Voting, Dentists and Running

This morning as I was taking the kiddos to school, Chris's car was behind us the entire way. When it came time for him to split off and go on the freeway, I rolled down my window and waved and encouraged the kids to wave too as they both exclaimed, "Bye Daddy! Bye Bye!" 

Lily got upset and said, "Daddy won't know I was waving!"  I answered her thinking she was upset her window wasn't rolled down so Daddy couldn't see her hands and said, "It's okay; he probably saw you waving through the window." She said, quite puzzled, "I wasn't waving with my hands. I was waving with my mouth."

Before I could think of a suitable reply, Jamisen reassured her: "That's OK. When you get to see him he will be so happy that you will scream."  (Nope, none of that makes sense but to a 3 and a 5 year old, it does and that's all that matters).

The election has been big news in our house with lots of debates and spirited discussion. The kids have picked none of the policy nuances but have definitely formed their opinions on the two candidates. After Hillary won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College vote, Lily said very sweetly, "Mommy, I'm sorry that your friend lost."

With regards to the Presidential election, Chris and I have spoken about economy policy, immigration and trade deals. We have stayed far, far away from the more unsavory aspects of the election (i.e. the terrible behavior of the President-elect towards minorities, women and people with disabilities). Unfortunately, not all of his classmates have equally buttoned-up households. This is an actual conversation at our house tonight:

Jamisen : Mommy, did you know Donald Trump called a woman a pig?! He called a woman a fat pig!"

Chris: (playing for time) I don't know if that's right. Where did you hear that?

Jamisen : My friend Noah Glass. And he knows everything! He knows alllll the snakes.

Chris:  (stalling)  I don't think he said that. 

Me: I heard the quote. He did say that and it was wrong. It is never okay to name call.

Lily: Donald Trump needs to be voted off the island!!!!!!

And with that, the discussion was over.

The kids had dental appointments. Lucky kiddos got a new dentist that has TVs on the ceiling. The kids were so excited about the TV that they were lulled into ease and submission. The dental appointment went swimmingly!

Both kids were cavity-free and were so excited about the Cavity Free tree. They get to write their name on large "leaves" and place them on the tree. They also got a gold coin and were able to choose from a number of cool little cavity-free-yay toy dispensers. The kids both will brush their teeth more easily when we say things like "Do you want to get your name on the cavity-free tree again?" 

I ran a half marathon with my bestie Patrice. We beat our time from last year which is great because the course was way, way, way more hilly. Also, last year, she may have been pregnant (see the pictures? What a difference a year makes!).