Jokes and the 4 (almost 5) year old

Celeste needed me to sit with her a little bit before she fell asleep tonight. While we were talking about various things, the subject of humor and jokes came up.

Celeste told me about her favorite way to play knock-knock jokes. "You say 'knock-knock.' Then I say 'Nothing!'"

I decided to reach back in my memory to my old first-grade joke book and asked her, "What's red and goes up and down?"

Celeste wasn't sure, but she giggled at the answer: "A tomato in an elevator." She also wanted to know if it got stepped on and was squishy.

I then tried, "What's black and white and red all over?"

She thought long and hard before asking me for the answer, "A newspaper," and then we talked about the differences and similarities between r-e-d and r-e-a-d.

Then Celeste said she had a joke, "Why do kitties stay away from poodles in the rain?"

I tried to think of an answer and finally said something about fizzy hair.

Celeste just smiled and got all zen about it, "There is no answer."

Then she cracked up laughing.