What am I....stupid?

Curiosity is a good thing for kids. It may kill the cat, but it's how kids learn. So why do I get so bent out of shape when my kids ask me questions?

Ok, let's be honest now. Matt's questions seem to have an intelligence to them. I can see where he's going. Maybe I just know him better, or naturally connect on a "first-born" level... I don't know...

Kelvin is a bit more foreign to me. I don't know if it's his language issues, his memory issues, or just my desire not to have my every move questioned.... I have trouble answering his questions. Not that I don't know the answers, but they just seem so obvious to me...

So here's my struggle: How do I keep the "what are you, ...stupid?" tone out of my answers?

Yesterday I was getting lunch ready. We were having the fresh bread from the breadmaker that morning. As I went to get it Kel asks "Can we have french bread?" I said: "No, we don't have any french bread. We're having this bread."

K: "Can we make french bread with that?"
me: "No, french bread is it's own kind of bread. You can't make it with another kind of bread."
me: (thinking that maybe he's got the wrong word....) "Do you mean french toast?"
K: "yeah, french toast."
me: "I don't make french toast, Daddy does"
K: "But you used to make it all the time!"
me: (getting really confused now, since I NEVER make french toast... What do I make sometimes....?) "Do you mean grilled cheese sandwiches?"
K: "yeah, can we have that?"
me: " I'll check to see if we have some cheese...."

*sigh* Ok, so that was a case of him not knowing the right word, but how DO you react when someone asks you if you can make french bread out of another kind of bread?

What about when they ask you where Daddy is when he's in another part of the house? Sorry, but I'm usually a bit snotty when I tell them I can't see through walls, why don't they go look for themselves. Hmmm.... maybe part of my problem is that I see an underlying laziness in my kids to search things out for themselves. They just want to be handed the answers, not actually work for them. Not that there's anything wrong with asking a question when you don't know something. I find it a good trait in my babysitters when they page me to ask how to deal with something.

So perhaps I need to find a balance. I don't want to stifle their curiosity. Sometimes I want to stimulate it. I guess I need to work on my responses in order to get the result I'm after. A "what are you.... stupid?" tone will shut them down and that's definitely NOT what I'm after. I want them to ask questions, but I also want them to work for their answers, and think about their questions. Why are they asking me things I can't possibly know? Why don't they know that I can't possibly know that?

I guess I just need to deal with my own irritations, and be prepared with a pleasant tone when they occur. Yeah, be prepared. After all, what am I... stupid?