He's too smart for me

Man, I can't wait to go through the teenage years with ES. (Just a little bit of sarcasm there.)

He turns 8 years old this month.

He's already started to call me out when he knows I'm wrong. I suppose I brought this upon myself though. I have a tendency to be very sarcastic and say things just to get a rise out of him, so he has learned over time to question the things I say and determine if what I said was true or if I was teasing him again.

I suggested we go out for Mexican food tonight in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Not because I have any reason to celebrate Cinco de Mayo mind you, only because I love Mexican food and will use any excuse I can to go eat Mexican food. ES responded that we shouldn't go out for Mexican because all the Mexican restaurants would be busy because it's Cinco de Mayo.

Did I mention he's almost 8?

Yep, you're right. You got me there, son.

So we went to Bluz Brothers Barbecue for dinner instead and they had an awesome lineup of tunes playing from Sirius satellite radio. As we got ready to leave dinner, they started playing R.E.M. "Stand." I was singing along as usual when we left the restaurant. We got to the part about, "Now face North," and I hopped and spun and landed facing one direction. After I landed, I said to myself, "Self, that's not really north you're facing, but oh well." We continued walking toward the car, and I got to the "Now face West," part and I hopped and landed - this time actually facing west.

ES immediately threw a flag on the play.

"Daddy." He said it dead-pan, matter-of-factly. "If you're facing west now, then you weren't facing north back there the first time you hopped."

Yep. He caught me alright. (I bet if I had asked him to figure out which way really was North there in the parking lot, then he would have figured it out pretty quick).

Then there are the questions he asks...

It's great when he asks these questions when we're out on a hike or driving somewhere together and have time to talk about it. More often than not though, he asks me these questions right at bedtime. Every night, I tuck him into bed, we say his bedtime prayers together, I kiss him and say, "Goodnight," and then it begins...

"Daddy?"

"Yes, son?"

"You know how Russia used to be part of the Soviet Union with a communist government? What type of government did they have before they became communist?"

or

"Why are some countries poor? Why can't the poor countries just print more money?"

or

"Why is President Obama going to move all our troops from Iraq to Afghanistan?"

or

"Why do we have copyright laws?"

or

"What type of government did India have before they became a British colony?"

or

Update 5/15/09: "What does force majeure mean?"

Did I mention he turns 8 this month?

I need to bring my laptop with me to tuck ES in to bed at night because I'm running out of answers to his questions. I should just prop my laptop on his night table with wikipedia and the CIA World Factbook queued-up ready to answer the question of the evening.

I can't help but wonder how much longer it will be before he thinks he's smarter than me - or actually IS smarter than me (gulp!).

What then?