Why?

Behold, the ever curious and relentlessly inquisitive stage of childhood...the 'Why phase'. I thought we had entered this phase many months ago, simply because Koen really began to talk a lot! But, alas, I was mistaken! There truly is a time when every sentence out of a child's mouth is a question...or even just a word...."Why?" Well, we have arrived.

I find myself trying to outsmart him by answering his questions with answers that lead to a dead end for the topic. But somehow he manages to continue the interrogation, or even just start a new line of questions altogether. :(

Here's an example:

Mommy, why do we brush our teeth?

-So that they are clean.

Why do we want them to be clean?

-Because we ate food and we want to wash it off of our teeth.

Why do we want to wash off the food?

-So that the tooth bugs won't come.

Why do we want the tooth bugs to not come?

-Because tooth bugs cause cavities.

Why do tooth bugs cause cavities?

-Ahhh! They just DO, Koen. They just DO!

This sort of banter goes on and on....and on. Trust me, I appreciate his innocent curiosity, but when the timing is bad, it can really challenge my patience!

On a separate story, the following conversation occurred this morning as we ate our cereal. It made me laugh so hard inside (I refrained from displaying my amusement, because Koen was rather serious about his idea).

Finn was in his high chair, screeching and yelling about as usual during mealtime. Koen was watching Finn carry on, meanwhile trying to concentrate on not spilling his milk with each slow bite of cereal.

He looked up at me and said,

"We have a loud baby."

(pause)

"How can we get a baby that doesn't talk?"

After a very long pause and a couple more bites of breakfast (and me, trying not to laugh)...

"Maybe we could use owie."

"Owie?" I repeated.

"No, Owie...Drew's baby."

"Oh, Allie!" (Allie is the baby that I tend for a couple of hours each week during preschool.)

"Yes, the baby that Barb has." (Barb is my friend, Drew's and Allie's mom). "Maybe we could switch our baby with Barb's baby."

This was so hilarious, but you also have to know how sincere he was. Koen didn't once crack a smile during this conversation. He was truly trying to problem solve here. And if you think of it from a three-year-old's perspective, it's makes perfect sense. When you have a defective product, you exchange it for a good one, right?

Never fear, we're not going to exchange Finn.