Running for President

Yup- Love, Learn, Play has its very own illustrator! Pretty cool, huh?! Thank you to the wonderfully talented Kevin Vanhooser for perfectly capturing the boys' latest passion in life... the presidents! And it just so happens that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are two of their favorites. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Uncle Kevin!

So, how did our two year olds become interested in the presidents?! We actually started with money. The boys are getting quite good with their one-to-one correspondence when counting so we thought we'd introduce some basic money concepts. While learning about all of the coins, they would point to the faces and repeatedly ask "Who is he?" Although they are still interested in counting coins, they became even more fascinated with the presidents of the United States of America!

But let me tell you, we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into with this one!!! Not only have the boys spent the last week and a half memorizing all of the presidents and learning a song about them, but they have been truly interested in all sorts of facts about each and every one. Jon and I didn't realize that by helping the boys delve into this topic, we would find ourselves trying to explain to our two year olds what "assassinated" meant! They wanted to know what war was, what impeached meant ("When you lose your peaches," Matthew explained), and why Millard Filmore couldn't come over for dinner this past Monday evening. Even better yet, this morning my charming Matthew purposefully knocked cup of water off the table and shouted "I SPILLED MY WHISKEY!" Oh dear God! No, I do not let my children drink whiskey! But the president song they love so dearly chose this unique little historical tidbit to showcase Ulysses Grant... "Ulysses Simpson Grant who would scream and rave and rant, while drinking whiskey although risky 'cause he'd spill it on his pants!" Oi vey! Anyways, we've had a wonderfully educational time toning down 200+ years of complicated US history into appropriate (or not so appropriate!) toddler terms. And we all got a good laugh earlier this week when the boys told their pediatrician that he looked like Woodrow Wilson, which he actually does!

So here you have it... it took a week and a half but they memorized them all, both by face and by number. We're still working on getting them to sit still, and on keeping Caleb's finger out of his nose... and lastly, I do have to say that of all of the boys interests in life, I truly hope politics isn't the one they choose to pursue!!!