The questions of a 3 yr old.

This morning, as I tried to drink my first, precious sips of coffee to get my day started, I could not help but notice that my 3 y/o son, Harrison, standing next to me in his frog pajamas, already had a few questions for me. Now, anyone who has lived with a 3 y/o knows that on any given day, they ask about 783 questions, usually in rapid succession, most of which make no sense, and have absolutely no answer at all.  For the most part, I am able to  muttle thru them with a quick Yes or No, and move to the next task at hand.  There are those questions that require more attention, and time to explain, and occasionally will leave me a bit amazed at their level of understanding of some pretty deep things.  But for the most part, their questions are an odd concoction of thoughts and ideas, mixed in with things they hear from friends or on T.V., and are usually somehow tainted with what their immediate needs are, such as what they are about to eat, what they are about to do, or if they need to go to the bathroom.   I decided to jot down some of the random questions one day as they were being shot in my direction, and let me say, the results were rather interesting.  Here is a sampling, of the peculiar thought process of a 3 y/o boy.  

Do I have lungs?  Do cats drive?  Is the Easter bunny coming today for New Years?  Who's bringing us dinner?  Do my drums make me cough?  If I take a shower will I melt?  Did you know green, smells better than red?   Do germs make music?  If I stick my finger in my ear, will I pop my brain?  Can I be in charge?  Can I go to Texas today?  What comes out of my belly button?  Do dogs have mom's?  Where does dark come from?    Do you allow monsters in the house?   What happens if you punch yourself?   Why do you have white speckles in your hair?  (white "speckles" at my scalp, indicate a touch up is needed)  Does our house run out of batteries?   Do you know anything about bats?   Do you know anything about chocolate?   Do you know anything about worms?   Do you know anything about aliens?   Do my muscles smell good?   Do bugs poop?   Are you going to grow little someday?    Does Jesus live in me?  Is he all squished inside of me?   Does he want to get out?   Where did I come from...Costco?   Did you have a coupon to get me out of your tummy?   When I grow up, can I marry you?   Can it be my birthday today?   Can it be my birthday tomorrow?   Can it be my birthday on Saturday?   Why do my fingers always stick to my hands?    Why does it get dark when I close my eyes?   Mommy, are you a girl?   Does Daddy know you are a girl?   Do cowboys know how to dance?   Do cowboys like to eat popcicles?   If bugs are lost, do they cry?   Can I have a gorilla?   Can you put the refrigerator in the mailbox?   Does my feet need to potty?   Why do my feet like shoes so much?   Do you think my poop is pretty?   Do you think YOUR poop is pretty?   Do trees get mad?   If I play baseball, will my head hurt?    Why can't I fly?   Why do you like to wash dishes so much?   Can I drive?   Does our fish have a cell phone?   Why doesn't our fish have friends?   Can we go to Disneyworld after dinner?   Why does Daddy kiss you so much?   Do you love Daddy or something?  (the answer to that is YES!!!) 

After writing these down thru the course of the day, and reading back over them, I had to laugh at myself, remembering an incident earlier in the day, when I had actually tried to reason with him about why he needed to eat something for lunch, other than his favorite, peanut butter banana.  My question to him about what he might want to eat, other than his favorite peanut butter banana, must have been as bizarre to him, as some of his questions were for me.  Clearly, reasoning was not something I should have attempted with a 3 y/o.  The direction that their little brains go, at any given moment, can be excited, entertaining, and frightening, all at the same time.  It's always a reminder to me, that they absorb EVERYTHING happening around them, and I must mind my actions and words, because they will always mirror it, and usually have more than a few questions about it.  And those questions....ALL of them.... require answers.  There are the questions that they ask every single day, such as Harrison's daily question, "Who's bringing us dinner?", that you have to answer every single day, even though you  have absolutely NO idea why they keep asking such an odd question, but you can place a bet on the fact that tomorrow morning, they will ask it again.  Then there are those seemingly random questions that they ask, that give you a brief glimpse into what their minds are trying to digest and process at that particular moment in time.  The trick for me as a parent, is knowing which questions can be answered with a Yes or No, or the questions that I had better invest a bit more attention, and time.