You might wonder how I found myself googling “Does George Strait have bulls?” when I got home from the grocery store tonight. I myself found myself wondering that. Not as much as I wondering why I googled if John Denver had a cat (spoiler alert, google doesn’t know), but close.

But when you have a 4-year-old intent on understanding the world in your back seat, and you’re a captive audience pinned to the driver’s seat, some mighty interesting questions get hurled your way.

Toby and I spend a lot of time in the car together—usually at least 40 minutes a day, sometimes more. For some of those trips, he’s quiet and we share the occasional observation about the world. For many more of them, it turns into a game of 200 questions that borders on the ridiculous. Today, my friends, was one of those days in spades. Let’s walk you through the progression that led me to googling George Strait’s livestock preferences (and by the way, he does own a ranch, and he does compete in team penning, so my post-google answer for Toby was, “Yes, George Strait has bulls.”

After we got in the car after an epic grocery shop expedition, the radio was tuned to a country station (or, as Toby refers to the genre, “cowboy songs.”). Carrie Underwood was crooning away, and Toby asked, “Is this a cowboy song?” When I said yes, he yelped, “But she’s a cow GIRL. Do cowgirls sing songs?” Yes.

“Does the cowgirl have cows?” Probably

“Does she have bulls?”  Possibly

“Do her bulls have antlers?” I would imagine so, and they’re called horns when they’re on cows.

“Do cows and bulls have horns?” Yes

“Are cows different than bulls?” Yes, cows are girl cows and bulls are boy cows.

“I. DID. NOT. KNOW. THAT.” (Accompanied by evocative arm gestures. His mind was blown.)

“Why did Keith’s [our neighbor’s] bull not have horns?” Some people cut off the horns

“THEY CUT OFF THE HORNS? HOW???” It’s like cutting your fingernails

“Does she have horses? Does she use her horses to rope her bulls” Yes, perhaps, and I don’t know. Maybe!

“What was the name of that cowboy singer who died before Spork died?” (*Somehow for Toby, our cat Spork’s passing and John Denver are inextricably linked as the only two deaths he seems cognizant of.) John Denver is his name

“Did John Denver have a cat?” It’s possible, but that’s something I’d have to look up.

“Was his cat with him when he crashed his plane?” Probably not.

“Where did his plane crash?” California

“No, where. Into a mountain?”  No, into the water. (I have done a tad more research into John Denver’s life and death than I ever imagined I’d do, given Toby’s deep love for the topic.)

“You can’t die from crashing into the water. A shark must have eaten him.”  OK

“Did John Denver have horses?” I believe so

“Did he have bulls?”  Possibly

“Who’s the guy who sings about the cowboy riding away?”  That’s George Strait

“Does HE have bulls?” That I do not know, but it’s possible.

“Mom, WHY you not know that?”  (I believe this question was rhetorical and a thinly veiled criticism of my breadth of knowledge. How quickly he forgets the cow/bull revelation.)

That, dear readers, covers approximately 3 minutes of our 40-minute car ride/interrogation today. Other topics ranged from whether “Band” is Zac Brown’s last name and if the Zac Brown knows that Toby really, really likes the Chicken song, to how when HE gets a bull, it’s going to buck so fast I won’t be able to take a picture of it.

Yes, there are times my brain hurts from the rapid-fire stream of consciousness questioning. It can be frustrating, but I know he’s just shaping his understanding of the world. And every now and then he asks a question that makes me take a whole new look at how I see things. All it takes is 4-year-old eyes questioning how the world works to really lay bare a bit of hypocrisy or ridiculousness.

And while I really don’t think knowing if George Strait has bulls on his ranch is essential to Toby’s development, I never want him to stop asking questions. So I will answer the best I can and thank the lord there’s google so every now and then I can knock his socks off with a good answer.