". . . little shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver . . ."

(William Shakespeare's Othello, I.iii.88-90)

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Pelicans

A few days ago, my 4-year-old suddenly started having a lot to say about pelicans. Since he had not heard anything about them from me, I assumed he must have learned about pelicans at preschool or perhaps overheard a conversation between his siblings or a program on television. As I was on one occasion trying to sort out his most recent declarations about pelicans, my daughter (who has a knack for understanding her little brother's speech patterns and to whom I therefore frequently turn for translating help) laughingly informed me, "Mom, he's talking about Republicans!"

Do you think maybe our household has become a bit too political? This is not the first time my youngest has had something to say about political parties.

Anyway, good parent that I am, I have been trying to set him straight: "Honey, pelicans are animals. We're Republicans. Repeat after me: Re-pub-li-can."

I'm not sure it's sinking in. Last night I asked him, "Sweetie, what are pelicans?" His answer: "Pelicans are the good guys."

Maybe I should leave this alone. After all, he may have something there! Perhaps I should even start a grassroots movement, not unlike this one spearheaded by my friend Elephant's Child, to change the Republican mascot from the elephant to the pelican!

On the other hand, I think that this . . .


. . . probably stands a better chance of beating this in the fall . . .


. . . than this.

So maybe it's time to give politics a rest and instead spend some time introducing my little boy to the wonders of the animal kingdom. At the moment, that kingdom is making a lot more sense to me anyway.

(Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL, Cheryl!!! He is priceless. I somehow miss your blog post on what he said in church.

It remind's me of Jimella's conversation with Katy. Katy's perspective on Democrats: They do not like babies, and they want the government to give them everything, and they want to take away our guns...I don't like them Mama!

But I agree we have to be careful around little ears because they pick up things and bring them up at the most embarassing moments.

Have a great day!

Michelle

Elephantschild said...

Well, that settles it! The lady that "tells too much" is now officially a Pelican.

Proud member of the Grand Old Pelicans - I love it.

Uvulapie said...

The way both parties have been going maybe it's time to give the Pelican Party a chance!

RPW said...

My instinct is to let him continue saying "Pelican" for as long as possible. That way, if he talks that way at church, people don't know what you are talking about or offend anybody! You can just smile and say "He just LOVES pelicans!"

I had a friend in La Leche League who taught her daughters to say "soup" when they wanted to nurse, for pretty much the same reason. I always wondered though, when they think nowadays when she offers them a bowl of chicken noodle.