It's the Thought That Counts

My daughter has the annoying habit of shouting for me at the top of her lungs every morning from her bed. "MMOMMMMYYYY!!!" It's annoying because she's perfectly capable of getting out of bed on her own and waking me up in a kinder, gentler fashion. It's also mildly annoying that she never cries for "DDADDDYYY!" who gets to sleep in a little longer most mornings.

The past three days, however, the cry I've heard coming through the baby monitor is, "MOMMMYYYY! IS IT VALENTINE'S DAY YET!!" I heard this three more times this morning before I was able to get into her room, each time her tone more impatient and demanding than the last. I patiently explained that we had eight more days until Valentine's Day.

She said, "No, mommy...there are ten days left."

I thought about it and said, "No, sweetie, eight days."

"Well, yesterday there were nine days left."

"Right," I said, "So there are now eight days left."

"No, Mommy, eight doesn't come after nine. Ten does. There are ten days left."

Dim light bulb starts to glow in my un-caffeinated brain. I see where this is coming from. "Yes, honey, ten comes after nine, but when we're counting down, we count backwards."

"I don't want to count down. You have to say 'ten.' It's ten days to Valentine's Day. I want to count my way."

"Well, I can't say ten when it's eight. That's just the way we count when we're waiting for a holiday. There's no choice. We just don't count up. We count down."

"Why not?"

Here, I knew I was going to say one of those things I hated hearing when I was a kid, yet what else could I say but, "That's the way it is." I went on to give a really lame analogy, "You can say the sky was red, but it's not. It's blue. That's the way it is. You can say it's ten days until Valentine's Day, but it's not. It's eight. We count down. That's the way it is."

"Well, I can pretend the sky is red. And I can pretend it's ten days to Valentine's Day."

Yep. "Oatmeal or waffles, sweetie?"




Thanks for the comments on yesterday's blip. Once again, I'm overwhelmed.