Difficult concepts

Jamie is at an age where he has a good deal of information at hand, but not quite the conceptual ability to piece it all together in an understandable way. It makes conversations rather challenging sometimes. Here's an example: on the way home from swim lessons tonight I told him that his much-loved baby-sitter Merrill is coming tonight. This pleased him greatly and he began anxiously asking when she would be there. That is, asking if she would be there right when we got home. No, I said she'll be here in a little while. "How long?" he asked. "An hour and a half," I replied. "How much is that?" he asked.

Now, I was ready for the question and knew that I was required to supply a number of some kind. "90 minutes," I said, hoping that would settle it. But no, he pressed: "How long is that?" "I just told you I said." "No," he continued, already getting a little frustrated with me, "How long is that?" "Jamie," I said, "I don't know what else to tell you. She's coming in an hour and half and there are 60 minutes in an hour, so it's ninety minutes." Here the conversation threatened to veer into an Abbott and Costello routine. "NOOO!" he said, "I'm asking how LONG!!!" I stopped trying at this point and he spent the next minute or so mumbling in the backseat until proclaiming triumphantly: "I think an hour and a half is TWENTY!"