Friday, May 22, 2009

what's that? my head exploding.

We've entered the stage of the eternal question. The question around here isn't, "Why?" as you might expect, but rather some variation on, "What's that?" I hear, "What's that?" and "What happened?" about as often as I breath in and out. After a phone call in which the other party is on speaker phone and River can hear the entire exchange, he asks, "What say?" What do you think we said, kid? You heard the whole thing!

Sometimes he asks when we've encountered something new, like a strange truck or a weird plant, and I'll try to do my best to explain. Other times he's reading a story and doesn't quite follow the plot. Much of the time, however, he seems to have his mouth on autopilot and asks about things he knows perfectly well.

"What's that?"
"What do you think it is, honey?"
"Airplane."
"Exactly."

"What say?"
"Well, I told your dad we're on our way home."

I haven't quite reached the exasperated point yet, mainly because I know his ever-expanding curiosity has found a new form of expression and I love that. I love that he wants to understand, that he thinks I have all the answers, that he's constantly in the process of learning. But someday soon, I may have to answer "What's that?" with an explanation of how mommy's brains exploded onto the floor after the millionth time I heard that question.

1 comment:

Julie P said...

OMG I could have written this post. Only Ally says it like Whas that? I know she can say the words better she just gets lazy in her pronounciation and it DRIVES me NUTS. I was at TJ Maxx today (alone no Ally or Becky) and there was a toddler there saying "Whaz that" over and over again. I had to leave the store - I couldn't deal with it.
It is great that they are into learning and being curious but that phrase is killing me.
Thanks for sharing so I could vent and know I'm not the only mom feeling this way.