I know EXACTLY how your feeling my daughter is doing the same thing. Its very hard not to go crazy and pull your hair out. I usually answer her twice and then change the subject to something new. Thats funny though that he acted like he didnt see the church my daughter does that too! I think their just messin with us! Everyone warned me about this stage I had no idea how tiring it would be! Good Luck!

This phase is a lot like the "Why?" phase, which is enough to make a tranquilizer nervous. I've found 2 different ways of approaching it-both of which are effective:
~Ignore it-if he says "What?" or "Where?" in the middle of your sentence, just keep talking-act as if you didn't hear him. Usually once they figure out that you're not paying attention to it, they'll stop
OR
~ Turn it around on him. If he asks "Where?", say "I don't know, where is it?" Believe it or not, they seem to get sick having it turned around and having to answer your question, and will stop.

I hope this helps-at least a little, if anything. Would hate to see you go running for a hair transplant :)

With my son it was "What's this?" or "Where'd it go?" typical conversation at our house....
"What's this?"
"A dinosaur"
"What's this?"
"A dinosaur"
"What's this?"
"A dinosaur"
"What's this?"
"Still A dinosaur"
"What's this?"
"A triceratops"
After about 50 times he will move onto another picture only to repeat the whole process! Changing the answer sometimes seems to help. We were at a park one evening and saw a rabbit run into the woods. That was 20 minutes of "Where'd it go?" right there. With me trying to come up with as many different answers as I could. Good luck! I'm definitely not looking forward to the "Why?" stage.

Oh the amusing part is that since both DH and I teach biology our answers would sometimes fly over adult heads. We just get sick of answering "a dinosaur" so we get super specific. My son was looking at one of his dinosaur books one time and asked about a picture. Instead of just saying a horse or something simple. I went into an explanation about how that is a relative of a horse etc. The funniest part is now he will be talking about a picture and say "like a horse" (or whatever the animal what he's looking at is similar to). It's like we've already got him learning classification! LOL!

"Picks self up from floor laughing"

OMG... I seriously was starting to think I was alone... I have been wanting to go hang myself from time to time with my 3 year old daughter nagging me to death!

DixiePixie, I do that too! I turn around and ask her, and it works indeed ;)

hthomas, are you SURE you dont have a camera rigged in my house? I swear that is a conversation, word for word I have had with my daughter over and over! It drives me insane some days, its like - what the... I just answered, TEN TIMES and it IS still a dinosaur!

Thanks to this thread I got a well needed laugh, thank you!

Oh, and for "advice" I dont know if its useful or even especially intelligent... but this is what I ususally answer after been nagged to death...

She says - I say
What? - OK! (it confuses her enough that she stops for a bit)
Where? or Where did it go? - I dont know? Go find it!

Oh, and for "advice" I dont know if its useful or even especially intelligent... but this is what I ususally answer after been nagged to death...

She says - I say
What? - OK! (it confuses her enough that she stops for a bit)
Where? or Where did it go? - I dont know? Go find it!

Yup, I'm right there with all of you. At first I was excited to hear her asking questions and wanting to "learn". It gets old real quick, lol. Turning the question around on her has helped me also as well as ignoring her. If we're in one of her books and she's asked me the same question 50 times I just flip the page and keep moving. We'll make it through, I think. Until then good luck!

My son is also 2 1/2. He's gone a step farther than the what phase. It's much worse. He's like a broken record. He'll say the same thing 30 times. And no amount of answering him stops it. And he gets more and more aggravated and intense each time he repeats it until he's screaming to the point where he's straining and his eyes are bugging out. Sometimes, after trying without success to please him, all I can do is just look at him and wonder if I got enough vitamins during my pregnancy. LOL. I know one day when he's grown, I'll miss moments like this. I hope his children do the same thing to him one day.

I had another thought last night. When he does the "Where?" If he likes to be upside down as much as my child...Maybe pick him up , flip him upside down and say "Can you see it better upside down?" Might confuse him and distract him of course THEN you'll be flipping him upside down all the time! LOL! Can't win for loosing.

I have been telling my son "I don't know, You tell me" ever since the "W" questions began.
He almost always knows the answer and I say "Thats right!"
It seems to satisfy the whole conversation.
Now he's starting to say, "What mom?" after everything I tell him and I have fallen for it a few times but now I just say "you heard me" or "what did I just say?" and he will either repeat what I said or say "Oh." and go about his business.
Smart cookies they are...

Very funny answers - made me laugh.
Yes if I hear "Whats that Nanny" one more time I am going to change my name.
Don't really have any advice but keep your sense of humour.
The next most frustrating one is when she sees something like a cow and then we drive passed it she keeps on saying "where's the cow gone nanny"
"Where"
"Where's it gone"
"Where"
How the hell do you explain to a 27 month old that we have just driven passed it - I do try though.
arghhhhhhhh.

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR ADVICE AND STORIES...NICE TO KNOW I'M NOT ALONE!! YOU MAY ALL HAVE HELPED ME KEEP MY HAIR...WELL UNTIL HE'S A TEENAGER!!!!