Why, It's The Land of New Tricks

We have entered into two phases with Charlie that are both adorable and sometimes maddening. The first is, about every 15 to 30 seconds, he shouts, "Hey, Mom, watch my new trick...". This is endearing in that I love his enthusiasm, but often the "new trick" entails some such feat as breathing. Or blinking.

The other phase is the "Why?" phase. This has quickly become the most spoken word in his ever-expanding vocabulary (beating out the previously most spoken phrase, "Awe Man" by a long shot). Here is a snippet of a day in the life.

We are in the car, when I must brake so as to not hydroplane into the barrel of a six-axle cement mixer.
Charlie: (Deep, annoyed sigh) "Mom, why did you do that?"
Me: "Do what honey?"
Charlie: "Why did you slow down like that?" (Implied: "Duh, dummy")
Me: "Because the big truck in front of me slowed down and I had to or we would have hit him and all had to go the hospital with life-threatening injuries." (Ok, that's only what I wanted to say. I left out the injury and hospital part.)
Charlie: "Why did he slow down?"
Me: "Because he had to stop at the red light."
Charlie: "Why?"
Me: "Because it is the other cars' turn to go."
Charlie: "Why?"
Me: "Because we have to take turns. If we all went at the same time, we would crash."
Charlie: "Why?"

At this point, sweat is started to bead on my forhead and upper lip, my eyes are swirling cartoon-style, and my blood pressure is hovering somewhere around around 195/100. So I try to turn it around on him...

Me: "Why do you think?"
Charlie: (Reiterated deep, annoyed sigh) "I don't know, Mom, that is why I asked you!!"