Enquiring Minds

We are full-on in the phase of “Why”.  For the most part, Dave and I are amused by all the questions.  But the inquiring mind of our three-year-old makes us realize how little we actually know about anything.  Everything.  So we’ve had our fair share of Humble Pie.

In the span of twenty minutes (the time it takes to drive from my dad’s house to our house), I came up with what I thought were pretty decent answers to the following:  “Why do people build flags?”  “What if there was no Earth?”  “Why do people need tongues?”  “Why is a dead end ‘dead’?”  “Why does the moon follow us home?”  The problem is that to a three-year-old, each answer just raises more questions.  My “pretty decent” answers produced mostly silence and a subsequent “why?” from her (the ultimate nah-nah-na-boo-boo).  So after considering the answer, choosing appropriate language to use so that she will understand yet also be challenged and introduced to new and useful vocabulary, and presenting my reply in a way that will not freak her out (my “what if there was no Earth” answer somehow found me discussing how the Earth was the perfect distance from the Sun so as to be warm enough to sustain life but cool enough not to turn us into giant balls of flame, and at that point I wondered if I had gone too far), what I get in return is basically a “you really sucked at explaining that to me” wrapped up in “but WHY?” 

A few times I’ve gotten to the point where I really have no more to say about a given subject.  I’ve exhausted my knowledge on the matter, and so my final answer is “because that’s just the way it is.”  Sometimes after receiving that answer, Ellen actually erupts into tears and says “but I KNOW there’s more ‘bout that.  Can’t you tell me some more?”  (To wit: “Why is the snow white?” and “Why do people have ten fingers?”)          

I suppose there’s no hope that Cecilia will ask the same questions when she turns three, so I could have about two years to ruminate…or at least do a really comprehensive internet search.  Oh well.