Parents, especially parents of multiple kids, are jaded. We've heard and seen it all - twice and in technicolor. You learn to ignore the minor stuff, and roll with the big stuff the best you can. More than anything else, though, parents have to deal with the Repeating Concept Principle - the idea that a sentence or question must be stated an infinite number of times by a child to a parent before the parent can comprehend and respond correctly. You learn to handle this, usually by just sighing and answering the question. Every now and then, though, your kids will get on your ever-lovin'-last nerve, and it's all you can do not to say to them the things you'd REALLY like to say, but if you did, would result in a visit from Child Protective Services. So you learn to hold your tongue, and answer the same...damn...question for the 1,453,243th time just as patiently as you did the first 1,453,242 times. But sometimes you just gotta break out, man. My 3YO is very attached to Momma - so much so that he can't let her out of his sight without immediately asking "Where Mommy? Where she go?" For Christmas he got her a global positioning satellite tracking system - so he could track her. I think for her birthday, he's gonna get her one of those chips that folks get implanted under their skin. So anyway, about 10 minutes ago, Mommy walked down the hall to get something, and she had been gone maybe 7 seconds when the following conversation took place: 3YO: "Where Mommy?" Me "She went down the hall." 3YO: "Oh." ---10 seconds pass--- 3YO: "Where Mommy?" Me: "She went to the moon." 3YO: "What?" Me: "She went to the moon, 3YO." (pause) 3YO: "She went in a rocket?" Me: "Yessir, hopped right in and ZOOM!" 3YO: "Like Power Rangers?" (He's obsessed with the Power Rangers.) Me: "Yes, just like Power Rangers." 3YO: "Power Rangers S.P.D.?" Me: "No, Power Rangers Mystic Force." (There's no reason for me to make this distinction except to yank his chain.) 3YO: "Oh. Why her go to the moon, Daddy?" Me: "She had to go to the moon store to get some bread." 3YO (confused as hell): "The moon store?" Me: "Yep, to get some bread for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." (pause) 3YO: "Oh." When Mommy walked in about 10 minutes later, 3YO said to her "You're back from the moon store now?" And she was utterly confused. Two birds with one stone, baby. Score! Peace.
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