Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Phone Communication with Three Year Olds is Futile!

Max and Artemis on the Phone to Canada It’s a big deal for The Zoo to coordinate calling Canada while in Mexico.Assuming that the internet café is open, we need to make sure that the person we’re calling is home. We also need to make sure that two three-year olds stay fairly quiet in a room jam packed with distractions.
Hahahahahahahaha.

Needless to say, no one has heard from us.

However, after much pressure from Nanna and the Abuelos, we bit the bullet.

To make things slightly more interesting, while travelling, we use “Voice over IP”. The technology that we use (USB key with earphones) requires that each kid install one ear piece in their ear. Of course, one piece is longer than the other and the microphone is the size of a knat! And all is lost if one of them turns their head (of course this would never happen in a crowded internet café).

Have you ever seen the episode of Mr. Bean where he’s trying to get reception for his tv and pretty near needs to stand on his head to get it? Pretend you’re watching an episode of that.

After 30 minutes of prep we were set and ready to go, here’s how all our hard work panned out.

Me: Say hello to Nanna.
Both Kids: Silence.
Me: Nanna, you’re going to need to talk to them, there’s a lot of distraction here.
Nanna says something
Both Kids: Silence.
Max: Airplanes.
Artemis: Yes. Laughing
Max: Blue. More Laughing
Artemis: Shakes her head “No”. Nanna cannot see this, I translate.
Artemis: Bye Nanna.
Note that I’m not actually sure if Nanna actually wanted to get off the phone with them but that was neither here nor there.

Have any 30 second, one-sided conversations of your Own?

6 thoughts on “Phone Communication with Three Year Olds is Futile!

  1. Rene Beaubien

    Our Skype calls from HOME with ONE toddler are very similar…but at least I’m not paying for them! Sounds like you should just send photos and see everyone when you get back! 😉

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth Matthiesen

    Hilarious, I remember these stilted conversations when I used to call the kids grandparents or my mother (though that was a tough nut to crack as my kids spoke only German and she only spoke English!). They too would just nod or shake their heads when Oma or Opa talked to them and I’d have to translate. In those days we didn’t have cell phones, house phone on a cord – remember those? Well it usually ended up with a fight as to who got to hold the phone. 🙂 The only time they really talked was when I was on the phone and then they never stopped causing a fuss. 🙂

    Reply

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