But... why?

We've entered the inevitable stage of toddlerhood.

Yes, you know what I'm talking about.

The stage where every.single.thing I say is followed by the question, "Why?"

It's honestly not so bad for the first few rounds of questions. Recently Little Man & I have had a few fantastic conversations about how rain works, how food is harvested, how different appliances in our home work, the differences between babies and toddlers, and many other topics. After every statement I make, his little voice asks, "Why?" one more time, and because of that we've been able to get really deep into quite a large number of topics. I can tell that he is listening so very intently, picking out important details, and learning so beautifully.

But then we hit those other conversations where I honestly want to resort to the old tried and true, "Because I said so." I haven't uttered those words yet, but I'm sure they're coming at some point.

Lately during the more silly conversations, I've been answering question trees that I'm having trouble getting through. Such as:

"Why do you have to put the applesauce back in the refrigerator?"

"But why will it go bad?"

"But, Mama, why do things spoil that stay out?"

"Why does bacterias get in there? What is bacterias?"

"But why is my sister done eating it?"

"But why doesn't she want more?"

And so on, and so on, and so on. Forever.

Well, maybe not forever - but sometimes I just need to put something away. And I will say, parenting is making me into a sneaky person. Sometimes I just have to turn my back to the kids and fix something on the opposite countertop in the kitchen only so that I may make a sandwich without being asked a million questions about it.

I will say that I love Little Man's inquisitive mind. I think that he is such a fantastic child to parent and teach and learn alongside with. So, I guess - if that means hearing the question "Why?" one hundred and fifty times each day for the next few years - I'm pretty okay with that!