Inauguration Day

So I kind of watched the inauguration on Tuesday -- kind of because J did her very best to thwart me by continually turning off the tv, sticking her face in front of me, throwing tantrums, etc. My view of the inauguration speech went something like:

". . . it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which -- "

"Daddy, I want snack NOW!"

". . . honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity. . . "

"NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!"

I guess she doesn't approve of the new administration.

On the other hand, the girls must have been impressed by the inaugural parade. "Who's the princess?" J asked. I pointed out Michelle Obama as the closest equivalent. J and M picked up on this and ran with it; a short while later, J came down the stairs in her princess outfit. M walked in front of her shouting, "Make way for her royal highness, the Queen! Make way for her royal highness, the Queen!" The rest of the night, J insisted we call her "her royal highness," which prompted S to make some sarcastic remarks about J's other royal qualities.

The older kids watched the inauguration at school. M said her classmates thought it was boring and too long, but she thought it was interesting. She has been asking bout the election for the better part of the year, and became very upset when she found out about Obama's position on abortion and war and capital punishment. So I suspect that is where her interest came from -- trying to reconcile his policies with all the positive attention. We've tried to explain to her how happy people are to have a new president, to have our Constitution back, and for the historic character of the election. We've tried to explain that we can like some things he does without approving of others, but that kind of ambiguity is not really a six-year-old thing.

B got a book out from the library called "So You Want to Be President?" He's studying up. Let's see, if he is inaugurated at Obama's age, that would be about . . . 2048. Well, the way things are going, he better start raising campaign funds now.