The question came from the front row in a crowded room of kids, during an appearance Bode Miller and other U.S. skiers made at an elementary school nestled in the Rocky Mountains, not far from this weekend's World Cup events.

The little boy wanted to know: "What is your job going to be when you're done ski racing?"

When it was his turn to respond, Miller leaned forward, rubbed the scruff on his cheeks and smiled. This was one audience he knew exactly how to charm: 150 or so members of kindergarten to fourth grade at the Eagle County Charter Academy.

"I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up," he began, eliciting some chuckles. "I think when I'm done skiing, my main job, my first job, will be a dad. I think that's probably the most important job that I can have. Hopefully I won't have to do manual labor, because I don't like that very much. I think I have plenty of time to decide if I want to have a career after skiing. But I hope my job is being a dad."

It was far more revealing than what Miller is likely to say to a group of reporters. Indeed, he didn't speak at all to media members waiting at the end of a downhill training run Wednesday at nearby Beaver Creek, where he was 47th-fastest of 85 finishers.

One is hesitant to make snap judgments about character or changes in character, especially when the subject is someone as enigmatic as Miller. But at that school, in that particular setting, on that particular day, Miller certainly seemed far more comfortable _ and, dare we say it, more mature _ than he did in the whirlwind of the 2006 Turin Games, when he infamously declared, "I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level."

Comfortable as can be on Tuesday, he was sincere when appropriate, and he drew laughs when appropriate, including when kiddingly challenging one student to a moonwalking contest after Miller revealed he's a Michael Jackson fan (alas, time ran out). Now the father of a 21-month-old girl, now back with the U.S. Ski Team after a two-year hiatus, Miller appears to be approaching February's Vancouver Olympics with a different mindset than he did the last Winter Games.

"I don't really have a comment on whether he's more mature now," Miller's agent, Lowell Taub, said in a telephone interview. "But he's certainly more at ease."