When your daughter asks to fly...

It all started as a little conversation over breakfast.
Elle: "Mom, do people ever try to fly?"
Amy: "Sure" -- and then I expound upon the ways that people have made wings for themselves and flying machines, some that work, some that don't. Hang-gliding, parachuting, airplanes, etc.
Elle: "Well, that's what I'm going to do for my birthday" (everyday it is a new idea for her birthday!)
"This is what we need to do. I need some balloons. The kind that have the different kind of stuff in them that you were telling me about, the kind that is lighter than air?"
Amy: "Helium?"
Elle: "right -- helium. Maybe 8 or so."
Amy interupts: "I'm not sure I know where to get those."
Elle: "Oh, mom, we have lots of time. You can just call around and ask and find the word in Spanish and find out... then we need a rope. Do we have lots of yarn?"
Amy: "No, we don't have any."
Elle: " That's ok, we'll get it at the store and we will braid it together so that it is really long, in rainbow colors. Then on my birthday, we will tie it to my waist and put the balloons on my arms and go to the park or somewhere where there aren't too many people or cars."
Amy: "I'm not sure, that we will be able to do that because...well..."
Elle: "Don't worry Mom! It is going to work out, should we go to the store right now to get the yarn?"

I tried to gently squash the hopes of that particular activity on Elle's birthday, but she has it all planned out and will not be deterred! Who am I to tell her she can't fly? I remember when she was a baby -- and we saw the moon in the sky one night and she earnestly reached for it and asked me if we could reach the moon?
What is a mom supposed to say? She has so much belief and hope.
I guess I wouldn't put it past her to fly or reach the moon.