Out of the Mouth of Babes

In the days leading up to so-called “Super Tuesday” this week, there was plenty of talk around the house about the candidates — obviously with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama coming up most frequently. Not really having a terribly strong opinion about either (both have their relative strengths and weaknesses), I often playfully asked Melody whom she prefers. Her response was usually something to the effect of “I like Bama” — probably because “Obama” (or “Bama” in her case) is simply more fun to say.

Our designated polling location was in the garage of a house just up the street and I swung by on the way home from work to cast my vote. Marcie hadn’t had a chance to go earlier in the day and decided to go after dinner. But when Melody got wind of this plan, she insisted in joining along. At first, we just thought she wanted to go with Marcie just for the sake of going on an outing with her mother. But Marcie soon learned why Melody was so keen to go on this particular outing. When they arrived at the polling location, Melody exclaimed, “Bama’s house!” Apparently, with all the talk of elections and voting, Melody somehow associated a polling location with the candidates themselves and thought she was going to “their house.” Naturally Marcie tried to clarify the nature of their errand, but Melody remained convinced she was going to see “Bama.”

Interestingly enough, Melody turned out not to be particularly disappointed that there was no “Bama” present amongst the ballet boxes. This may have possibly been because the poll workers gave her a whopping four “I voted” stickers — a real treasure trove when you’re two.