Thursday 29 July 2010

But why, Mummy?

We are in the first week of the summer holidays and Betty is literally under my feet ALL THE TIME. If I try to walk to the kitchen, or to the loo, or just two steps in front of me, she is there for me to trip over or tread on.

In addition to this, I cannot carry out any manoeuvre, however big or small, without her saying 'But why are you doing that mummy? and 'Can I help you do that mummy?' or 'How long are you going to do that for mummy?' Be it brushing my teeth, taking a sip of water, blinking, or breathing.

Yep, we have entered the why, where, when, how phase and whilst I am thrilled that my darling sweet daughter is demonstrating such a quizzical interest in the world, or rather in me, it can be pretty exhausting at times. I have found that THE ONLY THING that will give me a few minutes peace is to plonk her in front of a home video of herself.

9 comments:

Sparx said...

Ooh!!! Good solution!

We're lucky, either 'why' is worse in girls or our little spud isn't that curious. His girl friends can ask 'why' until my hair falls out but he almost never bothers; to the point that when he does I always over-explain.

Perhaps that's why?

Elsie Button said...

hi sparx, ha ha maybe that is why -i shall try that, if i have the energy, and see if i can confuse her into submission!

Beccers said...

I reckon you should enjoy being fascinating. Pretend she's from Heat magazine and all those readers really want to know why you are brushing your teeth/ washing up/ putting away toys etc etc!

Elsie Button said...

hi beccers, that works for about 30 seconds, but to have it ALL day, EVERY day! i have tried the really indepth explanations, but this just throws out even more questions for my darling girl

Metropolitan Mum said...

Amazon have some great offers on kids' DVDs... (advanced parenting here, I know)

Elsie Button said...

hi mm, thanks for the tip! however at the moment, the only thing to keep her quiet is footage of herself!! as i type she is glued to the tv watching herself at 11 months old smothering toast in her hair, and the now betty finding it all hysterical. make sure you get lots of videoing of L - it may come in very handy one day! x

DJ Kirkby said...

We have to resort to use of the DS to get some peace from exactly the same thing. Why is 'I don't know' not acceptable as an aswer? That's what I want to know!

Elsie Button said...

hi djk, i agree, and when you do say 'i don't know' they of course say 'but why don't you know?'

It's a Mummys Life said...

I'm not yet getting the why questions, but I do get the whole permanently in front of me thing. Eliza is just constantly in my way. I spend half my life saying 'beep beep please" like some demented children's entertainer. They just have a habit of always being under your feet.