Jack has added some cute phrases to his repertoire recently. The phrases themselves aren't that cute, but coming out of his mouth they are adorable (to me):
If you ask him to do something he frequently says "ummm...sure me can" or "ummmm...sure me do." If he needs to go get a toy from another room he says "me need get one thing - me be right back." If he's being crazy and jumping all over us, he rolls off eventually and says "WOW - dat awesome fun!" If he's about to touch the kitty (read: grab by her tail and lift her into the air), he says "me be bery gentle with she." When he talks about Daddy, it usually includes some mention of the fact that "him have two hammers and drill and he's a work man."
Also some new concepts, a few of which were planted in his head by Chuck and me:
He won't grow at all unless he sleeps at night. Broccoli makes him big and strong. (He asks us about every food he eats and whether it will make him big and strong.) If he keeps the refrigerator door open he won't be able to have ketchup anymore.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to say that there is a deeper concept that he is developing without even knowing it - that not all presidents have to be white men, that that's not a forgone conclusion. It gives me goose bumps to think about how powerful that is. Some members of my generation (and my parents') grew up knowing that there were other qualified people out there, but also thinking that they wouldn't be elected - ever. It just wouldn't happen in our lifetimes. And now that it's a strong possibility, our thoughts turn to whether that puts Barack in a very dangerous position, given what has happened to many prominent African American activists and politicians in U.S. history. But our kids just know him as another leader. A person who has ideas and talks about them and has a chance just like anyone else to lead this nation. Period. I love that innocence - not sure if that's the right word even - and hope it stays with Jack and his brother and their peers because they won't have known a country in which it wasn't even feasible that Barack would have gotten to this point.
And I love that the questions we will field from Jack about Barack in the coming months will not be centered on race or perceived religion, they will be on the following: whether he's at a caucus today, whether he eats broccoli, whether he sleeps all night, whether his fridge works and whether it has ketchup in it, whether he wears underwear, and whether he's a good driver. I mean, aren't those more relevant anyway?
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