Happy President's Day

Happy President's Day all. We don't normally celebrate pres day, being from Illinois and getting Lincoln's b-day off instead. However, I feel the need to share a proud moment I had today with Zach.

We went to Chick-fil-A this past weekend for dinner. We can't get enough of those waffle fries and to us, its not horrible Weight Watchers. Instead of a kids meal "toy" he received flash cards of the President's (every kids dream toy). I had every intention of putting it away for Zach when he's in grade school and learning about those illusive "old guys."

Now for many of you who know me, I love all things related to politics and the Presidency (especially the First Ladies). I was in grad school for political science to become a professor with a concentration on presidential politics when Jon got his job with Boeing and I was pregnant with Zach. I still haven't been able to finish my degree since the boys have come. One day soon though.

Today, I got a glimpse of why I want to go back to grad school to finish my degree. I love to teach about politics. I was sitting on the couch with Zach and he found the flash cards. He looked at them strangly and starting flipping through them and then began to ask me who they were.

The conversation went like this:

Zach: Mommy who is this?
Me: That's William Henry Harrison

Zach: William Henry Harrison. Okay!
Me: (I'm half-paying attention and watching tv and feeding Ryan thinking he would stop at that card and go play with his fire truck legos.)

Zach: Who's this?

Me: Um, that's John Tyler

Zach: What did he do?

Me: He was president after President Harrison got sick. (we tread lightly on the death thing in our house lately. We just had a good friend pass away and it made Zach very sad).

Zach: Oh, Mommy who is this?

Me: James Knox Polk

Zach: James Knox Polk, okay!

This continued on through the end of the pack which ended with US Grant. He repeated every name back to me with resounding enthusiasm like he knew them and had been studying them for years. He actually had a real interest in them, which shocked me. I know he was just bored and wanted to know who the faces of the people were, but somewhere deep down, I can't help but think I passed on my love for the Presidency to him. (That's just me trying to find a connection or a silver lining) This wasn't a conversation I ever imagined having with my 3 year old. And I was right, after he flipped through the pack, he went back to his legos. But, it was fun talking about this big kid stuff with him. You get so used to Baby land and then your kids starts to understand everything around you. It's amazing! You really see how big the world is through the eyes of your kid.

Zach does have a dream of what he wants to be when he grows up. He really wants to be an astronaut. He loves everything that has to do with Space and the shuttle and can see the NASA logo from ten yards. He loved going to Kennedy Space Center just as much as Disney World. I know this will change many times throughout his life. Probably just in this upcoming year alone. It's real to me though, because he growing up so fast and you know your child can be anything he wants to be. With Zach's determination and hard-headedness, I know he will accomplish many things.

Maybe he'll be a rocket scientist like his daddy, or maybe he'll become a presidential scholar, or maybe he will be the best darn sanitation engineer (that's the fancy name for garbage men out here). Either way, today was the first day when I realized that Zach is getting "it" more and more each day.

So, Happy President's Day! And although he didn't say he wanted to be president when he grew up, I'm sure that's not too far away. They get that big house you know and their own airplane!! Every kids dream!