Saturday, May 24, 2008

But Whyyyyyyy?

I was well warned about the incessant questions stage of a preschooler's development. I also saw parents roll their eyes when talking about their own kids reaching that annoying little milestone. I knew about it, I expected it, but I always just shrugged it off and looked forward to answering my inquisitive little genius' questions.

I underestimated the stage greatly.

Gracie's questions have been going on for sometime now, but lately they have been fired fast and furiously. I was prepared for questions like, "Why is the sky blue," or "Why is the grass green?" But instead, Gracie leans more toward the ridiculous.

"Is that a girl? Is she a tink? Whats a tink? Is that boy a tink?"

-or-

"What time is is? Is it forty-thirty o'clock? Is it nuffernatter o'clock? Whats nuffernatter? Does that mean its bedtime? Is is bed time o'clock?

-or-

"Is that the color orange? Whats orange? Orange starts with G. Does orange start with G? Is orange a tink? Is it orange nuffernatter o'clock?"

And it goes on and on and on, all day and all night. So far, Gracie doesn't understand the rules to the "No Questions" game.

And of course, in perfect Gracie fashion, when my eyes are bugging out of my head and the veins are throbbing in my temple from the insanity of all the questions, she chooses to ask, "Do you love me, Mommy?"

Lucky for her, I do. Even with all the questions.

13 comments:

Anne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anne said...

Oh, girl... I'm feelin' for ya! The questions are oh, so sweet and you get this chance to totally shape their impression of the world. But after the 96th question, well...

When Liv would do that and I'd had enough - "Well, what do YOU think?" It stopped the whys, if only for a couple of minutes, and gave me a peek inside that marvelous little brain of hers.

(sorry for the previous deleted comment - I realized after I had posted that I had mangled my thoughts. DOH!)

Katie L. said...

lol, loved this post! I luckily have a few years before my little guy is at that stage :)
I love how she makes up words like she knows what they are then asks what they are....too funny :)

Rowan Willow said...

What lil stinker...of course I mean that with affection. She is adorable!

My kids are still doing this 4-6-8. My 8 y.o. has really been asking "deep" questions, ya know the kind, no simple answer will do. My 6 y.o. just wants to"bug" us with her questions and my lil guy is overly curious and usually our answer aren't good enough!?!

DJ said...

Oh I am right there with you! My son is 3 1/2 and with him for some reason it's not why? it's how? How does this...., how does that..?

Janna said...

Okay, this just cracks me up! I so know exactly what you mean. My almost 5 yr old asks an average of 30 questions a minute. He NEVER stops. I've gotten really good at the "I don't know, what do you think?" response while my brain is miles away thinking about something completely different. Sometimes he catches me when I'm on autopilot and demands that I answer the question. Sometimes I get away with it, though. He can seriously make my brain so exhausted.

Carry Grace said...

awww....those crazy questions! Cade has his share of them for sure. What really annoys me is when he makes up some crazy word and expects me to know exactly what he is talking about. Like gossaduca! What is a gossaduca?

Kelly Drill said...

This post had me on the floor! My 2 1/2-year-old has already started this and it's almost always nonsense questions too. Generally beginning with "did you know...".

"Mom, can I have fufenflakes for breakfast? Did you know that fufen is my favorite word? Did you know that my friend Alex likes to do a fufen dance?"

I have to agree with previous posters that "Why do you think so?" tends to slow the "why" questions down for a little while and keeps their little minds working on something other than the next question. :)

Rosebud Collection said...

Isn't it funny how they can go on and on...One of our girls had the title, "The Mayor"..She was always asking questions..as she got older, she became quiet..guess she talked herself out in the early years.
Beautiful picture of your daughter..

Andrea Baker said...

awww that is sweet. Its so cute when our children unexpectedly show us affection out of the blue.

Cathy said...

very cute post... thomas' language skills are improving - he's finally saying more...and often it's very repetitive...but we are not quite at the endless stream of questions yet...something to look forward to! lol

Unknown said...

Very funny Marissa, i would try to tell that they grow out of this phase but i would be lying. My oldest- the 12 yr. old still asks 50 questions a day and if i don't know the answer- which is try for 90% of the questions- we have to look it up. Oiye!

Winklepots said...

LOL, I'm not quite there yet with Peri, but it sounds like a handful. "No one expects the Gracie Inquisition!"

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