Why?

For some reason I thought that “Why?” was a phase for three-year-olds. And I figured we were lucky to skip that phase. I was wrong. Pookie asks “why” about 3600 times a day. I figured it out. He asks “why” approximately every 12 seconds—which is five times per minute; times that by 60 minutes in an hour. And he’s awake about 12 hours a day. But I’m getting a little sneakier with my responses. Now I say, “Why do you think . . .?” after every tenth "why." Then he usually responds, “I don’t know.” And then finds another thing to ask “why” about.

At first I was determined to not be one of those moms who says, “Because,” or “Because I said so,” or “Because I’m the mom,” or “Stop asking me why!” But sadly, this past week I have succumbed to every single one. I’ve been telling myself, “He doesn’t ask ‘why’ just to be annoying. He wants to know.” I actually tell myself this frequently throughout the day. But aaaargh!!!!!