"Wha's dat mean?"

That's my least favorite phrase of all-time (ok...maybe just the past two weeks...).

I'll share my pain with you. Here is a conversation that Toby and I had earlier today:

Toby: Miss Saaaaaaasin?
Me: Yes, Toby?
Toby: Where we goin' today?
Me: We're going to the library after we drop Sam off at school.
Toby: Oh. Wha's dat mean?
Me: You know what that means. It means that we're going to the library to read books.
Toby: Oh. Wha's dat mean?
Me: What do you mean 'what does that mean?'?
Toby: Huh?
Me: Oh, boy...
Toby: I'm a boy, Miss Sassin! Wha's dat mean?
Me: {Praying silently to the Lord for PATIENCE to get me through the rest of the day...or at least through the car ride :)}

Toby has a fabulous vocabulary...but "wha's dat mean?" is (unfortunately) his favorite phrase to use right now. I can understand him asking that question about things he knows nothing about, but he always asks "wha's dat mean?" about something he definitely knows the answer to (or at least a question someone has just told him the answer to). It's like he just wants to hear me answer him (fifteen times in a row). It drives me bonkers.

On the way home from school this afternoon, it was Sam's turn to be tortured:

Toby: Wha did you do at schoo today, Sam?
Sam: We went to the FIRE STATION!
Toby: Oh. Wha's dat mean?
Sam: Well, it means that we went to the fire station to see the firetrucks and the firemen and...
Toby: Wha's dat mean, Sam? Wha's DAT mean???
Sam: It means that...well...that...I already told you what it means.
Toby: Wha's DAT mean, Sam?
Sam: Nevermind. Let's not talk about it right now, Toby.
Toby: Wha's dat mean?
Sam: I want to be quiet.
Toby: Sam?
ME: Toby, let's play the "quiet game"...

I unashamedly LOVE the quiet game (and I'm pretty sure the boys love it, too). Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me sane in a world full of endless questions from a two-and-a-half-year-old, you know?

:)