president obama. president dh?

r had a rough night again. r has a molar coming in or he has a sinus infection. either way he had an ache that was difficult for him to handle. he has a low sensitivity to pain and not a terrific ability to soothe himself. dad and i forget that we need to help him learn how to soothe himself. we tell him to, but we have to remember to show him how.

anyway, dad and the kids made banana bread and we had our first family meeting to discuss "family rules." r was a riot. he has a lot of rules. he loves policies and consequences in theory. his rules are pretty helpful
1) no throwing your toys
2) no breaking the furniture
3) no yelling
4) no using mean words
5) no kicking and screaming
6) listen to each other
7) don't waste

he talked a lot about which actions led to time-outs. it was rather amusing. monday night was also difficult.

on tuesday, he woke up fairly fine. there was an incredible amount of excitement about obama and the inauguration. we have been talking to r about MLK and civil rights. we have discussed slavery and discrimination based on color/race, gender, etc. previously. monday on MPR there was a discussion of a gay bishop who had given a prayer at an event for obama. he was talking about same sex marriage and r asked what they were talking about. we had a lengthy discussion about marriage, interracial, same-sex marriage, and choosing not to marry. he was quite interested and incensed by the idea of people not being able to do something they wanted to do and people feeling like they have to do something when they do not want to do it. so on tuesday as we talked about the inauguration. he said that he wanted to go. i tried to explain that the inauguration was far away in DC and that we could not go. he said that he was sad that the capital was not in minnesota so that we could go. he said that he wanted to president like obama so that he could change the "rules." i told him that this was an important inauguration as obama is our first multiracial/african american president. he said that i am asian american. and i added that he was multiracial like obama whose parents were also white and a person of color. we talked some more about the bans against interracial marriage. he reiterated that he wanted to change the rules. he then asked me if more people think the "old" way or think like him. i told him that i hope that he, his friends, and other kids his age think differently now. he replied good, that means that they will vote for me and i will win and then i can change the rules.

i hope so. i hope so. i never dreamed that a child of mine could, if he wanted to, run for president and think about winning.