The Election and 4 Year Olds

I guess Joshua has been hearing a lot about the election lately between listening to talk radio and listening to me and Scott. One day, he asked what "voting" was. I explained it to him in the best way I could for a 4 year old...The President is like the boss of all the states. He makes all the rules. There are 2 men who think they would be the best at being President, Barack Obama and John McCain. All the grown-ups get to vote on who they think would be the best President and the man with the most votes wins. Joshua understands a little bit about President because we saw the motorcade for the President of Mexico when we were in Cancun...so every time there are a lot of police cars, Joshua thinks the President is in town.

Anyway, I pick Joshua up from school one day and he tells me who Donovan, Reid and Ben are going to vote for. Oh, and who he is going to vote for too...luckily, he is voting for the same candidate as Scott and I are voting for. He told me that Reid is voting for so-and-so because "he does better business," Donovan was voting for such-and-such because he doesn't think so-and-so "does better business." Ben was also voting for so-and-so but didn't know what "doing better business" meant. Scott and I both had visions of Joshua's preschool class singing like the North Korean children singing the praises of Pyongyang. I asked Joshua if his class was learning about the election and the President...pretty heavy stuff for 4 year olds but it is what the world is currently talking about...he did say no, just the boys. I also asked him who other kids in his class were voting for and he didn't know. I asked his teacher about it today and she said the kids talk about it during snack and they haven't been teaching it during class.

I was looking at Yahoo or MSN or some other site the other night and there was a campaign add at the top of the screen. Joshua points to it and says "Hey! That's Barack Obama!" I just pulled up John McCain's website (who evidently doesn't run ads on Yahoo or MSN) and asked Joshua if he knew who it was...he said "Yes. That's John McCain. Didn't you know who it is?" I guess Joshua pays closer attention to the news when we have it on than I thought he did.

Whether you are for "Change We Can Believe In" or "Country First: Reform * Prosperity * Peace", please vote. It's important to us, even 4 year olds.

Seeing Friends

I just love that Joshua has friends. As a mom, it is exciting to see him be excited.

One day after school, we stopped at the grocery store. Joshua exclaimed "There is Emily!" I didn't see Emily, I don't know Emily, I don't know if it really was Emily, but Joshua thought that it was and he was excited.

Another trip to the grocery store, we see Reid and his mommy. Once again, Joshua was excited and even got to ride around with Reid in the race car shopping cart his mommy was pushing. I was excited because I was able to grab my few items without having Joshua with me!

At the fair, Joshua starts jumping up and down because he saw JJ's mommy. It was the fair, it was crowded, I thought to myself surely not. But nope, there she was and there was JJ. Ask Joshua about the fair and one of the first thing he says is "I saw JJ!"

We went to the Fall Festival at Caitlin's church this past weekend. We knew Caitlin was supposed to be there and spent the entire time on the lookout for her. We finally found her close to the end of the night. Once again, Joshua starts jumping up and down from excitement and goes running to her.

As for me, I didn't see anyone that I knew other than Reid's mommy, JJ's mommy and Caitlin's mommy. I guess I am now officially known as Joshua's mommy.

Falling Behind

I have fallen behind in almost everything right now. I'm behind on cleaning. I'm behind on laundry. I'm behind on work. I'm behind on blogging. I'm behind on reading my library book. I'm behind on scheduling my dentist appointment. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a month or months in a year to get even the most basic tasks done. So, I am going to attempt to get you all caught up so that I can cross blogging off my list of things to do.

Since I last wrote, we went to the beach for 4 nights. Thursday was great beach weather. We fished, played in the sand, Joshua played a little in the waves. Friday and Saturday, it rained. We visited the Battleship North Carolina, visited the snake museum, played Battleship and Trouble, swam in the indoor pool. Even though the weather was not the most cooperative, we had good food and good fun and we weren't at home so it was a vacation.

Our weeks have been busy with Joshua having soccer practice on Monday and Wednesday evenings and swim lessons on Thursday evening. But, there is only two more weeks of soccer and swimming is now over.

Wednesday night, we went to the fair. We discovered it is much more expensive going to the fair with a child than it was without. Scott and I have gone to the fair every year...for the food. We have our favorite exhibits we like to see and our favorite food we like to eat. But, throw in a child, you have to add games and rides to the mix. Some of the rides, Joshua was big enough to ride alone, some he had to have an adult ride with him. I really think that if it is a kid ride and an adult has to accompany the kid, the adult shouldn't have to have ride tickets...but, that's just me talking as an accompaning adult...I'm sure the ride owners would argue that I am taking up a ticket holders seat and they would be missing out on the $3 per ride per adult.

Anyway, those are just the highlights of the past few weeks.

True American

This morning, I voted.
This evening, I am going to the NC State Fair.
Today, I am a true American.

Take a Kid to Work Day

Well, it really wasn't take a kid to work day, but I took mine to work yesterday.

As you all know, I work from home. But, I do go into the office in Raleigh once a week to pick up and drop off work and mail so Joshua is no stranger in "Mommy's work office." Yesterday was different because I was having computer problems and it wasn't just a run in/run out trip. So, with a dvd player, 2 dvd's and a Happy Meal in hand, Joshua and I go to the office.

The first thing we do is go into the parking deck...Are we going to park in here? Oooh, it's dark. Watch out! There is a wolfman! Do you want to go down the elevator or the stairs? Who knew parking decks were so exciting?!

Next, we enter the building and walk past the cafe. I smell food! Look they have a lunch room! Are you hungry? If you are hungry we can eat in the lunch room. After you eat your Subway sandwich and I eat my Happy Meal if we are still hungry we can go to the lunch room. What do I have to drink? If I drink it all and I am still thirsty can we go to the lunch room and get another drink? And then, as we were walking to the bathroom...If you get hungry just let me know. We can go to the lunch room. I can show you where it is. It's right over here, but it isn't up here, it's down the elevator. Who knew lunch rooms were so exciting?!

Once in the office, it was really cool looking out the windows. The office is in Highwoods on the 7th floor with a terrific view of the Beltline and a neighborhood hawk that flies outside. Joshua ate, watched both movies, climbed on the chairs, did stretches and tricks, asked did you do this when you were little?, ran timed races down the hall (it was ok, no supervisor types were there), looked in all the desk drawers, locked and unlocked the desk drawers. Who knew offices were so exciting?!

It must be terrific being a 4 year old...a 4 year old knows the world is so exciting.