I think I know Why

I think I know why I'm so mentally exhausted. I recently read that the average 3 year old asks 400 questions a day. What about the average 8 year old? Anyone know? Me either. But, my (very soon to be) 8 year old asks question after question all day. I decided today to get an idea of how many he asks, so I counted. During one 5 minute period, he asked 23 questions (almost 5 per minute!). During another, he asked only 15. Here is how he does it.

Cute 8 year old: "Mom, why does water put out a fire?"

Mentally Drained Mom: "Water cools the fire and deprives it of oxygen, so it dies."

C8YO: "Why?" (sounds like a 3 year old, here?)

MDM: "Why do you think?"

C8YO: "I don't know. Do you think yogurt would put out a fire?"

MDM: "What do you think?"

C8YO: "I think it would. Mom, why doesn't Obi Wan just use water to put out the fire on Anakin?"

MDM: "I don't know."

C8YO: "Do you think its the Jedi way not to help someone?"

MDM: "No, I guess not."

C8YO: "Me either. How do you think the "lava robot" can hold boiling lava without melting?"

MDM: "Maybe its made of something with a higher boiling point than the lava."

C8YO: "Like what?"

Okay, you get the idea - each answer begets a new question. So, of course this is in now way scientific, what with the small sample size and all, but if he asks only 3 questions a minute for 1/4 of the time he's awake each day, he would ask 720 questions! (16 hours/4 = 4 hours * 60 minutes = 240 minutes * 3 question per minute = 720 questions).

Now I understand ::::yawn:::::.