Question

by Matt

"What planet are you from?"

"What do squirrels eat?"

"Where do babies come from?"

So many questions in so little time.

L is almost 4 and the questions come nonstop. It's not that I can't (or won't)answer these questions. It's just that it's not physically possible to answer quick enough before she ask another.

It's not as if she's doing it to annoy me. She's just that inquisitive.

The other day at lunch, she asked what sound a turtle made. Before I could answer, she asked what a turtle looked like. We finished lunch, and headed to the computer. After what became a 15 minute lesson on turtles, she walked away being much more educated on turtles.

She asked me how I play trombone. I told her the process of using air to vibrate my lips into the horn that makes a tone. This ended up with me trying to explain what the diaphragm was. But by the time I got to that, she was already onto something else.

Her capacity for learning is amazing. I wish I could learn & comprehend that much now. If she's a knowledge sponge, I must be a brick.

We take her to the library every week, and she gets new books every two. We're always looking at interesting things on the internet. We watch plenty of shows on Discovery Channel, the History Channel, Science Network, etc. In the summer, we're outside looking at things. In the winter, we spend a lot of time looking out the windows at squirrels, people, & birds. And then we wonder why they're all driving in an ice cream truck together.

I hope that we can keep that going for her. We have memberships to the zoo, and most museums in the area. Our plan is to keep those going and keep taking our kids there, even after we have our 3rd.

I know learning at that rate slows down. But I feel confident that we can keep the curiosity going. I'm still curious about things.

I'm curious as to how my kids can't eat all of their dinner because they're "full", but then need cookies because they're "still hungry."

Actually, I'm not curious about that. I still use that move too.