If you seat Marty next to a person he does not know at a dinner party, he will leave the party knowing more about that person than perhaps his/her own mother knows about them. This is because Marty always asks lots and lots of questions, like he is conducting a very intensive interview. He asks people so many questions, I am sure that they leave wondering if Marty is secretly writing a book about them. This is how inquisitive he is. Well, it seems as though our little Ellie has picked up this trait from her father. Either that, or she is just a typical inquisitive almost two year old! (we've never had a two year old before so we wouldn't know the difference!)
Ellie is in a phase of constant questioning. Her favorite question these past few weeks has been "Who dat?" (translation = who's that? - but she also uses it to mean what's that?) She asks this question every time she sees a person (whether she knows who they are or not) or hears a noise. Stranger walking to their car - who dat? A loud bang outside - who dat? A construction vehicle she's never seen before - who dat? It's a question she asks roughly 20 times an hour.
Another favorite question is "Where Daddy going?" (of course Daddy can be substituted with anyone else's name) She asks this every time someone leaves the room - even if they have just explicitly said that they are going to go to the bathroom and therefore she knows exactly where Daddy just went. But like clockwork she'll still ask the question. She also asks this every single day after Marty buckles her into her car seat and shuts the car door to take the one step to open the driver's side door. In that 1 second period between the time Marty has shut her door and before he has opened his car door she asks where Daddy's going. Every single day, every single time.
A new question that has recently been popping up is "What's Mommy doing?" (again, substituting the name with anyone). She doesn't ask this as much as the other questions, but it's catching on quickly. I can see that becoming a very popular question in a few weeks. She mostly asks this in the context of our neighbor Myles. She always wants to know what he's doing if he is not in his yard - like he has some kind of secret life she wants to be in on. But she also tends to ask what you are doing if you are doing something that doesn't involve playing with her.
And yes, of course, you can't forget the traditional toddler favorite: "Why?" Like any typical toddler, sometimes she'll throw out the why as many as ten or fifteen times in a row in response to anything you say. Marty sees it as a personal challenge to answer her why every single time, which can sometimes lead to some very deep and philosophical conversations that Marty basically ends up having with himself. To my knowledge, she only "beat" him at this game one time - he just didn't have an answer after the 30th or so why after he'd painted himself in a corner. Unlike Marty, I typically answer one or two and then quickly change the subject. I think Marty's true appreciation for questions makes him much more tolerant of talking in circles with a toddler. It's only a matter of time before he starts questioning her. Get ready for your interrogation Ellie!
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