Why? to What?

Harp has just started to ask the most interesting questions. Just a month ago the nature of her questions were all about "why." Why do I have to clean my room? Why does it get cold when the sun goes down? Why do some animals lay eggs while others carry babies in their tummies? All "whys." Typical queries from the three and up crowd.

But recently, I've been getting much more thought provoking questions; I've been getting the "whats." Check these out - actual questions from Harper:

What is the biggest animal in the world? The smallest? In the ocean? On land?
What's the longest trip you've ever taken? The shortest trip?
What's the best meal you've ever had? The worst?
What's the biggest country in the world? The smallest country?
What's the fastest fish in the ocean?

All "whats." Some of which I can Google, leading Harper to believe that the computer is some sort of God who keeps, maintains and distributes all knowledge. I don't know if she understood the concept of a democratically created knowledge base, but there was head nodding. The other questions are new - insightful, provocative, conversation starters. Can you actually remember the worst meal of your life? The best?

These simple questions mark some new phase, a new consciousness, an interest in other people, their experiences, their lives. She's always been an empathic little person, but now she's thinking about what other people think and feel compared to how she does. I love that.

And then this funny thing happened. On her question, "What is the fastest fish in the ocean," Wikipedia provided the answer, "Sailfish". She mentally munched on that one, looking at the pictures, listening to the description. We went on to talk about whales and other fast fish. Slow fish, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish..... Then, a few minutes later, she asked me,

"Mama, what sailfish?"
"That fish we just looked up. You know the one with the sail on its back? The fastest fish in the ocean," I said, proud of our new collective knowledge.
"No, sellfish. What's sellfish,"she asked, tripping slightly over the pronunciation.
"Oh shellfish, like shrimp, crab, lobster?"
"No," tripping ever more, "SEEELLFISH."
"Oh, so not a fish. We're not talking about fish any more, are we?"
"No," she replies with a giggle, 'Selfish.'
"Oh, well that's when you don't share your stuff."

The first of many misunderstandings and frustrations in her endless quest for knowledge.