twisty parents, all alike

[metaphortunate]

Conversing with the toddler makes me feel like an Infocom game.

> That a car wash

No, that is a gas station.

> Go to gas station

You can't go to the gas station. It's too late. Also, it's raining.

> Go to gas station

It's still raining.

> It stop raining.

You can't stop it raining that way.

> Tooth

You have a tooth. You have many teeth.

> Tooth

I don't know what you want to do with your tooth.

------

ETA: I am not the first one to think of this!

Comments

[thistleingrey]

ahahaha. Yes, perfect.

[roadrunnertwice]

Bless this post.

(Also, now that I think about it, learning how to operate consensus reality has a lot in common with learning how to operate a broken text parser.)

[metaphortunate]

What can I do? What can't I do? What commands do you understand?

It's surprisingly similar!

[dr_memory]

What happens when you say "Hello sailor!" to the kid? Or "xyzzy!"?

[metaphortunate]

My guess: "Hi Sailor, I Junebug."

[wordweaverlynn]

*sporfle*

[brainwane]

I loved this.

[kate_nepveu]

So, so true.

[raanve]

All you have to do is say "Odysseus" & he'll flee.

(Unless he's buckled into a car seat. Then I guess you're stuck in the convo-loop.)

[metaphortunate]

Yes, this is exactly the conversation we had in the car on the way home last night.

[raanve]

XD

I think my favorite part is "it stop raining".

[metaphortunate]

Yes! He's still trying to figure out what he can change by saying so!

[cahn]

This made me laugh so hard. Yes.

[badgerbag]

You go to the car wash. Your little box of steel and glass slowly enters the murky cave. Lights flash. Brushes descend. Long black fettuccini things thwap down on your windshield, sudsily. The car shakes. All is noise and chaos! Giant hairdryers blast little drops of water and wax past your vision, like hyperspace! You emerge into the sparkling day...

[metaphortunate]

Hee. That is exactly what he wants!

[norah]

I LOVE THIS POST BEYOND THE TELLING OF IT. That is exactly it!! OMG.

[rosefox]

A friend of mine made a similar observation some years ago:

TAKE LION.

[metaphortunate]

Ugh, I hate accidentally stealing things! I bet I saw that at the time and then forgot.

[rosefox]

Oh, I didn't at all mean to suggest that you stole it--much more a "great minds think alike" sort of thing.

[brooksmoses]

"Twisty parents, all alike"?

[brooksmoses]

Also I had recently posted a post along similar Infocom lines except from the parental perspective. (I hadn't noticed until this post how much it's like that for the kid too, though! But it is.)

I'm pretty sure it's a fundamental aspect of how the world works around small toddlers, bound to be oft-reinvented. And because it is so true, it remains entertaining.

[rosefox]

Oh, somehow I'd missed that! That's great.