"Why?" "Z."

As Joseph has made the transition into three-hood, he's started doing a few very three-ish things.

The first is the jokes. I don't know how long this one was going on before it finally hit -- he was telling jokes! Unfortunately, we've only told him lame jokes his entire life, so that's what we get in return.

For example, as I was putting him in his car seat, he said, "We're not in our car. We're in . . . Peter's car! We're in . . . Hudson's car! Is that funny?" And then he laughed hysterically.

I guess it beats knock-knock jokes.

The other one is all the "why" questions. "Why is there a car next to us? Why is it dinner time? Why does it get dark?" Why? Why? Why? And of course, no answer is going to satiate his curiosity. He's learning a lot, but it comes at the expense of his parents' sanity.

Anyway, yesterday I had an epiphany. I think he asked, "Why are you eating lunch?" "Why are you hungry?" and so on and so on. I gave some answer and he asked, "Why?"
And then, I said in an explanatory voice, "Z."
"Why?"
"Z."
"Why?"
"Z."
"Y?"
"Z."
"Y?"
"Q."
He then laughed and sang the ABC's. After he finished singing he went back to asking "Why?" but now it was a game to hear me say "Z" instead of some convoluted explanation. This trick will probably only work when he's in a good mood, but at least it's something.

Again, it beats knock-knock jokes. Well, maybe.