Who is the strongest?

After Sam (age 10) caught the bus to school yesterday, I took the other three grandchildren to McDonalds for breakfast. Ian (age 4) and I got into a bit of an argument. He said he believed Spiderman is stronger than Superman. Well, having grown up with Superman as my number one super hero, I had to disagree. Neither of us was willing to let it rest. I never convinced him. I guess some lessons the younger generation just has to learn on their own the hard way.

Ian asked for ice cream. I told him McDonalds does not serve ice cream for breakfast. I asked Caleb (age 12) and Ian to throw our trash away. A moment later Caleb came rushing back and whispered in my ear, “Grandpa, a boy standing next to the trash can was eating an ice cream cone.” At almost precisely the same instant Ian conveyed the same info. I was dead.

The ice cream was worth it when on about her third bite, Lilly Ruth (age 1) yelled, “Yummy! Yummy!” loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear. A train passed by. Hearing the horn, Lilly Ruth said, “too too tain.” Ian said, “No, Lilly, choo choo train.” She said, “Yeah, too too tain.” He said more vociferously, “No, Lilly, c-h-o-o c-h-o-o t-r-a-i-n.” She said, “Yeah, too too tain.” In that moment I realized how I should have handled the Spiderman/Superman debate. I should have stated my opinion, pretending I was actually agreeing with Ian.