Multiplication - Sunshine style
At lunch today, Sunshine declared that Cricket was smarter than Mom. (She currently thinks EVERYONE is smarter than Mom, the rotten little soul.) Cricket liked that notion, and to prove it, he asked me, “Whats a hundred times a hundred?” I promptly replied, “Ten thousand.” “What?!” he exclaimed, “How did YOU know that.” “I know lots of things,” I said, “Can you tell me what is eight times nine?” (I picked that one because I know he can never remember it.) He looked stumped. I informed him that it was seventy-two, and see, he did still have a few things he could learn from me.
Sunshine, not to be outdone, started quizzing me (as if she knows anything about multiplication). “Mom, what’s two times seven?” “Fourteen,” says I. ”Oh yeah, Mom, what’s two times eighteen?” (She clearly had picked what she considers a BIG number—she’s still working on counting past twelve.) “Thirty-six,” says I. She furrowed up her little brow, determined to stump me with a REALLY big number. “What’s two times a HUNDRED!” “Two hundred.” Now she was GOING to stump me if it was the last thing she did (before finishing her sandwich)! “Mom,” she announced triumphantly after a moment’s thought, “what’s two times TREE?” Ok, I did hesitate at that one a little….two times tree? (Does she mean three? No, she never says three that way…) ”Uh….” I said after a moment, “Two trees?” She looked crestfallen. “Correct,” she declared. Then wonderingly, “How did YOU know?”
Just wait until they’re teenagers and think they know EVERYTHING. Good heavens, how I dread it… they stop being human sometime around middle school and then you really can’t talk to them again until after they hit college. Stupid hormones rot their brains, I think. Good luck!
Comment by Susy — April 26, 2007 @ 6:45 am
Yeah, I WISH they waited until middle school. Or…wait…you mean it’s going to get WORSE? ROFL!!!
Comment by Mom — April 26, 2007 @ 11:05 am
[…] Multiplication - Sunshine style And a real treat: bossy 4-year-old tries to stump Mom. […]
Pingback by Carnival time again « Let’s play math! — May 1, 2007 @ 6:40 am
How cute! When my daughter tried to stump me, it was something like, “How many 7’s in 80 gazillion?” Umm…a whole bunch of them?
Comment by Denise — May 1, 2007 @ 6:50 am
Very cute, but also very mathematical. Two times tree is two trees. An excellent place to start multiplication!
Comment by Bogusia — May 1, 2007 @ 8:04 am
Lol…yep, she’s not a dim bulb, that one. In fact, I’d say there’s a distinct possibility that both of my children are actually “smarter” than me. But at the moment, I’m still considerably ahead of them when it comes to actual knowledge, not to mention the wisdom of age and experience…lol.
Comment by Mom — May 1, 2007 @ 2:12 pm