Miss Smarty Pants

I was driving down the road the other night with my 8-year-old daughter. She started telling me that even though the stars look really small to us, they are actually many times larger than the earth.

Well, I'm glad to know she's actually been paying attention in science class!

So, I decide to engage in a bit of silliness to encourage her to use her imagination and creativity. That's what the parenting books say to do, right? Well, apparently the authors of these books have never met my daughter.

I told her that I thought it would be fun to travel to one of those stars. "Wouldn't that be interesting?" I queried. With a dramatic eye roll that only little girls can manage when dealing with their not-so-enlightened moms, she said, "Mom, you would never make it. You would be incinerated and then vaporized before you could even get to a star!"

She didn't say "UGH!" but I suspected that she wanted to. Miss Smarty Pants usually knows when to push her luck and when to keep her pie hole shut.

Who knew that an 8-year-old could be so literal-minded? No silly imagination games for this kiddo, no siree! But she's always been like this.

We went to Disney World when Miss Smarty Pants was 6, and I spotted Cinderella across the way. The line to see her was incredibly short, so I asked my daughter if she wanted to go meet Cinderella. She replied (in a very patient voice...like she was speaking to a slow child), "Mom, that's just some lady in a Cinderella costume. Cinderella is just a character from a movie. She's NOT real! Can we go ride Space Mountain again?" Oh, and don't forget the eye rolling. She's really a pro at that whole eye rolling thing! So much for the magic of Disney, right?

We did finally get a picture of her with Donald Duck, but only because he was wearing a poncho and sombrero, and she thought that was cool.

I truly believe that Miss Smarty Pants may just realize her dream of becoming a scientist. After all, she's got the brain for it. Hopefully, she won't do anything to get incinerated or vaporized..... Can I get an "AMEN?"