What you doin’?
June 30, 2009 by Shannon
My son is a talker. (Gee, I wonder where he gets that from? Is that why my best friend’s mom used to call me “Gabby” as a kid?)
I love that he’s a chatty, inquisitive boy. We have long conversations on everything from why people go to the hospital to where the nice librarian goes when she’s not at work, and every single day he says something that cracks me up. But there is one particular phrase Kellan is in love with, and it is DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!
Ahem. May I reiterate that I love my son dearly. But sometimes, I start to wonder how much it will cost to admit me to a psychiatric ward due to the trauma of hearing “What you doin’?” about 100-plus times a day. Here’s a brief snippet of how 85% of our conversations go:
Me: Hey Kellan? What are you doing over there?
Kellan: I’m makin’ stacks. (Translation: Playing with MegaBloks.)
Me: Oh, okay.
Kellan: What you doin’ Mommy?
Me: I’m just making some lunch.
Kellan: What you doin’?
Me: Still making lunch.
Kellan: Oh. (approximately two second pause) What. You. DOOOIN’. Mommy.
Me: (I remain silent, hoping he’ll forget about the question, which is not even really a question at this point. Just a dramatically worded statement.)
Kellan: MOMMY. What. You. DOOOOIN’. Mommmeeeee! What you DOOOOIN’ Mommy?!?!
Me: I’m doing the same thing you asked me about 30 seconds ago!
Kellan: You makin’ lunch, Mommy?
Me: YES. I am making lunch.
Kellan: Ohhhh! Okay! (Judging by the tone of his voice, I breathe a sigh of relief, thinking he finally has an answer he’s happy with. Five seconds later…)
Kellan: What you doin’ Mommy?
Me: Let’s put on some music! (Translation: If I hear that question one more time I’m going to run down the street screaming like a crazy person and I’ll forget to close the front door so the dog will surely get out and terrorize someone’s cat and Kellan will just sit there makin’ stacks and repeating “What you doin’” until he loses his voice and Michael will get home to find Kellan hoarse and alone and the dog will get tired of chasing cats and break into some other family’s backyard and instigate a non-stop wrestling match with a golden lab until the Humane Society arrives to haul him off and by the time Michael and Child Protective Services find me I’ll be in a tree about 3 blocks away cowering and rocking with my hands over my ears. So perhaps some music would be nice.)
Comments (4)
Hilarious post! And OMG, I HEAR YOU mama! My oldest asks me what I’m doing 100 times a day! Actually, he says: “What are you doing?” but with an accent that sounds very Borat-like, which is so cute I always have to giggle… and he kind of knows he asks too many times, so he laughs, too. He’s very inquisitive, (sp?) too, like your little boy - we have some smart children, that’s for sure. Always wanting to learn, and find out everything! That’s such a sweet picture of your little guy, by the way.
A question that always elicits an answer: priceless.
Get ready for the next level (as illustrated by my not-yet-4-year-old grandson during our visit last month), “Why?”
(This 4-year-old technique was part of the Total Quality Control management fad, embodied in the “Five Whys” you might have heard of…)
I don’t think he or I ever persisted to 5 levels, actually, but when all else fails, the ultimate and logical answer to that bare question is “Because.”
“Because” is a great answer. So is asking the same question back to the inquisitor. Maybe they will get sick of being asked “What are you doing?” Knowing Kellan…..probably not! U2 is a good alternative for him.
Hopefully he won’t pick up the words “like” and “you know”. Like, you know, like, what you doin?, like, you know, right now?