Kind of a silly question. My 2 year 2 month old son always talks to his Gammie and Grandpa on the phone. They live in another state. Recently, he was in a bad mood, so I suggested we call "Midnight" (Gammie & Grandpa's cat. My son's saw and pet the cat just a month ago, so he knows who this is). So of course Gammie meowed for about 15 minutes to my son. My son giggled, said he wanted to talk to Midnight, not Gammie. Last night we asked him "Is Gammie still there?" He said "No. Midnight!!" I think because he wanted to talk to Midnight and not to Gammie.
My question is -- Does he KNOW that it's Gammie just going "MEOW" or does he actually think the cat is meowing at him? The ladies (me and Gammie) think he thinks he's talking to the cat and the guys (my husband and Grandpa) think that he knows it's just Gammie being funny and meowing. What do y'all think? Do any of y'all have insight into how little brains work?
NOTE: Last night was the 2nd night that we called Midnight. And maybe it was 10 minutes, not 15. But they'd talk back and forth and I'd translate. EX: ME: "Ask Midnight what he ate for lunch." SON: "Eat lunch, Midnight??" CAT:"MEOW MEOW" ME:"Oh Midnight says he ate tuna!" SON: "U-NA Midnight! Ha ha."
Thanks so much for your replies. Glad to give some of you a smile :) Yes, my son also will hold things up to the cell phone or even wants the dog to lick his fingers when we are on the webcam, so he's along the same lines as y'alls kiddos. How sweet that one poster called Hammie in heaven. Sweet. Gammie said she loved reading your responses too (I sent her the link). I think when we start potty training, he can call "Buzz Lightyear" and tell Buzz how well he did using the potty. I'll tell Gammie to start working on her Buzz Lightyear and Woody voices.
I would think he thinks it's the cat. My youngest will be 3 in August and he still thinks when he talks to his dad or grandma on the phone that he can "show" them things. He'll say, "Daddy, I playing go-gos!! Look!" and then he'll hold the phone up to the toys. :)
I echo that he thinks it really is the cat. AND this is ADORABLE! What a fun little thing to have between him and his Gammie. When he is old enough to know it isn't Midnight it will make for a great story and even a fun tradition for much, much later when YOU are the Gammie.
He probably thinks it a cat. I do have to say, 15 minutes of meowing is a long time to stretch it out if he is assuming it is his Grammie he is talking to. He'll love it for a while and get bored of it soon enough. But really, it doesn't matter which one he thinks it is, as long as everyone is having fun.
I think he thinks its the cat. But its new and interesting so it doesn't really matter if he knows its the cat or just grandma. I bet after the second or third call to Midnight he will get bored and move onto something else.
I'm with you & Grammie--he thinks it's the cat! Cute!
My money is on the cat! We used to tell my daughter that Dora was on the phone (or Ariel) just to get her to talk to her grandparents. If she thought it was just a regular person she would drop the phone and move on.
I'm of the opinion that he really believes it's the cat on the other line.
If a 10 year-old still believes in Santa and the tooth fairy, superheros and Harry Potter, why wouldn't a 2 year-old believe he's talking to a cat.
Our daughter's the same age, and I think she's smarter than we give her credit for, but she's also a kid with an active imagination and no adult baggage to impede her imagination.
It is unlikely that he knows its Grammie. It think it is WONDERFUL that she is willing to do that for him!
I'm pretty sure he truly believes it's the cat...
My response is late but I have to say, as a former K Teacher & Mother of Teens, How Awesome! Enjoy the imagination. Only too soon it will be Cats don't talk on phones. Love it when kids are allowed to be kids!! You are great parents. Let him believe.
As far as I know kids under the age of 4 don't understand real versus pretend (about the age of 4). That made sense to me when my kids were young. I had to be extra careful about what TV shows my son might happen to see. My son and I had a hard time getting to the point where he would understand that the person on the other end of the phone couldn't see what he wanted to show them (a new toy or whatever)!
I don't think your son is hurt by this. You guys will just cope as best you can. :)
How awesome! I loved reading your post.
My vote = he thinks it's the cat!
When my daughter was 3 her hamster died and she cried about it a lot. Well, I asked her if she wanted to call "Hammie" in heaven. I called my Mom and we played the same game as you do with your son. She never cried over Hammie again after that and I loved seeing her HUGE smile when she thought she was talking to Hammie in Heaven. My daughter is 12 now and she loves when I tell her this story =-)
I bet that he probably knows, but he's not sure just enough to make it magical and fun. About that age my daughter (who's only a few months older) started making comments about how we were kidding or joking or whatever. So even if he does think it's the cat he'll figure it out soon!
