Where, Why...

Uh oh. We might be entering THAT phase of toddlerhood - whywhywhywhy mommy, why. This morning I went in to get the Coop up for the morning, he was on a search of his crib for his 'chooch' aka his pacifier. It is the only time he still uses one, when he sleeps. If it means he goes to bed without any discussion and sleeps through the night he can have one til he goes away to college.

I digress. He couldn't find the chooch, and was requesting assistance by saying 'Chooch??' repeatedly. So I began moving his stuff around, saying 'where is it' and he is repeating 'where, where' and I am saying 'it's not there' and he is saying 'not there'. Finally, I couldn't find it, and said 'it must be gone'. At which point he looks at me and asks 'WHY?'

Why? Did you not only use the word why, but appropriately? You don't even turn 2 for another month. It is too early for the WHY stage. I am not ready for the WHY stage. I need to complile a list of clever responses to WHY so I don't get caught in the Because I Said So or Because I am the Mommy or JUST BECAUSE loop. Sometimes those answers are completely appropriate, but you can't overuse them, they will lose their power. They need to be reserved and said with a certain amount of doom and gloom in your voice, like Darth Vadar, or Doc Hudson from the movie Cars, with just the right dose of imposing threat in them.

I love that he is so interactive, and chatting up a storm. On most days it is still mostly babble. But it is purposeful babble, and he is very clear on what he is attempting to communicate. Heaven forfend you don't respond appropriately when his babble actually requires a response. Then the babble is repeated, with more force, with more obvious hand gestures and head nods and that look of 'Are you completely daft woman? I need more BANANA.'

Someday he will be asking for the keys to the hover craft (won't we have them as our standard mode of transportation by 2022?) and I will long for the days when questions were limited to 'why'. So for now I will try to appreciate these moments, and not sigh too often.