Historic? Cool.

Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama (by Evan Vucci/AP)
Originally uploaded by Stijn Vogels

[A conversation in the car while driving to school, listening to NPR]

"Who's Barack Obama?"

"He's a gentleman who's likely to be the next president of the United States."

"What about that girl that you were listening to before?"

"Hillary Clinton? You're right, she has a pretty good chance to be the next president instead."

"Huh?"

"Well, in November everybody in the country is going to pick who the next president is. Right now, there are a bunch of people -- called Democrats -- trying to decide who they want to vote for in November. We call these the primaries. If Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic primary, there's a pretty good chance she'll be the president. If Barack Obama wins, there's a pretty good chance he'll be the president."

"You know what, Daddy? On the presidents wall in Ms. Shanaz's classrom, where all the presidents are, there aren't any girls there yet and if Hillary Clinton wins Ms. Shanaz will get to put a picture of a girl on the wall!"

"That's true! And I don't know if you noticed, but there's nobody with dark skin, like Kamsi or Pauline up there either. And if Barack wins, he'll be the first person with dark skin on that wall, which would also be pretty cool. Either way, you're going to be telling your children and grandchildren about this election."

"Why?"

"Because this will probably be the first time either a woman or a black man gets to be the president of the United States. It's historic."

"Cool."

Book boundary

Book boundary
Originally uploaded by navratil

Pete likes to eat his book, but he can't, so I use it to sit in. My ponies are with me, and sometimes I read a book. That's The Wizard of Oz.

Unconventional family

Frog and Toad and Dora are the ponies' parents. The ponies have two daddies and one mommy. They're very lucky.

Rock on!

I like playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero. MY favorite songs from Guitar Hero are "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and "My Name is Jonas." And my favorite songs in this game [looking at Rock Band] are "You Gotta Let Me Know Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and my other favorite is the one with... "Ballroom Blitz."

Beethoven

[This was colored by Claire at school on Monday, 1/7/08. We discussed it in the car.]

Claire: This guy is Beethoven. He played music.

Debbie: That's great coloring! He looks grumpy, though.

Claire: He's grumpy because he can't hear.

Debbie: That would make me grumpy too.

Claire: Plus, he's dead.

Mwahaha! They're mine!

Mwahaha! They're mine!
Originally uploaded by navratil

My baby brother Pete got me Uniqua for my birthday, cuz that's what I really wanted all my life. Santa gave me Pablo cuz Uniqua was so sad she didn't have him. Grandma and Papa got me all of them so now I have 2 Uniquas, 2 Pablos, one Tyrone, one Tasha, and one Austin. I have a Dora doll from Dawn and Terry too, but I never got a Boots one cuz Mommy said they don't make him.

Hay! Hay you!

Hay! Hay you!
Originally uploaded by navratil

That's me in the hay corn. I'm smilin' because I need to smile. I stopped doin' it for the picture. I like the hay mazes. And I stop at a stop and I asked which way to go. Daddy which way to go. And I thought it was funny.