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Oscar saved and saved his allowance and went out and bought himself (with dad’s help) an ipod Shuffle. He is obsessed. As Ian observed this morning, we have never seen him this taken with an object before. It literally is the first thing he wants in the morning and the last thing he will be doing at night.
The fact that this object brings him a wide variety of music makes his parents very happy. We monitor the volume at which he listens to his tunes and we watch him, with an approving smile on our faces, dance around and groove to the music. He also sings. In a high pitched voice. All the time.
Actually, when the music transitions into a guitar solo or if he is listening to the classical music he has on his shuffle, he stops singing to say, “This is the guitar part now.” or ” I am listening to my piano music so I am just going to hum …” Thanks for letting us know ALL the intimate details.
But as a parent I have to admit that having my six-year-old walk around the house singing in a high-pitched “You can’t always get what you want …. you can’t always get what you want … ” and then informing me that it is the “guitar part” well, that just makes me smile.
I took the boys to get their haircuts because it was well beyond the point in which one was needed. Oscar wants a Mohawk so very bad. There is a large part of me that thinks, “Well. If you can’t have a Mohawk at 6, then when can you have one?” But then I think about what one looks like and I just can’t do that to his hair. So today I think that we came up with a good compromise.
It is supposed to be a little messier on top and not so hawkish. I have decided to leave all of that to my nephew Jason. Not only will he know how to acheive that 20-something look, but Oscar will actually listen to what he has to say about it and follow his instructions. Jason tends to be Oscar’s entire world when they are together. Check him out:
Wouldn’t you feel the same way if you had him to look up to at six? Anyway, they boys finally got haircut and all is well with the world.
Now I can add “Put product into your hair” on Oscar’s morning checklist. What a life.
This morning Oscar and Alban were having a heated discussion about god.
O: He is mostly made up, like make believe
A: Right because he is not an angel. But he made the earth.
O: Yes. He made the earth, but he didn’t make people. People came from the earth in revolution.
A: People are not god!! He made the earth!! But he is not an angel.
O: Right. So he just sits up there in heaven and watches all of us.
A: There is no heaven. He just knows everything.
O: Well, if you are Jewish you can say there is no heaven. But you have to go to temple if you are Jewish and you are not Jewish.
A: I go to [a Jewish] school!!! So I KNOW THAT GOD IS NOT AN ANGEL!!! I don’t want to go to temple.
And on and on it went just like this. Evolution, angels, the existence or not of heaven, temple versus church … it all was covered this morning while mom clutched her cup of coffee and stared at her children in amazement.
I think it might be time to get them some kind of formal religious education from the Unitarians.
The past few days have been incredible not only for this country, but for the world. And I am not alone in writing down the obvious. Everywhere people are pinning their hopes and dreams on this amazing man. My children are no exception.
When taking dinner to the lead WI Obama Office on Tuesday my four-year-old asked me why “John McCain wants the war?” We talked about having differing opinions and how that can be good. We briefly discussed how wars are difficult to understand but how they ultimately kill people and that is just wrong. He wondered if Obama was going to be like The Avatar and just “Taked the bad guy’s power away and not killed him?” I just sat and thought about the final Avatar episode he was referring to and I imagined Obama walking up to Karl Rove, Bin Laden, W., and all the others I consider “The Bad Guys” and “taking their power away.” “He already has done that to some,” I said. “We can always hope he gets to do that to the rest.”
I hope to be able to post a picture of a group of neighborhood kids and moms who went out on Tuesday and stood at a very busy intersection and did visibility for Obama. My six-year-old ran up and down the sidewalk screaming “OBAMA!! WHOOOOOO!!!” People honked horns and cheered us on. Teenagers walking home from the high school cheered us on and thanked us for standing out there.
Oscar’s first political memory will be of the first black man elected President of the United States. More importantly his first memory will be of a man elected President who is honorable, smart, steady, and honest. He will live through 8 years of peace, prosperity and hope. He will come of age during a time when the social fabric of our nation gets stitched back together in a more representative fashion. He will mature knowing that sacrifice and working hard for others is something that makes a country great, fills you with pride, and bonds you to your fellow citizens.
He came home from school on Wednesday all worked up about talking about the election in school. His school is amazingly diverse, even though we live in Madison, WI. He told me about how his principal announced that Barack Obama would be our next President during her morning announcements and that the entire school cheered. He said she chose a group of kids to help her make the announcement from her office. “Mom! They cheered into the microphone and we all got so excited! Mrs. Perry had tears in her eyes, JUST LIKE YOU!”
Yet my hope is tempered with the knowledge of all that we have yet to face. But for now I will try to stay in the moment and enjoy my children’s excitement. I will continue to help Oscar with the card he is making for President Obama to congratulate him and thank him for being his President. He wants to tell President Obama that he knows he will do his best.
Amazing times we live in. Amazing times.
