When I had my twins (16 years ago), I had a girl friend that I worked with that had a set of girl twins about 6 months before I had mine.
She was so good to go to for some early advise.
One of the things she said to me, as her twins began to grow a little older, was, "When my girls call me, I say, Yes, instead of What - because that is what I want them to say to me when I call them."
This was such a great piece of advise.
I tried it.
It never worked for me.
When my kids yell for me, I usually scream, "Wwwwhhhhaaaatttt?" because they never hear me the first time I say it and by the time they finally hear me - because they will not come near me to ask any question - they have to yell it from the neighbor's house - I am so frustrated at the yelling, I scream, "Wwwwhhhhhaaaatttt?"
I do.
Well ... the other night, Alexis yells from her bedroom something that I can not hear, so I say, "What?" in a normal tone.
She says the thing again.
I still can't hear her, so I say, "What?" in a little louder tone.
Then I hear her and what she is asking me is ... "I can't remember this word," and she spells it, "W-H-A-T ... what is this word?"
Then I say, "W.H.A.T," in a little louder tone.
She says, "What is this word - W-H-A-T?" she spells it again and she is now aggravated at me.
I say, "W.H.A.T."
And then she screams it again and I scream back ... "It's W.H.A.T. The word is WHAT."
She says, "Oh ... you don't have to yell. All you needed to do was say that in the first place."
On the upside ... *Sigh like the biggest failure ever*.