With Apologies to Pluto, Mickey, Gentle Readers and My Son

Turns out Pluto isn't a planet after all. I'm getting confused, but it sounds like he didn't make the cut and is now considered a "dwarf planet" according to this story in the International Herald Tribune.

Confusing and sad.

Sorry for misleading and misdirecting everyone.

I told my son that I was wrong and Pluto wasn't a planet after all.

"What?!" he exclaimed, applying his ever-appropriate philosity.

"Pluto is not a planet."

"It's not?"

"I got it wrong. I'm sorry, I thought it was, but now they're saying it's a 'Dwarf Planet.'"

"Oh....what's a planet?"

Ah, yes, that would have helped for him to know what a planet was in the first place. For fun, I abbreviated the definition given in the article. "It's a celestial body orbiting around the sun," I began, "with sufficient mass for gravity and doesn't overlap with other orbiting bodies. Something like that."

"What?!"

"That's what they're saying. It's a new definition of a planet."

"Oh....where did you hear about it?"

"In a paper."

"Which one?"

"The International Herald Tribune."

"Oh.....(picks up the local print paper) is it this one?"

"Nope. It's online."

"Oh."

So a preschooler gets his first science lessons. This is what I imagine that college prep preschool must include in its curriculum. "Okay, children, let's talk about planets today. Everyone pull out your personal copies of The International Herald Tribune and turn to the Science section, okay?"