April 7, 2004 - Wednesday
There is an abandoned train track that runs along the side of Harry's school building and we cross it when we turn into the building's driveway. And each morning for the last several mornings, Jeremy has been asking about it to the extent a two-year-old with limited vocabulary can make inquiries. "Cross train tracks?" he'll say and either Harry or I will answer "yes." Then Jeremy will ask "no trains coming?" and we'll say "no" and then he'll ask "why?"

Jeremy's definitely in the "why?" phase and it can be a very constant, almost seemingly never-ending litany. My secret to tolerating it is something I learned from Harry, that kids just want to learn more, but don't necessarily have the words. Each time I hear "why" I think to myself, "father, please tell me more about that" or "father, I'd like you to teach me about that." I really believe that's about right, and still, it's very hard sometimes to hear "why? why? why?" in response to everything sentence one speaks and not become irritated.

Today pulling into the school driveway things started no differently than normal.
"Cross train tracks?"
Neither, Harry nor I answered at first.
"No train coming, Yisch?"
"No trains, Jeremy," I answered in that matter-of-fact, but somewhat worn down, here-we-go-again manner.
" No, me ask Yisch" he said indignantly.
"OK, Jeremy," I said, somewhat amused by this new turn, although it occurs to me that Harry has been the more excited respondent the last few days.
"No trains coming, Yisch?" he asked again turning toward his brother and partner in the back seat.
Harry doesn't answer.
"Yisch," Jeremy said more urgently.
"What?" answered Harry, somewhat put out.
"No trains coming?"
Then, almost cutting off the end of Jeremy's question, Harry said with a surprisingly mature annoyance, "why do I have to answer that question every day?"

I laughed out loud. I'm sure I've never said that to either one of them. Maybe Harry can read my thoughts.


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