Petey: I wuv you.

Me: I love you, too, honey.

Petey: I wuv you, Mommy. I wuv you ten.

Poppy occasionally likes to pretend she’s the Sphinx. She’ll plant herself at the top or bottom of the stairs and insist that any stair-goers solve a riddle before they can pass. The question is generally something along the lines of, “Who takes care of Pete and gives him food?” Acceptable answers include “Mommy” and “Daddy.”

This morning, she stopped Pete as he headed downstairs for breakfast. His riddle was a doozy:

“What do cats do in the morning when they read the newspaper to cats?”

Now, I wouldn’t know what to say to that. I would’ve had to perish slowly at the top of the stairs. Petey, however, knew just what to say. In a barely audible whisper, he murmured his response:

“Meowmeowmeowmeow.”

And that, according to our small blonde quizmaster, was the correct answer. While Pete sped toward his yogurt and cereal, I asked her what he’d said.

In the event that you’re ever faced with a sphinx who’d like to know what do cats do in the morning when they read the newspaper to cats, the correct answer is: Meowspaper.

Obviously.

Pete: I want a doughnut.

Me: I don’t have any doughnuts, baby.

Pete: How ’bout a big doughnut?

Me: I don’t have any doughnuts at all. Not even a big one.

Pete: OK, I go get some.

Me: How are you going to do that?

Pete: I, uh, I probably go get a big doughnut.