The Almighty Timer

The timer on my iPhone is my new best friend. With the help of the timer Baby M happily leaves the park, brushes his teeth, even sits down to dinner (although remaining seated is a whole different ballgame). Who knew Baby M would have more respect for a beeping handheld device than for his own mother?

I have to admit I was a little late to the timer party. My husband started using the timer with Baby M, unbeknownst to me, several weeks ago. I have friends using the timer with their kids and I have even read books singing the praises of "Mr. Dinger." I don't know why I never bothered to try one with Baby M. Instead, when it was time to go I would lovingly try to reason with him, moving on to bribes and then outright commands. When all else failed I would drag a kicking and screaming toddler from the sandbox. Now I simply say "It's time to leave in 5 minutes. What kind of timer do you want?" Baby M selects a sound from the iPhone's list of standard ringers, I set the timer and we're done. It doesn't always goes smoothly, but usually the battle is around whether or not I set the timer not whether or not we leave. Once the timer is set there are no further arguments. The almighty Marimba (or Robot or Old Car Horn) always gets the final word.

And how deeply is the power of the timer ingrained in Baby M's psyche? Yesterday I was brushing my teeth before we ventured out for the day. Baby M came into the bathroom with his toy cell phone. He hit the button and it started beeping. "It's time to go" he told me matter-of-factly. Ask not for whom the timer beeps, it beeps for thee.