At my house it's episodes of scooby doo. "I'll be back in 2 scooby doos." " We will be there in 3 scooby doos." When my older daughter was little, it was Pooh Bears. "How many Pooh Bears until dinners ready" That's the kind of sweet baby talk I hope I never forget.
Hmmm... never have done it that way. We either give a time, or the end of an activity (when you get back from running, when this laundry gets put away, after I take the dog out, after I clean out the coffee pot, etc). Never have used TV, except for my husband: "At half-time" or "after the game is over". LOL
I use the clock. :) Perhaps we have a precise family.
I can't say my grasp on time is very solid. Sometimes, it seems to drip by (it's only been 45 minutes!!! I thought 3 hours!!!). More often than not, hours are gone in what I thought were minutes. This is one of the reasons I am chronically late. I THINK I have been doing X, Y, Z for 20 minutes, but when I look at the clock it's actually been an hour.
My girls are 3 and 4 and I love the way they mark time. It makes more sense to me. They use:
In a second -> When I'm done with what I'm doing
Many Minutes -> Longer than I'd like to wait, but the sun won't have shifted in the sky
Tomor-eo -> When I wake up / Sometime during the coming day
Last Weeks -> Any time in the past (as long as there has been a full night's sleep interim
When I'm Bigger -> Any time in the future
When it's rainy/summer -> Seasons
Also: before/after meal, by what the light it is outside (darker or lighter), after or before bed/wakeup, when daddy gets home, or when I'm leaving.
That's funny...the easiest way for me to describe "elapsing time" was with TV, too. If it was 15 minutes, I'd say, "One Berenstain Bear" and if it was an hour and a half, I'd say "2 Wall-E's" because that was a good way to put it into perspective for a two/three year old. When she was a little older, I started using car trips as time markers..."We could drive to Rochester and back twice before we have to leave," etc.
I love it T.! I thought I was the only mom who did this.
Ours used to be in Wonder Pets!
Cute.
For short periods of time I would say after lunch, after school, before Daddy gets home. When the clock strikes--we have a cuckoo clock.
When my husband was deployed we used holidays and birthdays, he'll be back after 2 Superbowls, hopefully before the 2nd Valentines Day.
The week after July 4, after your birthday, before mine.
LOL... by food and activity:
Before lunch, after Aikido, while we're cleaning, when I come in from outside... etc.
We do the same thing except my kids like "Backyardigans".
