My Daily Barrage of Questions

I thought it would be interesting to record all the questions the four youngest ask me for a day. Because you just never know what they will say next . . .
I am putting the initials of the questioner by their inquiry. Interesting patterns emerge. Their ages also add insight into the inner workings of their feverish little gray matter. Joshua is 12 almost 13, Elizabeth and Ben are 11 almost 12, and Rebekah is 10.

"How big do ants get?" (R)
"Army ants?" (R)
"How deep are their beds?" (R)
"Can I have some Doritos?" (E)
"Can I have a bagel?" (B)
"Mom, what's your favorite book besides Hudson Taylor and the Bible?" (R)
"Mom, what's in this bag?" (it's one you heat in the microwave and use around your neck) (R)
"Mom, what's your favorite wild animal?" (R)
"Mom, how big do you think a beaver lodge is, though?" (R)
"I mean how many feet down and across?" (R)
"Mom, what does it mean, 'Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up?'" (R) This is from their Presidential Penmanship Copywork Curriculum.
"Mom, did James A. Garfield get assassinated?" (E)
"By who?" (R)
"Mom, wasn't it President Kennedy that asked people to go to the moon, or something like that?" (R)
"Was James A. Garfield a good president?" (R)
"Mom, have you finished checking mine (composition about beavers) because I need to put it up?" (R)
"Wouldn't I add 46 three times then add 30 five times and then divide it by 8?" (E) (She was referring to a math problem about averages.)
"Would you help me write my rough draft?" (B)
"What's a topic sentence?" (R)
"Isn't September the tenth month?" (R)
"Which one is?" (R)
"Mom, do you know what's too bad about my glossary?" (R) (her answer: "It doesn't even have standard notation in it!")
"Mom, I'm just curious, did part of our family come from the Pilgrims?" (R)
"How do you write down a vocabulary word?" (B)
"This problem says, 'What number is 80% of 760?' Can I put .8 times 760?" (E)
"May I ask Rebekah a question real quick?" (E) 
(Holding up a piece of graph paper, pointing to the squares) "Mom, what do you call these?" (R)
"Isn't the x axis horizontal?" (E)
"Is there something short for Mental Math?" (J) (He means an abbreviation)
"Doesn't the first number on a coordinate go up and down?" (E)
"It goes left to right?" (E)
"On "daughter" is it 'du' or 'da'? (J)
"Is that right?" (J) (pointing to a math answer)
"What does  'mean' mean?" (mathematically) (R) (She continued by saying, "I'm just saying it's funny: what does 'mean' mean?")
"Mom, did I throw away that piece of paper with numbers on it?" (R) 
"Did you throw it away?" (R) (I have no idea which piece of paper she means.)
"What is a signed number?" (E)
"Mom, I found this in my basket, it's a piece of bubblegum, can I have it?" (R)
"Would this work as an '-ly sentence starter'?" (B) (A composition term we use to mean starting a sentence with an adverb)
"Mom, wouldn't it be good if they made the Redwall movies and they were exactly like the books?" (R)
"For my last one, could I put, 'Beavers are smart creatures'?" (B)
"What did Caleb get in his present?" (E) (Caleb has been receiving lots of graduation presents in the mail.)"
"Is is okay if I just rounded it to 19?" (E)
"Mom, would this work: 'Beavers are one of the smartest animals?'" (B)
"Mom, what's a MAT-MIN-EE?" (matinee) (R)
"Mom, is short division hard?" (J)
"Mom, will you help me on 'f'?" (R) (a math problem)
"Did I do it right?" (J)
"Very funny, huh?" (R)
"Did I miss any?" (R) (referring to her math assignment)
"Is it a hardback?" (R) (asking about the binding of a book)
"Can I look at that one?" (R) (Redwall books on eBay)
"Can I have some crackers?" (E)
"May I have leftovers?" (E)
"A burrito?" (E)
"How's that, Mom? Could you help me? Why? Why? Why?" (R) (Art lesson)
"Mom, why do people want to shoot Presidents?" (R) (After reading about presidents who were assassinated)
"May I have a burrito?" (R) (written on a napkin because she wouldn't wait until I got off the phone with Hannah)
"Is the newspaper in here, Mom?" (B)
"Mom, how did William Henry Harrison die?" (R)
"Who died a month later?" (B)
"Are we doing this today?" (R) (meaning a history lesson from an new book)
"Can we have some candy?" (E)
"Mom, did you say we could have a glass of milk?"" (B)
"Can I have some juice instead of milk?" (E)
"Mom, may we have some candy now?" (E)
