Did that 8 year old just say, "Obama? OKAY!" ???

Okay, so this happened a few weeks ago but it still makes me laugh so I'll try to share it with you. Granted, this will be one of those "you had to be there" stories but I'm hoping that my enthusiasm will carry it through!

On Wednesdays I have a class with three adorable girls. Two are eight years old and the other is ten. They're all hysterical in their own way, from the youngest yelling at me that Sumire is pronounced "sue-me-LAY!" to the middle one impersonating a monkey for most of the class! But the high point of their quirkiness had to be a few weeks ago, right after Barack Obama was announced as America's new President Elect.

The girls are quietly working on their phonics worksheet. Actually, they're intently grasping their pencils and I can actually see the wheels turning in their heads while they try to solve the puzzle I've just given them. After two minutes of utter (oh-so-rare) silence, the eldest comically pops her head up and looks to me.

"Obama, okay?" she asks.

"Obama?? What?" I reply incredulously, thinking I'm mishearing some Japanese word I'm unfamiliar with.

"President Obama. Okay??" she says again, more insistently.

I laugh. This child uses "okay" any time she means "yes" (like when I ask her if she can ice skate, she says 'okay!') so I'm unsure of exactly what she means. Is she asking me if I voted for him or is she asking if he was announced as the winner of the vote?

At my laugh, the little monkey faced cutie pops her head up in the exact same hysterical fashion and just stares at me. I think this is the end of it when suddenly a very lengthy conversation erupts between the girls in Japanese.

I hear one say something that basically sounds like, "titter titter tut tut titter titter -Obama- tut tutter titter tut."

The other one, still grasping her pencil in her paw doesn't miss a beat. "tut tut tut ka titter titter tut ka -McCain- titter tut tut tut tetter tutter."

I can't discern any emotion in their words and my mind is racing, wondering exactly what they could be saying. The eldest one turns her attention back to me after two or three minutes and says, "Bush?"

I can't stop laughing at this moment. I'm just slain by the idea of two children suddenly talking politics and (for the most part) keeping me out of the conversation entirely. It's hysterical and makes the girls seem much older than they really are. It's quite endearing really. And I laugh so hard that the other teacher tells me later that he heard me say, "I can't believe you guys are talking politics!"

They don't understand much above "Hello! What's your name?" so I felt safe saying that, haha.
These kids just slay me!