Ten Second Tom

My son Maxim loves to ask questions. “Where are we going, Mommy?”
“We are going to the gym, Maxim.”
“Oh.”
10 seconds later . . .
“Where are we going, Mommy?”
“We are going to the gym, Maxim.”
“Oh.”

10 seconds later . . .

“Where are we going, Mommy?”
“We are going to the gym, Maxim.”
“Oh.”

This is enough to drive me crazy if I let it.

He also likes to ask a lot of “why” questions.

“Maxim, please don’t kick the seat.”
“Why?”
“Because it bothers me.”
“Why?”

After a while, it also can drive me crazy.

With my entire parenting philosophy on staying connected to my own inner being and joy and not using my children as an excuse to take me out of that place, my husband and I make light of these instances.

When Maxim is asking his questions over and over and we give him the same answer, I think of Ten Second Tom from the movie 50 First Dates. It makes me laugh.

When he is questioning with “why? and the first answer does not seem to satisfy him, I will make up other answers. “Because Bugs Bunny has big ears.” For whatever strange reason, this seems to satisfy him and it makes all of us laugh.

The other day Maxim was questioning his older brother Alex, and we heard Alex respond, “Because Bugs Bunny has big ears.”

We all laughed, including Maxim.

Ah…the Little Aliens

Toddlers are human beings, yet they don’t quite act or think like human beings at this stage. We think that because they can understand us and respond to us, for example: “Can you bring Mommy a diaper?” and they bring it to us, that they fully understand and process like we do. Even though they are learning our language and they can even respond to us in our language, they are not like us adults.

My husband and I found it helpful to think of them as little aliens. It is amazing how much this makes us laugh, and the change of perspective is so helpful to our sanity.

One morning Maxim asked for cheese and said, “Ah cheese. Be de be de be de,” and shook his head from side to side. All we could do was laugh.

Do whatever you can to help you enjoy your children and laugh.