Might as Well Be a Four Letter Word

This evening as I was getting Max's shoes on to go spend our tax return (ya baby!) on a much needed double stroller, he asked me why we needed to get shoes on when we went bye bye. I told him that we put shoes on so we can protect our feet from germs and things that might hurt them (glass, nails, etc) that are laying on the ground. He thought about that answer and then said, "Why? Why do we need to protect them from that stuff?" I told him that germs and cuts on our feet can make us very very sick and that's not good. He paused to think about this answer and then said,"Why?" My heart sank. OH NO, I thought, What if we've entered the never-ending "why" questions nonsense? What will I do? I don't remember exactly what I said, but apparently I sufficed his curiosity because that was the end of that conversation.
We went about the rest of the night without another "why question" cycle and I was beginning to think I was in the clear. Oh, but no...
As I put Max down for bed he asked me if he could have quiet shoes in bed with him to sleep (Quiet shoes are my shoes that he is allowed to wear because they don't make too much noise on our wood floors). I told him no. He asked me why. I told him that shoes aren't for bedtime. He asked me why. I told him because they have germies on the bottoms of them. He asked me why. I tensed a little and then said,"Because we walk around outside and on dirty floors with our shoes on and that's where the germies come from." He asked me why, but it was more like, "But whhhyyyy?"

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

After several more back and fourths, I defused the conversation. "I don't know, honey, you'll have to ask Heavenly Father because He knows everything."
"Oh," He said.
It worked! Yay!
"And Jesus?" he continued.
"Yup. And Jesus. Goodnight buddy."
"Goodnight Mommy," as I shut the door.

The Man Upstairs must be urging more patience upon me...or Max just really really wants to know about germies. If that is the case he is going to have to ask Gramma Mesha as she is the one who made up such words as coldy, all-gonny, and germies. It just leaves me asking with pleading eyes heavenward, "WHY?"