on Monday. You told me you want to be an astronaut when you grow up.

 

Me:  "Oh yeah?  What planet do you wanna go to?"

You:  "There's one planet with butt in it. I forget, what are the planets?"

Me:  "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus..."

You:  "That's it!  It's not butt, it's anus!  hahaha!  I wanna go there!"

Star Wars SPOILER ALERT

DADDY:

We are halfway through EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in the Star Wars trilogy. And tonight we had this hilarious conversation:

YOU: *with big excited eyes* Hey Daddy, guess what...a boy at school was talking about Star Wars and he said that Luke Skywalker is Darth Vader's son!
DADDY: He did? What do you think of that?
YOU: It's kind of weird.
DADDY: Why's that weird?
YOU: *makes stftss sound* It just is. Darth Vader's the bad guy!

It cracks me up that people are already ruining movies for you. You just don't know it yet! We're going to watch a little bit more tonight. You're loving it. Even if it is suspenseful!!!

Scary, Suspenseful, or Nervous

DADDY:

Tonight on Daddy/Daughter Date Night after your sister had already gone to bed, while watching the scene from Empire Strikes Back in which Luke is out in the snow all night with Han Solo, you learned the difference between a couple of words ...

YOU: "This is too scary."
DADDY: *pauses movie* "Is this scary like if you were in the street and saw a car coming?"
YOU: "No, it's only a little bit."
DADDY: "Let me ask you...are you worried about what is going to happen to Luke?"
YOU: *nods*
DADDY: "I think what you're feeling might not be scary. I think it might be suspenseful. Or nervous."
YOU: "Are the good guys going to come save him and Han Solo?"
DADDY: "Yup."

Alphabet

This was self-motivated.

I told you the numbers at the bottom so you could write the date.

This is pretty dang fabulous for a 4-year-old to do on their own:

Writing Books

MOMMY:

During this summer, Daddy has spent the mornings at Starbucks writing his novel. 

You, also, have started making your own books.  You like to fold paper and staple it like a book.  You got this idea from the book Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk.


This morning you woke up early, 6:59am to be exact, and came into my room to wake me up. I informed you that it was too early and that you needed to get into my bed and sleep until the alarm went off at 7:30.  You climbed up into my bed on Daddy's side (Daddy had already left for his first day back at school).  After about 15 minutes of you not falling asleep (I'm guessing on the time), you climbed out of bed, walked around to my side, gave me a kiss on my lips, whispered, "I'm going to write books," and went to the living room.  I, not wanting to wake up decided that seemed like a safe enough activity for you to do for the next 15 minutes while I snoozed.  Before my alarm went off, you came back in asking for help with something.  I complained that you shouldn't be awake and asked why you were out of bed (I'm selfish about my morning sleep) and you reminded me that you had informed me that you were going to write books and that I didn't stop you then.  

I love that you are excited about the idea of writing.  I'm not always excited about when you want to write them. :-)     



About books, but not related to this story:
Both Daddy and I wrote and illustrated separate books for you.  I wrote Bob the Blob about a blob that needed to find a hat to wear out in the sun.  I chose the main character because it seemed easy to draw :-).  Daddy wrote Dock the Sock about a sock that had no color until he met a sewing machine that added color to him.  I quite enjoyed Daddy's drawing of the sewing machine character.   You kept my story.  You gave Daddy's story to our upstairs neighbor.  I think you liked mine more :-).   

Lipstick

MOMMY:

Today in the car you had brought a purse with some lip gloss in it that you got for your fourth birthday (I forgot who gave it to you).  You announced that you thought I should buy you some lipstick because you don't have any and you want some.

I asked who you knew that wore lipstick.  You didn't name anyone.

I asked you what lipstick was.
You said, "It sticks to your lips."
"What sticks to you lips?"
"Lipstick."
We proceeded to do a little who's on first? bit where you were able to answer, "Lipstick" until I explained what lipstick was.
"It can make your lips look a different color."
"Oh, like dying your lips?" This alluded to a conversation we had the day before in the car about a woman driving next to us with blue hair.  Oh, I love teachable moments that allow me to build your vocabulary!

I explained that lip gloss is good because it make our natural beautiful lip color just look a little more shiny and bright. Lip gloss is great.  You're not getting lipstick for a long time (we'll see how long I stick to that idea :-) ).  I don't even know if I have lipstick.  This is where me parenting girls is going to get interesting.  I have friends that wear make-up, we'll make sure you figure it out when the time comes.