The “why” phase that toddlers go through is well known to parents. The questions that come in subsequent phases seem more specific and less predictable. A few recent examples:

Does counting go on forever?

How do you say cattywampus in French?

What is liberty?

A few days ago Everett got hold of Chris’ iPhone and started asking Siri questions:

Why are me and Dada in the car together?

Why is the earth covered in trees?

His language abilities can now stop us in our tracks. We recently asked him why he had done something we did not approve of and he replied “I learned this behavior from you and Dad.” How are we supposed to respond to that?!?

Everett has a dramatic flair when the time is right. One night at dinner he changed his mind after he told us he was done eating and the food was gone. “My heart is broken because you and Dada didn’t leave any pizza for me.” We want him to know that we take his feelings seriously, but at times like this it’s hard not to laugh.

Lastly, Chris found some bits from a couple years ago that never made it into a blog post. The nice thing about them is that they reflect good reviews for us as parents. Everett started telling Melissa “I missed you the whole time” after days he spent days at daycare or with a babysitter while she worked on her dissertation.  And a couple times he patted Chris on the arm, looked him in the eyes and said “Good, good, Daddy” and “”Fun Daddy“.