Wyntergrace Williams, the 14-year-old daughter of Montel Williams, is coming to Washington to lobby Congress to amend the Child Nutrition Act to add vegetarian options to school lunches, and, to support her cause, she’s sending a letter to Malia and Sasha Obama asking for their assistance.

Here’s an excerpt from the letter:

My name is Wyntergrace and I’m a big fan of yours. It seems that we have a few things in common. We all love dogs, live on the East Coast, have fantastic moms and maternal grand moms and both of our dads are quite famous. In our household we also eat healthy foods and I am working on a school project to get healthier foods in schools across the country. I would love for you to join my campaign and sign my petition and encourage other students and families to follow our own and respective families’ lead.

The problem is that many schools do not offer enough healthful choices. This is especially true when it comes to vegetarian meals. A lot of us ask for vegetarian meals out of compassion for animals, like I do, or because of concerns about health or the environment, but all students would benefit from having a variety of healthy options, and other plant-based meals available …

If we work together, we can make sure all students are able to eat healthy school lunches. I’ve created a petition to get healthy vegetarian lunch options in all schools. Would you please sign my petition at HealthySchoolLunches.org? And please ask your friends to sign, too. Thank you for helping me with my project and I would love to get together with you both sometime!

The fancy-schmancy private school Sasha and Malia attend, Sidwell Friends, already offers vegetarian options, but Wyntergrace is right: Many public schools do not provide such options for their students. What a fantastic cause, and it’s nice to see celeb spawn in the media for something other than Celebrity Rehab.

White House photo by Pete Souza

How’s that for a pedigree?

Rumors abounded earlier this weekend, but now it’s official. President Obama has fulfilled at least one of his campaign promises and given daughters Sasha and Malia a puppy.

The first family has settled on a first pet, a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog that the Obama girls are naming Bo.

The selection was one of the White House’s most tightly kept secrets.

President Barack Obama’s daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, picked a black and white pup, a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity told The Associated Press Saturday night.

The dog is a gift from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who owns several Portuguese water dogs himself.

Actually, I need to point out that the AP story above is slightly wrong. The dog wasn’t a gift from Senator Kennedy. That would be illegal. Bo, who shares the same lineage as Ted Kennedy’s two Portuguese water dogs, is actually being “re-homed” from the Texas kennel where he was living, something the Obamas have to do to avoid ethics violations.

Bo will have his first official press conference this Tuesday, when he will be presented to the Obamas by Senator Kennedy.

The girls chose the name Bo because their grandfather–Michelle Obama’s father– was nicknamed “Bo” (after Bo Diddley) and because their cousin has a cat named Bo. And, presumably because they wanted to give all the pun-happy headline writers in the mainstream media an excuse to dust off all those old “Bo knows” jokes. I’ll also bet you a whole dollar that I won’t be able to make it through the day tomorrow without hearing some cheesey news anchor utter the words “Who let the dogs in?” I refuse to participate.

Although not from a shelter, the dog was technically homeless, having been returned to the kennel by a previous owner who decided he could not care for the dog. Even so, some animal rights activists are upset that the First Family didn’t opt to adopt a dog from a D.C. area shelter.

The President and First Lady are at Oprah status right now.  You do not want to piss them off.

Ty Inc., in the age-honored tradition of increasing sales via controversy, has introduced two homely little dolls named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia.  They have dark coloring and share the names of the first daughters, but according to Ty’s PR flack, they aren’t modeled after the Obama girls.  Sigh.

Needless to say, the First Family is not amused.  Press secretary Katie McCormick Lelyveld released a statement:  “We feel it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes.”

Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia join the family of TyGirlz that includes Lucky Lindsay, Happy Hillary, Precious Paris and Bubbly Britney.  And no, that is not an attempt at humor.  These abominations actually exist.

Sasha and Malia Obama had quite the night last night — after watching their father get sworn in, they watched a bunch of Disney flicks in the White House movie theater, and then went on a scavenger hunt that ended with …. drum roll, please …. the Jonas Brothers.

The visit came after Malia, Sasha, and some of their friends from their new school Sidwell Friends saw two new Disney movies — High School Musical 3 and Bolt — and participated in a scavenger hunt in which they ran around their new home, learning about this history of the White House. White House ushers had organized a similar scavenger hunt for a young Chelsea Clinton when she first moved into the White House in 1993.

At the end of Malia and Sasha’s scavenger late-night hunt, they opened a door to discover their favorite musical performers: Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas — the pop boy band sensation who first exploded on the Disney Channel and also appeared earlier this week at the Kids’ Inaugural Concert.

So there you have it, folks.

The forty-fourth U.S. Presidency, sponsored by Disney.

“Four years goes by so fast, so absorb it all, enjoy it all!”

Jenna and Barbara Bush advise Sasha and Malia Obama in an open letter published in the Wall Street Journal, while simultaneously implying that their father will be a one-term President.

Nah, this was shitty wording on their part, but, in general, it is a very sweet and endearing letter. I am so excited to have Sasha and Malia in the White House!!!

Now this is smart Presidential parenting.

To calm the flurry of paparazzi looking to get a shot of the Obama girls’ first day of school, President-elect Obama actually took the damn photos himself — as the girls prepared to leave for school — and released them right away. On Flickr.

In fact, there’s an entire Flickr photostream called “Obama-Biden Transition Project” where you can check out snapshots of damn near every step the President-elect takes as he prepares to govern this nation.

A Flickr photo stream.

Things are most certainly changing, you guys.

Is it really, really horrible of me that I’m totally rooting for like a billion cell-phone camera pics of Sasha and Malia Obama at Sidwell Friends to hit the web in the next couple of days?

It probably is, but I can’t help myself.

On Monday, the First Daughters will attend their first day of school at Sidwell Friends, the exclusive, private D.C. school they’ll be at while their father is President. The country hasn’t had a First Kiddo since Chelsea (who also attended Sidwell), and she was just the one. Now there are TWO! And they’re YOUNG! And ADORABLE! And BLACK!

Paparazzi field day.

Rumors are already swirling that photo agencies are looking to pay the Obamas’ Sidewell classmates for cell-phone camera pics of the girls. Plus you can bet that they’ll be camped outside the school all day tomorrow, hoping for pics of the girls walking in with their lunch pails and backpacks.

Although I will be cooing over these photos with the rest of the country, part of me is really nervous for Sasha and Malia. Not only are they instant, super-young celebrities, they’re also de facto role models for every young black girl on the planet — and a type of role model that has never really existed before in this country. We’ve never had young, black First Kiddos before. I think if anybody’s up to the challenge, it’s Sasha and Malia, but, man, it sure is an awful lot of pressure to put on two little girls. I hope they can have some semblance of normalcy to their lives.

“I’m thinking that will inspire big thoughts.”

Ten-year-old Malia Obama, explaining to her father her intention to do her homework at the desk in the Lincoln bedroom after the family moves into the White House.

What is even better than a new puppy?

NOTHING.

But a close second is a guest spot on Hannah Montana, which Sasha and Malia Obama have been offered.

“They probably will. The invitation is there,” Billy Ray Cyrus told Access Hollywood, although he refused to give further details.

What a BRILLIANT ratings grab. I have never watched a second of this show in my life, but, if the First Kids were on it, I would totally tune in!

Meanwhile, the celeb magazines who chose to put Barack Obama on their cover rather than a celebrity following the election? Made the right choice. Those mags are far outselling their competitors. Suri Cruise may be cute, but it turns out she’s no President-elect.