Am I smarter than a four-year old?

I'm sure know one really wants to read about me that much, so I thought I shared a little something about Eden. Eden recently had her 4th birthday and I'm convinced that there's something a little different about her now. I mean, she's always been bright and clever, but suddenly she seems even brighter and cleverer. Let me share two recent experiences to illustrate my point.

Eden has an amazing imagination and especially loves to pretend to be different animals. For the past two years our mornings frequently begin as follows:
Me: "Good morning Eden. How did you sleep?"
Eden: "Great dad. Hey, what do you want to be?"
Me: "I don't know, I was thinking about being a giraffe or an elephant."
Eden: "Well, I was thinking about being a tiger. I'm going to be a tiger."
Of course, it could be just about any animal. Sometimes Kirsten and I are the Mommy and Daddy animals and sometimes we're the zookeepers. Sam is always the baby brother animal.

Frequently at some point in the day, usually after we ask Eden to do something, we'll hear the following question, "Do baby tigers listen to their parents?" Of course, I always assure her that the baby animals do indeed listen to their parents perfectly without exception. A few days ago Eden was a shark. I asked her to come to the table to eat her shark food. She replied, "Dad, I'm a super shark. Super sharks get to do what they want." I quickly answered, "Well Eden, that's almost right. Super sharks are super not because they do what they want, but because they do what's right. Super sharks always do what's right and eating dinner is the right thing to do." Eden quickly came to eat her shark food with her octopus spoon and I was satisfied with my cleverness.

Later that evening Eden and Sam were taking baths in the "shark pool." When it was time to get out I said, "Super shark, it's time to get out of the shark pool." Without missing a beat or even looking up Eden answered in full confidence, "Dad, I'm not a super shark now. I'm just a shark." Her message was clear and she continued to play with her bath toys. Realizing I had just been outwitted, I did the only thing I could do: I let her play. She deserved it.


Not every event turns out so nicely though. Last week Kirsten went into the bathroom and found the toilet paper roll was completely unraveled. She called out, "What happened in here?!" Eden entered the bathroom with a look of both surprise and distress and said, "I know Mom, I can't believe it...I forgot I was four years old!"
There she is. Cute and innocent as can be! I find myself increasingly challenged to match her cleverness. I have to ask: am I smarter than a four-year old?