A poll of Bernals conducted in mid-October revealed as many as 50% of Bernals remained undecided in the 2008 presidential election. Well folks, thing have changed. Sunday night Tyler spontaneously started chanting “Go Obama, Go Obama!” Moved by Tyler’s excitement, Bella started chanting “Oh Mama, Oh Mama!” The deadlock had finally been broken. Maria and I made Obama T-shirts to celebrate Tyler’s courageous decision. Tyler isn’t really a morning person and wasn’t super interested in smiling for the camera this morning.

The daycare that Tyler and Bella attend held their annual Halloween parade on Friday. The daycare corralled the parents in a roped-offed area and the kids were supposed to walk around what in effect was just a big circle. Bella, seeing that she could reach the desired end point by not going anywhere, dug her heels in and refused to budge. Miss Megan ended up carrying Bella over the parade route. Bella thought this was a good compromise. She didn’t have to waste the energy walking in a circle and had the added benefit that people stopped pulling on her arm. A win-win.

Bella admiring the view from her vantage point

Tyler on the other hand knows a photo-op when he sees one and demonstrated the latest in minus-sized firefighting gear.

Tyler is on the lookout for the first sign of trouble

Tyler waves to the crowd

My award for best costume goes to this guy.

I don't know this guy's name, but in my mind he will forever be known as Elvis

I’ll end with a few bonus pictures.

Run, Elmo, run

Bella ponders the Celtic pagan origins of Halloween

Dad: Tyler, who do you want to be president; Barack Obama or John McCain?

Tyler: I want to wear this firefighter hat.

Tyler remains undecided in his first presidential election

I think Chia is a good nickname for Isabella.

I told my mother-in-law (hi, Kitty) that I would take a video of Tyler and Bella opening their presents. The kids decided on an assembly line approach to opening their presents. Tyler was responsible for a majority of the actual unwrapping, while Bella took care of rolling on the floor and eating any bits of paper she happened upon.

After Maria’s pregnancy, full of mood swings and odd cravings, and the subsequent delivery, I needed a vacation. So I took a 7-month mental vacation. I’m feeling much better now. Maybe I’ll start a habit of posting more than twice a year. However, I’m feeling somewhat drained because I had completely forgotten how this mess called blogging works.

Hrmmm, annoucements:
–> I turned off comments because I was tired dealing with the spam that came along with them.
–> Email me if you know how to correctly punctuate the first and last sentences of this post. Thanks?

Tyler prefers directness. He has very little time for flowery language and overly ornamental naming traditions. His two favorite stuffed animals are a bear and a chicken named Bear and Chicken. In this vein, Tyler has named his sister Baby.

Tyler is often nostalgic for a time B.B. (before Baby). A few days ago, I changed a particularly heinous diaper that reminded me of a time before Isabella came along. It was a time when Tyler briefly flirted with idea of using the potty. In the end, he decided that the convenience of a mobile restroom was just too good to give up.

I told Tyler not to drink that last sippy cup of milk.

But did he listen to me? Nope.