Sweat Pea

Owen took a nap at preschool yesterday, which means he was up very late last night. At 10:00 I knew he was much more awake than I, so I decided to just have him go to bed with me in our bed. That way if I fell asleep before him, it wouldn't matter. Owen and I snuggled into bed (Brady was still out in the living room watching basketball), and he said to me, "I had so much fun with you today, Mommy. I love you. Thanks, sweat pea." It was so funny. I have called him sweat pea on and off since he was born. It was so funny to have him call me that.

Bedtime Books

Owen and I were lying in his bed last night, and I was reading books to him. We had two left, and I asked him which one he wanted next. He told me, "You can read both of them at the same time, Mommy."
"No I can't," I said.
"Yes you can because you have two eyes."
Kids are so logical!

Canvassing for Obama

Owen has been pretty interested in politics this year (see postings dating back to January). It's old hat around here, but someone commented on how amazed they were when Owen pointed out McCain as he flashed on the TV screen during a commercial break of a football game. It all started back in January when he totally cued into Brady and me as we watched the State of the Union address. A few months later he got to be in the front row as we listened to Bill Clinton campaign from a truck bed on the playground of my school. Finally, after months of talking about getting a new president, it's almost time to vote. So yesterday we headed out for a few hours of canvassing.

Brady was freshly back from a whirlwind trip to NY, so he stayed home, but my mom and I headed out with the boys. Owen and Quincy donned their oh-so-adorable Obama shirts, and off we went. We spent a few hours going door-to-door with a targeted list of democrats and independents. Owen, who is really into rhyming words these days, made up all sorts of little rhymes about Obama. My favorite was Obama Llama! GOTV canvassing is pretty fun because you're working with a targeted list which means you're pretty sure not to get angry people going on tirades about your candidate.

Of all the people we talked to, only one person was undecided. She was a very young, working class mom who had wanted to vote for Hillary and "just doesn't like how negative everything has gotten." She was holding her 8-month-old baby and was interested in my kids and the fact that I'm a teacher. We had a pretty lengthy conversation, and hopefully she'll decide to vote for Obama.

All in all, it was fun, and the kids were perfect! We'll be going out again next weekend. In addition to needing to uphold our county's record of highest voter turn-out, there are some really crazy ballot measures (as always around here) that people need to be voting on.

Shortly after we got home from canvassing, the mail arrived and in it were our ballots! Yea!!! I've always held on to my ballot until the last minute because I liked to vote on election day. I have been converted. I will fill out and turn in my ballot right away so that the local campaigns don't have to waste their resources (and I don't have to be bothered) by calling and knocking on our door. I would do it tonight except that Owen is already in bed, and I have been promising him for months that he could help me fill out my ballot!I don't think you can read Owen's shirt, but it says, "Obama-bama-bobama, banana-fana-fofama, me-my-momama, Obama!"

Mamas are meant to have padding.

My mom explained to my during both of my pregnancies that part of putting on weight during pregnancy is building up nursing reserves in case of a famine. I have discovered another purpose for that extra padding. 4 years and 4 months later, I am back to my pre-Owen-pregnancy weight. This has created a kind of cool albeit expensive problem with my wardrobe and a completely different kind of problem with Owen.

A few weeks ago I was carrying Owen on my hip. He kept shifting his weight around and finally said, "Ow, you're hurting me." It took me a few seconds before I realized that he was talking about my hip bone poking him. I didn't think too much of it, but then about a week ago Owen was sitting on my lap in the rocking chair for bedtime stories. He was trying to lay his head back and rest it, but he kept wriggling around and said again, "Ow, I can't get comfortable," and I realized his head was banging into my collar bone. Poor kid.

I don't want to imply that I don't have any padding left, because I certainly do. I just need to get creative and find a way for Owen to rest his head on my butt or my upper legs when I read to him.