From guest blogger Shawn Overcast:Reilly took one look at my shirt this morning and said with a smile: "Obama!" She said this while pointing to his picture. I immediately saw this as a teachable moment.
My shirt said ‘Barack,’ not ‘Obama,’ so I took a pad of post-it notes and a pen and wrote out a “sticker” for Reilly that said “Obama.”
“No, mommy. The “b” should have two circles.”
So, below “Obama,” I wrote “OBAMA.”
Obama
OBAMA
“Thanks, mommy. Now we can show this to the people.”
“The people” are the campaigners we saw on the street corner the evening before, or as Reilly would say, “yester, yester, yester, yesternight.” Without our sticker, we were left to roll down the window and yell our encouragement.
Reilly wore her sticker all the way to school. I pointed out the different signs along the way and tried to share a little about the electoral process with her. We saw a sign that said “VOTE.”
“Vote, mommy? What’s vote?”
“Well, there are two people racing and we need to vote for one of them.”
“Do we vote?”
“Mommy and daddy voted.”
“I didn’t get to vote!”
“I’ll create a ballot for you tonight and you can color in the circle.”
“I’ll color in all the circles, like the two circles in that B.”
So smart, I thought.
“Reilly, two people are racing for this vote,” I said. “Their names are Obama and McCain.”
Feeling like I would be brainwashing her if I didn’t explain why Obama was our fave, I continued, attempting to explain politics to a 3-year-old in terms she’d understand.
“Do you know why we like Obama? Because he’s smarter, has more energy, has great ideas, and is nicer.”
“Mommy, two people are racing. McCain and Obama. That’s what you said, right?”
“Very good, Reilly!”
To this, Reilly broke out into song, “Obama, Obama, Obama-mama. That’s what you are, mommy!”
Lesson taught.
What I failed to mention was that if for no other reason, “Obama mama” has a much better ring to it than anything that could rhyme with McCain. And Reilly gives the BEST O-bam-a kisses. Just ask her for one the next time you see her.
This is so funny- because Natalie knows who Obama is too! When she sees him, she says one of three things: "OBAMA!" (rightfully so) "O-MAMA!" or "BOO-MAMA!" The other day we were at the doctors and there was a Time Magazine with Obama on the cover- and she exclaimed, "OBAMA!" I had no idea she even knew who he was... we must have been watching a lot of MSNBC lately and she was really paying attention!
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