The Universal Mysteries of Time

As I was driving Madeleine home from school this afternoon, I got hit with a tough question to answer.

MADELEINE: Mama?  How come, in REAL LIFE, the numbers go from really, really HIGH to really, really LOW?
ME: Um...well...what do you mean?  What numbers?
MADELEINE: Like, the numbers of TIME go from really, really high to really, really low?
ME: Uh...do you mean, like on a clock, it goes from twelve to one?
MADELEINE: Like, it will be really, really high on the clock, and then really, really low.
ME: Oh, so like when it says something-fifty-nine, and then it turns to something-zero-zero?
MADELEINE: (silence)
ME: Is that what you mean?
MADELEINE: (nearly imperceptibly moving her head in a gesture that could either mean no or yes.)

I then attempted to launch full into an explanation of time, as based on the earth's revolution and rotation.

ME: Okay, so, long ago, the idea of "time" didn't really exist.  Like, there weren't always "hours" and "minutes" and "days," but scientists discovered that the time it took the earth to turn all the way in a full circle added up to twenty-four...well, they weren't called "hours" then, but...so, like, if you counted to twenty-four sixty times...no, I mean, if you counted to SIXTY sixty times, then did that twenty-four times, that's about how long it takes for the earth to complete one rotation.  And scientists figured out-
MADELEINE: So, Mama?  Did you buy CUPCAKE goldfish today?
ME: Uh, yes, I did.

Clearly my explanation was way too much of a snooze-fest to hold Madeleine's interest.  Which is probably good, because I was clearly floundering out there.

Madeleine's perception of numbers, in general, amuses me; for instance, she doesn't seem to understand that numbers continue on after one hundred.  In her mind, one hundred is the end all, be all; she has repeatedly stated that after one hundred, you die, as if a person can't possibly live beyond a number that represents the end of the continuum.  Further proof of this mis-conception, in her mind, was evident last night at dinner.

MADELEINE: (picking up a hair elastic off the dining room table and twisting it into a figure-eight) Julia?  Do you think this is an EIGHT, or ONE HUNDRED?
JULIA: (with bored contempt) Madeleine, do you mean INFINITY?
MADELEINE:  Oh.  Yeah.  Do you think this is an eight or INFINITY?

One hundred, infinity, same difference, really.

At any rate, the numbers are going from really, really high to really, really low right now, so I've got to get a move on the various other tasks for today.  It's not like I have 'til the end of one hundred to get everything done, after all!  'Til next time!