Inside Chelsea Clinton's Life as a Mom
Photo via People.com
Making speeches and talking with people comes naturally to Chelsea Clinton’s parents, former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — and now the new mom is sharing the family’s gift of gab with her daughter.
Each day the 34-year-old sparks up chats with Charlotte, 4 months, at sunrise in their New York City apartment. “I start talking to her, when I’m changing her diaper in the morning and when we’re picking out what clothes she’s going to wear for the day,” the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation tells People in a video with Sesame Street’s Elmo promoting Talking is Teaching, a collaboration between the foundation’s Too Small to Fail initiative, Sesame Workshop, and Text4baby. “It’s so important that little kids, kids Charlotte’s age, and kids your age, Elmo, be read to and talked to and sung to,” she explains on camera. “It helps their brains develop.”
Photo: Jon Davidson/Office of President Clinton/AP Photo
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Also on their agenda each morning? World news, of course. “I read her the news every morning,” reveals the scholar, who received her PhD in international relations from England’s Oxford University last year. “She agrees with me on everything right now.”
Photo: William Regan/AP Photo
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The former first daughter takes mothering her “beautiful baby” seriously indeed. “I try really hard to be a good mommy,” declares Clinton, wed to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, 37 (above, left). “I think it’s the most important job in the world.”
The Clintons are no slouches as grandparents either, she adds, noting that they crack open books with Charlotte every time they visit. “We all kind of compete to see who’s going to read her stories.” Favorites include Caroline Jayne Church’s board book, Good Night, I Love You, and Mo Willems' “Pigeon” books.
Photo: Jon Davidson/Office of President Clinton/AP Photo
Grandmother Hillary also offers lullabies (Chelsea says, “I love watching her sing to Charlotte.”) while Grandpa Bill plays tour guide. “He loves walking up and down the hallway with her (past our bookshelves) every time pointing out a different book to her and telling her that someday she’ll be old enough to read that book herself,” Chelsea reveals. “It’s so sweet.”
But bedtime is all about mom and dad. “Marc and I read to Charlotte every night,” says Clinton, admitting that Mezvinsky’s theatrics takes it to a whole other level. “My husband has so much fun taking on all these different characters. Everyone ends up giggling.” No wonder the multi-hypenate swears, “I’m so happy being a mom.”
Photo: William Regan/AP Photo
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