It's Time for Heads to Explode
Someone who either doesn't like me very much or who wants to challenge my mental stability has planted the phrase, "What time is it?" into Alexis' brain. I have no idea why the freakity frack a 2-year old needs to know the time, especially when that 2-year old's understanding of the concept is limited to recognizing that "tomorrow" means quit asking until you've slept and "later" means when Daddy walks through the door. Perhaps she has a hot date I don't know about, has invited Dora the Latina Whore over for tea, or needs to be home in time for her programs on the tele. I have no idea.
As we were driving home from a day of shopping and errands, Alexis started in with the time thing.
Alexis: "What time is it, Momma?"
Me: "It's 7:39."
Alexis: "What time is it, Daddy?"
Mr. Husband: "It's 7:39."
Of course neither of us can be trusted to be telling the truth. She ALWAYS asks both.
Alexis: "What time is it, Momma?"
Me: "It's 7:40."
Alexis: "What time is it, Daddy?"
Mr. Husband: "It's 7:40."
Why, yes, she is so spectacular as to ask the question repeatedly.
Alexis: "What time is it, Momma?"
Me (sighing): "It's 7:40, Alexis."
Alexis: "I ask Daddy. Daddy, what time is it?"
Mr. Husband: "It's 7:41."
Of course we are so ridiculous as to actually look at the clock before answering. We could answer, "It's eleventy seventeen 102," and she wouldn't know the difference. But are we smart enough to do that? Of course not.
Alexis: "What time is it, Daddy?"
Mr. Husband: "Alexis, it's still 7:41."
Alexis: "No it not. Mommy, what time is it?"
Me: "It's 7:42, Alexis."
Alexis: "Bad, Daddy!"
Playing us off one another. At the age of two. Fantastic!
Alexis: "What time is it Daddy?"
*Heads explode."
How old does she need to be before I tell her that it's time for her to buy a watch? I don't care if I did hate it when my mom used to say that to me all the time, it's starting to sound like a perfectly good response.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Reader Comments (38)
buy her a cuckoo clock watch. if it doesn't work for her you can always use it to peck your own eardrums out.
Suggestion here, you can take it or leave it but it worked for me in the daycare with 25 2 year olds who wanted to know the time. Rather than give numbers I gave landmark events. For instance:
"What time is it Lilac"
"It's almost nap/lunch/snack/quiet/play time"
We also gave countdowns like 5 minutes to naptime, two minutes to naptime, ok, last minute and then it's naptime. That gave the kids a sense of time that they could relate to.
Maybe that will help?
I always answered the way lilaspecs recommends. Almost dinnertime was always a good response. And "Time to stop asking" is another good one.
Go buy the child a cute Dora watch...that's exactly what she needs.
tell her it is happy hour somewhere so lets drink !
LOL, feener.
To be honest, I think that is when I started teaching them to read digital clocks...but I'm a dork that way. I distinctly recall telling The Boy he could not come out of his room until the clock read SEVEN, ZERO, ZERO. The problem, of course, was that he didn't know SIX, TWO, ONE came before SEVEN, ZERO, ZERO and he'd come tell me it was past that time!
My Kid is obsessed with time and days of the week. When we are driving somewhere he askes every 30 seconds 'how long til we get there?' It doesn't end...mine is 4!
Oh my goodness. Were in the car with us the other day? That is the exact same converstion we had with Mark. Fun.
LOL Would it make you feel better if I told you that I have NEVER had that conversation with my kids?! They just never cared! Now Kameron did have a "What day is it" fetish... he got over it quickly though.
So... what time is it?! :)
this is hilarious. my Corey and I still have these conversations, and ironically- he still doesn't read his watch correctly. go figure.
I seriously think you should get her a watch! Not one with the hands, but one that says, 7:40. Then, she's learning her numbers, AND your head doesn't explode. Of course, unless that just makes her obsession worse. Then you can just say, "Time for you to stop asking what time it is".
Ashlyn does this too and it drives me nuts. I tell her it is time to learn to tell time or to get a watch.
Oh my I am so not looking forward to that.My 2 yr old isn't quite to that point yet.Thank goodness.Now my 6 yr old on the other hand is learning to tell time and she drives me nuts.
Alexis is so very cute!
That really would drive me crazy! I tell my husband it's time for him to buy a watch every time he asks me!! :D
Oh just you wait! Soon she'll be asking you if it's 7/6 central! Nothing look a good tv commercial about her next favorite episode coming on at 7/6 central! Oh that could be you're next reply.
We have that over here, too. Only, it is "I go, too, mama?" Or "I go, too, daddy?" About everything. We don't have to be going anywhere.
I was obsessed with telling time when I was little. Which probably explains why I like clocks so much now...
You only had to live through that for like three minutes, right?
Had she already gone through the "Why" stage? I hear that one is hell in words . . .
Um, HAS, btw . . .
Why? Why? Why?
but wait....
what time IS it??????
Must learn numbers!!!
I just gave you an award!
Maybe 'it's time to play the quiet game'--yeah, that game never works ;)
What if you both answered her simultaneously? Would ruin her chi, heh..
Wait til she starts looking at the clock and saying, "You said three. The clock points to the three. Time for ___________." And, this would be __:15 as the OTHER hand is pointing to the three. They are so farging obnoxious, aren't they?
What time is it now?
You can make a story out of anything. A GOOD story.
So, what time is it?
Bwahahaha! Aidan thinks it's constantly 2 o'clock.
I love that she doesn't trust you guys. I'm telling you, watch that one like a hawk.
Honestly, I answer a question once or twice, and then I stop answering it. Granted, Monkey doesn't go on about the time, so I haven't directly dealt with that (although I have dealt with the "day" thing -- as in, "Are we going to Nonna and Pap-pap's today?"). For example, in the car, she gets two "Are we there yet"s, and then I say, "Don't ask again." And lo and behold, she doesn't. Same with bed at night. She tells me she wants to go in my bed, and I say, "It's not up for discussion." And that's it! Maybe we're getting somewhere!
And I think you should go ahead and get her a watch. And find out what time she thinks it is.
ciao,
rpm
It's time to get ill!
Ahem. Apologies to the Beastie Boys. :-)
Kid cracks me up!
At least she's not saying: "Who ya' gonna call? Ghostbusters!'
Oh, wow, I just aged myself, didn't I?
Yeah, I did.
Crap.
Seriously, the kid is funny. Annoying, but funny.. :-)
At least she's not correcting you with her own special time. Gracie would ask, and then like a teacher to her student, she would say,
Nnnnnooooo. It's 4:113.
Neat.
And who ever said it up there is right. You can make a GOOOD story out of anything. Right ON!
I am apparently nothing if not a big fat liar. When my 7 year old asks me what time it is and I tell her, she still goes to check. Every.single.time.
My head would explode too.
I agree with the "time to drive home" and "time for nap" and other such non-numerical things.
I wonder what she would say if you asked her what time it is. LOL. She may have some interesting answers for you.
Well, she's in the driver's seat here, she MUST be able to tell time by now! HA!
We went through this too. I did finally say, "time for you to stop asking the time." I know, bad mommy...
I'm still laughing at "Bad Daddy!"
Mine always get the response "Why, you got somewhere to be??" But that's kinda snarky, 'cause that's the kind of gal I am.
I alos like to tell them it's bed/naptime whenever they ask - Stops it pretty quickly
I'm a mean mommy!
It's amazing the number of things I find myself saying that my mother used to say to me. I really am becoming her.