Why?

Ah, the endless conversations sparked by this word, the never ending explanations. I love this stage. I love that my three-year-old is so curious about the world around him and how much he notices and wonders about. I love that his vocabulary and understanding have grown to the point that we can have such complex conversations. And I love that we can pass the time with nothing to entertain us but each other. However, I admit, it occasionally gets old.

The other day we were running errands, and Ian started his favorite car game, asking questions. I was already frazzled from the number of things I was trying to get done and with keeping his younger brother happy, but I answered as well as I could for about twenty minutes. But we got to the point where I had had enough (Why is the bus following us? Why is our car red? Why are we waiting for the light to change?) I could feel myself loosing patience, so in the nicest voice I could manage I said “Ian, I’m out of answers.”

His response was (of course) “Why?” I didn’t answer. We had several minutes of blessed silence.

Almost home now, I hear a little voice pipe up from the backseat. “Mom, you are out of answers; but I’m not out of questions.”

Awwww, and also no kidding.

And yesterday, while Ian was doing his thing again, JJ looked up at me and said in a perfect imitation of his brother‘s tone, “Why?” I laughed, rolled my eyes, and had to leave the room to sigh in frustration.