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Okay, those of you Mommas out there with 3 year olds will completely understand my angst with the question “Why?” these days. It is the most often spoken word out of my dear Petunia’s mouth and it is driving me crazy. On the one hand, in my idealistic, be-all-you-can-be mind, it’s fantastic that Petunia is asking so many questions. I love her desire to know things! But in my realistic, Mommy’s-cranky-from-getting-up-twice-last-night-to-test-sugar-bugs world, “why” is the bane of my existence. And the kicker is that Petunia will not just ask me a question once. She will ask it multiple times in the span of a couple of minutes. Hoping for a better answer? Maybe. Just wanting my attention? Possibly. Driving me crazy? Definitely. Well, one day I happened to think of this little gem that I will share with you in the hopes that it will better your world like it has bettered mine. Maybe it has already occurred to you to do this but, if it hasn’t, give it a try! Now when Petunia asks me a question and I think she genuinely does not know the answer, I will tell her, but not always. Most of the time now when Petunia asks a question I utter these marvelous four words: “Why do you think” before finishing my sentence with whatever the rest of her question was. Example: “Why do you think I said you couldn’t stand on the chair?”. “Why do you think you can’t go to bed without brushing your teeth?”. “Why do you think I won’t let you climb on the table?”. You get the picture. It allows her to think about the reasons why I have said “no” or even just to exercise her brain a little to come up with an answer for a question that does not involve Mommy’s permission to do something. “Why do crabs have claws?” “Why do you think?” Try it! You might come up with some pretty funny and memorable explanations for things and it’ll give you a respite from having to answer all of those “Why is the sky blue?” kinds of questions that tax a Mommy-brain when asked all day long in rapid-fire succession.