Mommy doing?

[physmom]

For a few days now DD has been constantly asking me "mommy doing?", sometimes she'll branch out and say "what was mommy doing?" or "what was papai doing?" but normally she likes her short version of it.    Anyway, I've tried everything from actually telling her in detail what I'm doing to turning the question around on her and either asking what she's doing or what she thinks I'm doing. 

We literally get this questions sometimes every 30-60 seconds!  Any tips on surviving this phase?  I'm exhausted! 

[elizaMM]

you've got the right idea :-)

I recently discovered that, although my son doesn't often have much of a response when I ask "what do YOU think?", he responds well to, "Hmm, why would that tractor be driving down the road...?" And if that doesn't work, "Maybe its driving to...?"

It also seems like my son just wants us to talk. He's been asking "why?" incessantly for over a year now. Often we don't answer his question (because we don't know how to/there isn't an answer) but if we talk to him he seems satisfied.

Good luck!

[curiouscanadian]

The running joke in our house was how my mom would tell us she was "Flying to the moon on her motorcycle" whenever we asked her that. Now, I knew I was turning into my mother but decided that the transformation was complete the first time I used it on my son.  

The thing is it WORKS! Usually he laughs and says "No! You're ____". Because of it's playful nature though, it seems to derail the repetive asking and I can change the subject to something (anything!) else. To me, it's just a toddler's cry for converstation/involvement.

[mbm]

We have "Mommy, are you putting rollers in your hair?"  "Mommy, are you eating your waffle?"  "Mommy, are you drawing your name?"  "Mommy, are you going to put your shoes on?"  Et cetera.

I figure she's just making conversation, but yeah, it is totally exhausting.

[sobamom]

Oh my gosh, my toddler says the same thing, "Mommy, doing?" And yeah, it drives me absolutely bonkers, particularly when (a) I'm doing something she clearly knows the word for (e.g., eating), (b) she just asked me the same question three seconds ago, (c) I have no idea how to possibly answer the question ("Tree, doing?" Usually, I tell her, "It's growing," and try my hardest not to appear exasperated). She does not respond well to having the question turned around on her and she either freaks out or turns sullen and withdrawn, if I do. Sometimes she just wants to connect with me, but it's also her way of learning new vocab, particularly verbs. I suspect, too, that she sometimes wants to ask a slightly different question--for example, about the tree--but doesn't yet know how.

[cyclamen]

DD does this too and I think, like a PP suggested, it's definitely a way for her to get more vocabulary & demonstrations of language.  "Kitty doing?"  "Rock doing?"  "Mommy doing?"  "Baby doing?"  "I'm eating a ham sandwich.  Yum, ham."  As long as I continue to provide her with new information, she is totally satisfied with the answer, no matter how short it is.