Happy Valentine's Day

I got home from work last night (Yes, I worked in an ICU on Friday the 13th and it wasn't that unlucky. Just a typical day.) and was surprised by the loot in my daughter's bag. She is in kindergarten and they had a party for Valentine's Day in class on Friday. One kid actually had these special Lego boxes that had a Lego rose inside made from about 30 Lego blocks. The box could then be taken to a Lego store to get more Legos for free. My husband and I couldn't even begin to fathom how much a gift like that would cost for 17 kids! Then, there was all the candy, pencils, etc. I sent her to school with Valentine's Day cards that came with little tattoos. I am wondering what happened to the days where you just got a card and maybe one of those chalky candy hearts that had some silly comment on love.

Anywho, I woke up this morning and made pink chocolate chip pancakes in heart shapes for my family. The daughter then was all concerned about the color and if that would it taste funny and so on. Her brain is just growing in leaps in bounds, I tells ya. I enjoyed my coffee in a new mug made by the daughter for Valentine's Day.

Lastly, I took the this picture with my cell phone on Valentine's Day a couple years ago. It is still one of my favorites. Smooch!!!

History in the making

I never did comment on the election this past year even though it was in my thoughts often. What an amazing day. I never thought, especially after the incidents on 9/11, that a black man with the last name of "Obama" would be elected as president. I didn't think Americans had it in them to look past the name and the race and pick a candidate like him. I was pleasantly stunned by the open-mindedness the election showed me still exists in the populace. It really has given me a smidge of hope for the future.

We used these events to have some great discussions with the daughter as Dad watched all the debates and we talked about what it meant to vote. The daughter and I even watched some of the inauguration day coverage in Starbuck's while she sipped her hot cocoa. It is funny, I am not sure some kids understand some the importance of this election because they are sort of color blind. After talking to my daughter, she makes it seem like skin color is just another characteristic of a person like hair color and so on. She sees it as something that makes all look different from one another, but she doesn't see all the history and baggage and discrimination associated with it.... yet. It became clear when we were talking about Martin Luther King Jr, (someone they were talking about in her kindergarten class). She was truly perplexed that he was shot because someone didn't like what he was saying. She just couldn't get her head around that one. She was wondering why they just couldn't ignore him, or walk away or just wait their turn to talk. Some days, I swear her brain has grown a couple more millimeters and I can almost hear those neuron pathways being built.

If only more people thought like that, we might be a more peaceful society.

Based on talking to her more and more, I don't see her dealing with racial problems, but more of gender problems. The gender differences are rearing their heads in kindergarten, but not people's ethnic backgrounds.

Anywho, enough rambling for now. I have to go spend some time on facebook next. :)