The inquisitive toddler

Right now it's funny to think our toddler barely spoke at all his first year, then only very sparingly after that. He's an absolute chatterbox now, at least around people he's comfortable with (us mostly), and a huge chuck of it is questions. Yes we've reached that stage and a couple times a day I feel like I'm going to lose my mind.

I know I know, this is how toddlers learn. As parents we're responsible for teaching nearly everything to our little ones, especially in this case since our son only goes to preschool twice a week and not during the summer. So he's going to ask ask ask, and it's my responsibility to answer as best I can and be as patient as possible. That's just hard to do when it can be all day every day.

It really ramped up with (what else?) his love of vehicles. On walks with the dog he'd point at literally every car or truck or whatever passing by. What's that? When I have the TV on and it's the Google Home images that change every so often. What's that? When I make nearly any noise or say something to no one in particular, like when I get frustrated while driving. What happened? When the song changes on the radio, or even when it hasn't yet. What's this song called?

Reading what I've written thus far doesn't sound so bad. I don't mean to say what we're experiencing is unique or even worse than other parents. And honestly our son does break up the questions with times of independent play, like right now after I asked him to. But when he's on a roll he's on a roll. A few examples from the past 24 hours...

Yesterday morning I put on a dri-fit shirt, since we've reached the point of the summer in Maryland where it's sunny, mid-90s and stupidly humid.

Are you mowing today?

No, I just mowed a couple days ago.

But the grass is long.

No, the grass isn't long.

Why isn't the grass long?

Because I just mowed a couple days ago.

Allll-right.

Then we drove to the grocery store, with the following taking place over about 5 minutes.

There's a delivery truck!

Yes son.

Why is there a delivery truck?

Because packages need to be delivered.

There's a fire truck!

Yes.

Why is there a fire truck?

Because they were out somewhere.

Probably putting out a fire.

Maybe, though that's not very likely.

Why isn't that very likely?

Never-mind.

There's two American flags!

Yes there is.

Why is there two American flags?

Because those businesses want them.

Why do they want them?

I don't know, they're proud to be Americans I guess.

There's a big RV!

Yes son.

Why is there a big RV?

Because someone parked one there.

These frequently go longer too, with the repeated why why why digging to the heart of the matter and usually ending with me unable to answer. This is how I spend my days.

The best part is a recent escalation, something I hadn't really considered possible. Internally I know he's barely three and there's probably years more of this to go, I don't want to think about that. The most flustering questions at the moment are when he asks to do something then immediately asks why we're doing it.

Son, what do you want to do today?

Go to Target!

Okay, we can go to Target. There's a few things we need.

Why are we going to Target?

Can we play baseball?

Yes, we can play baseball?

Why are we going to play baseball?

More than anything it's the non-stop, nearly never-ending nature of this stage of life that pushes me beyond my limits of patience more often than I want to admit. That's where I am right now. But this is certainly something I'll survive because in the grand scheme I love our son more than I'll get annoyed. I'll try to ignore that most likely in a couple years it'll be an onslaught from two kids at once.

Maybe if my wife has any favorite exchanges she'll leave them in the comments. :)