I'm a Artie girl

Netflix is killing me. I am catching up on all sorts of amazing shows that I never got to see when they came out (because we were down on the teevee, which, if you know me, is ridiculous.)

My latest teevee obsession is "The Larry Sanders Show", and while every character on it is amazing, Arthur is really above and beyond.

Rip Torn's Arthur is about the single most brilliant comedic character I've ever seen.
So brilliant, that I'm going to give you both parts of this...

An End to (Part of) Childhood.

Maggie: Mommy, is Big Bird a person with feathers?
Me: Well...sort of. Why?
Maggie: Well, what is Big Bird?
Me: Well...Big Bird is sort of a puppet. There's someone inside of a big costume.
Maggie: (silence)
Maggie: Mommy? How about Zoey? Is she a person or a puppet?
Me: Sweetie, Zoey is a puppet.
Maggie: No, she's a person and so you are wrong.
Me: No, Mag. Zoey and Oscar and Grover and Cookie Monster are all puppets. There are people who use their imaginations to make Big Bird and Zoey and Elmo and all the other characters seem alive, but they're not really.
Maggie: You have made this my saddest day ever.

And then the tears flowed.

In retrospect, I guess there were some aspects of this conversation that I could have handled better. The problem is that she told me I am wrong, which seems to be the theme of this -- and let's face it every -- week.

I'm here all week at Awesome Parenting Skills Central, folks. Make sure to tip your waiters.