"Is this far enough?" (R) 
"Mom, are we doing history today?" (R)
"You can't do history to us today, can you?" (E) (We don't have the worksheets for the first chapter in our new history text yet.)
"Can I have this sucker, Mom?" (B)
"What does it mean, A. M.?" (E) (Nathaniel Bowditch, A. M.-honorary degree given him by Harvard from a book I was reading to them)
"Mom, do you know how I could draw ferocious looking fish?" (R)
"Do you you know where I could look it up from?" (R)
"Could I have it over there and draw it?" (R) (web search on my laptop of ferocious fish pictures)
"Can I use it?" (R)
"Mom, can I get some more pictures? I need some more." (R) (ferocious fish)
"Do you like it so far, I had to color it?"  (R) (her picture of ferocious fish)
"Can I pick another one?" (R) (It's a whole school of ferocious fish!!)
"What are you reading next?" (R) (Because we finished "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch!" today)
"What do you think this kind of fish is?" (R) (a ferocious one, obviously-she was looking at more Google images)
"New species, maybe?" (R)
"Mom, can I have a snack?" (R)
"One of these old pears with brown spots? (R)
"What's mahogany?" (R)
"Is it expensive?" (R) (the mahogany)
"Why?" (R)
"Why is mahogany rare?" (R)
"Where do they grow? (R)
"Do they grow here?" (R)
"Who's Jean Lafitte?" (R)
"Was he good?" (R)
"For what?" (R) (I was reading to her about mahogany. I told her it was used in the 1700's by American colonists and she asked this question.)
"Where does it (a mahogany tree) live?" (R)
"So maybe it (a mahogany tree) would work here?" (R)
"Can you buy 'em (mahogany trees)?" (R)
"Mom, could I have that cardboard box?" (R) (When I asked her what she wanted it for, she said simply, "We'll see . . ."  Another craft, I'm guessing.)
"What's this?" (R) 
"Do you like it?" (R) (her ferocious fish drawing)
"What's that called, Mom, that song?" (E)
"Can I make dinner? PLEASE?" (R)
"Can I make dinner tomorrow?" (R)
"Is that Caleb?" (J) (looking at Caleb's baby picture)
"How would I find it?" (E) (looking for a worship song in a song book)
"Did they have Fred Flinstone when you were a little girl?" (J) (We have a book on how to draw cartoon characters that he was using during reading time.)
"Can I have one?" (E) (one of the songbooks we used to use in Care Group)
"Why don't we have Care Group (at our house) anymore?" (E)
"When did Mr. Welty need us to mow?" (J)
"Could you get the thing at the top?" (R) (needing help before she dropped something)
"What is that?" (R) (looking at an indention in her finger from carrying a heavy basket)
"Do you know what I want my job to be when I grow up? I either want to play for the NBA, but if that doesn't work out, I want to be a jockey." (J)
"Is is okay if I take my Bible outside?" (J)
"Can I see it?" (R) (an e-card I was sending)
"Who is it to?" (R) (addressee of aforementioned e-card)
"Can I read it?" (R) (She knows I'm writing something, but she doesn't know what and it's driving her nuts!)
"Can I look at that to get any more pictures?" (R)
"Did you get anymore?" (R) (Redwall books on eBay)
"Which one?" (R)
"Do you need anything, Mom?" (J)
Is it time to eat yet? (R)
Why? (R)
In the chopper? (R) (referring to someone popping them in the mouth)
Why? (R)
Can I look at ferocious fish? (R)
Do you know what that is? (R)
"Can I come in?" (R)
"Can we eat?" (J)
"Can we eat?" (E)
"Where are ya'll going?" (J)
"Can we watch a movie?" (B)
"Can we have hot chocolate?" (B)
"Can we have ice cream?" (B)
"Can we watch a movie after we clean up and take or showers?" (E)
At this point, Kregg and I left for a dinner with our small group Bible study in Odessa. We were gone almost three hours. When we got home, they were in bed but there were still questions to be answered.
"Where is the moon?" (R) (She heard Caleb talking about going to watch a meteor shower.)
"Can we get the humidifier out of Caleb's room?" (E)
"Can I get the other one?" (E)

I think I counted 135 questions. Notice any patterns or themes? 81 of the questions were from one child. 


Is my head spinning? I started this post because I thought it would be funny to see how many questions I answered on a typical day. Then it dawned on me that this was a great way to explain to Kregg why my eyes are sort of glazed over by the time he gets home many evenings.