Why?

I title this post "Why?" for 2 reasons.

Reason #1: This is now one of Andrew's favorite words, second only to his previous favorite, "Huh?" Between these two intelligent phrases, you now know about 80% of his contribution to conversations. To give you a little sample, here is a typical conversation with the boy as of late...

Andrew: Mommy, I want to go outside.
Mommy: Okay, put your shoes on and we'll go out.
A: Huh?
M: Put your shoes on first and then we'll go outside.
A: Huh?
M: Just put your shoes on.
A: Why?
M: Because you can't go outside without shoes...it's too cold.
A: Why?
M: Because it's almost winter.
A: Why?
M: It just is!
A: Huh?

This is the point where I run screaming out of the room. Andrew can no longer remember the initial request, and we have deteriorated into a meaningless conversation. Now repeat this scenario about 50 times, and you have my day. Oh, wait, imagine dealing with it when you have less that 4 hours sleep total (and that's not consecutive folks). Yea, we're one big happy family.



Reason #2 for the Why?: Why do people have more than one child? Let me rephrase...why did I have more than one child? I love Lily...so much it amazes me that I can feel this way about two little people at the same time. But after 50 repetitions of the above scenario added into the mischievous, devious, downright naughty behavior of my son, I wonder why I thought it would be a good idea to have to do this all over again in 3 years. Some of you may be aghast at my suggestion that Andrew would ever be naughty. Let me list for you some of his more charming behaviors over the last 24 hours:
--whacking furniture, floors, dogs, mommies with a measuring tape
--purposefully pouring a cup of water all over the couch when I was out of the room (and it was a sippy cup, so he really had to shake that thing to empty it)
--sitting on the potty (yea) refusing to go pee (boo) until 2 seconds later when he's standing in the tub. Yes, he holds it so he can go in the tub. Lovely.
--throwing all his stuffed animals down the steps while I filled the tub.
--repeatedly going limp and falling to the floor whenever we start trying to do something fun. This behavior makes no sense to me...it happens when I sit down to spend quality time with him. It's like he's desperate to be alone with me, but when we get to be alone, he withdraws completely.

Anyway, all this behavior (again coupled with my lack of sleep) is driving me INSANE, and making me wonder what we were thinking wanting to repeat all these stages with another child. My feelings are aggravated by my mother barely able to contain her snickering each time Andrew does something to drive us crazy. It brings her great pleasure to see us dealing with him. Hmmmm, perhaps I will be in a similar situation 30 years from now?