Last night during dinner, my almost-5-year-old daughter looked at me and said, "Mom, can you get a baby in your belly so I can have a sister or a brother?"

I almost choked on my green beans; I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud. "Sorry honey, that's just not going to happen."

"But why, Mom? I want someone to play with me!"

"Sweetheart, if I had another baby, it wouldn't be able to play with you for a long time. Also, babies are a lot of work and I don't have time to take care of another kid." Yes, I realize it sounds like a "we're-not-getting-a-puppy" discussion.

"Okay, I guess I'll just have to play with my cousins and my neighbors."

Phew.

Space Girl

Ever since my daughter discovered that not only is there such a thing as outer space, but some people actually go there, she has wanted to become an astronaut. It's not something she talks about all the time, but she has said on more than one occasion that she wants to be a "Space Girl" when she grows up.

Based on her still-ongoing obsession with bodily functions, I've nurtured a small hope that perhaps one day she will go to medical school.

Last week, we were talking about bodily functions (read: normal conversation for us) and I asked her if she might ever want to be a doctor. She replied, "No, I want to be a Space Girl!"

Then I had a brilliant idea. I said, "What if you went to medical school, then entered astronaut training and became a Space Doctor?"

I could see the wheels turning as she considered my scenario. "Yeah!" was her enthusiastic response.

My kid is awesomesauce.