C.H. Armstrong Books

I love little kids and the unique way they have of taking everything quite literally.  If you say “the sky is falling,” you can be sure that some child will duck for cover.  If you say “it’s raining cats and dogs,” some child somewhere will start to cry.  Their whole world is very literal.

This morning as I was leaving my local library, I entered the elevator at the same time as this adorable little 4 year old boy and his grandmother.  He was absolutely beautiful:  blonde hair, blue eyes, huge smile…and he was wearing a Superman cape.  Apparently, he was also extremely precocious and smart!

“Oh wow! ” I said to him as I stepped on the elevator.  “How cool is it that I get to share an elevator with Superman?!”

The child looked at me with a look of utter disbelief and barely concealed smug irritation.  “I’m not really Superman,” he said.

“Oh gosh…you sure look like him with that great cape you’re wearing.”

“Nope,” he said.  “I’m not Superman.  My mom bought this cape and shirt at JC Penny.”  Then as an afterthought he added, “You grownups are weird!  How can you not know that I’m not really Superman?  I’m only a little kid!”

And then he rolled his eyes.  He rolled his eyes!  At me!  I’d been dissed by a 4 year old!

Grandma and I just looked at each other and shrugged.  What else could we do?