Jessie is only three years and eight months old. I haven’t taught her how to tell time yet. We’re working on some numbers, letters, and colors. For Jessie it’s more important to work on speech and pronunciation. I don’t think I can train her cognition to be better.
Jessie might end up being like me and telling time by what is on TV. I can tell you roughly what time something happened by what the background noise was on. She has an uncanny ability to know when Doo Doo Dora is on without asking.
She has started being really funny and specific about time, though. Two o’clock is a magical time for her. She demands to do so many things at 2 o’clock. Her daddy and I have no idea where two o’clock came from. Most days she’s napping at two o’clock. It’s the funniest thing to hear her ask to do something at two o’clock.
We don’t know what to do about her two o’clock fixation. She doesn’t know when two o’clock is. We think she means now.
Two o’clock isn’t the only funny thing she’s been saying lately. We’ve been working on manners. I want her to say yes please and no thank you. She’s started adding, “I’m fine,” to her responses. When I ask her to do something, she’ll answer me by saying, “No thank you; I’m fine.” A lot of the time she’s not nearly as fine as she thinks she is. She uses I’m fine for things like brushing her teeth or taking a bath. I really didn’t put the tasks up for debate. I just need you to do them.
As adorable as these phrases are, I’m happier when she answers yes please or no thank you. Those phrases are polite and work in all situations.