Exie has a clock obsession. Period. It is now the word she says most, and the thing that she wants to see most. Anytime she enters a new room (or store) she immediately scans for clocks and then points enthusiastically, bouncing up and down saying, “Clock!” Susan walked in the door with Exie the other day and remarked, “I had no idea there were so many clocks in Trader Joe’s.”
But wait, there’s more. When one of her parents re-enters the room, she’ll thrust her arms up and say, “Bau bau” (meaning “hold” or “hug” in Mandarin), indicating that she wants to be picked up. Of course, this usually results in the parent picking up their cute little angel who so lovingly wants a hug. But no sooner than she is picked up, she immediately points and leans towards a clock (the microwave clock, the oven clock, the clock on the thermostat, somebody’s wristwatch, whatever). The lean is so intense that it actually gravitates you toward the clock. In other words, she lures you in with the hug, but then uses you simply as a means to get a close up view of the nearest clock.
She’s not particular; she’ll just as soon use a grandparent to fuel her obsession – in this case Akong is the lucky one.
Amazingly, she seems to understand that clocks can be either analog or digital, though she does tend to extrapolate beyond actual clocks. For example, she can correctly identify the little clock icon on my iPhone, but she also thinks the compass icon is a clock. Fair enough; it’s round with markings around the outside and a hand on it. And she sometimes thinks addresses are clocks, especially if they are lit up in some way. Again, fair enough; they are sequences of numbers, just like digital clocks. Things like thermostats, scales, and alarm panels are also dead ringers. How does one explain to a 12-month old that these things are not actually clocks? I think the answer is probably, “One doesn’t.”
Surely this is just a phase, but it’s already lasted longer than we would have initially guessed. Maybe we should move to Switzerland.
UPDATE (Sep 19): She still loves clocks. And she really loves it when you say, after she’s pointed at a clock, “The clock says 3:23!” Gets a smile or a giggle every time. Really – every time? Yep, pretty much.
I didn’t bother recording it months ago since I didn’t think it would be such a longstanding trend, but here’s what she sounds like now:
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And this is what she sounds like if she can actually get her grubby little paws on something that she thinks is a clock, like the small recorder that I used to record this. All the clicking sounds are her madly pressing buttons on the recorder – thankfully she didn’t stop the recording. And since she’s right next to it, it’s quite distorted, but that seems appropriate given the her high level of excitement:
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“clock!”
Exie has a clock obsession. Period. It is now the word she says most, and the thing that she wants to see most. Anytime she enters a new room (or store) she immediately scans for clocks and then points enthusiastically, bouncing up and down saying, “Clock!” Susan walked in the door with Exie the other day and remarked, “I had no idea there were so many clocks in Trader Joe’s.”
But wait, there’s more. When one of her parents re-enters the room, she’ll thrust her arms up and say, “Bau bau” (meaning “hold” or “hug” in Mandarin), indicating that she wants to be picked up. Of course, this usually results in the parent picking up their cute little angel who so lovingly wants a hug. But no sooner than she is picked up, she immediately points and leans towards a clock (the microwave clock, the oven clock, the clock on the thermostat, somebody’s wristwatch, whatever). The lean is so intense that it actually gravitates you toward the clock. In other words, she lures you in with the hug, but then uses you simply as a means to get a close up view of the nearest clock.
She’s not particular; she’ll just as soon use a grandparent to fuel her obsession – in this case Akong is the lucky one.
Amazingly, she seems to understand that clocks can be either analog or digital, though she does tend to extrapolate beyond actual clocks. For example, she can correctly identify the little clock icon on my iPhone, but she also thinks the compass icon is a clock. Fair enough; it’s round with markings around the outside and a hand on it. And she sometimes thinks addresses are clocks, especially if they are lit up in some way. Again, fair enough; they are sequences of numbers, just like digital clocks. Things like thermostats, scales, and alarm panels are also dead ringers. How does one explain to a 12-month old that these things are not actually clocks? I think the answer is probably, “One doesn’t.”
Surely this is just a phase, but it’s already lasted longer than we would have initially guessed. Maybe we should move to Switzerland.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.