Often when I was younger my momma would say “Later gator”.
When I first heard that phrase I didn’t know how to answer it.
Then my momma told me that the answer to the phrase is “In a while crocodile”.
So from then on whenever she said “Later gator” I answered “In a while crocodile”.
I think I first heard this phrase when I started learning about alligators and crocodiles. I could be wrong though. I might have heard it earlier than that.
Anyway, when I was about 11 years old she stopped saying “Later gator” and just said things like “I have to leave for my meeting”.
But I have still heard those 2 phrases. In particular I have heard it from the wild kratts episode Crocogator Contest.
I don’t know if she started expecting me to say “Later gator” or what but she still hasn’t said it for the past 5 years.
Could it be possibly because of my fast growth and her thinking that I will be taller than she is(She is 5’ 5" and I am 5’ 4" but a growth spurt could happen at any time) and that crocodiles are bigger than alligators and thus I should be the one saying “Later gator”?
I have no idea what your mom’s expectations are, but me, I’d expect the first person who says “bye” to be the one using the phrase. After all and as you say, it’s kind of a starter.
At a certain point in your life, your parents stop saying “goo-goo-ga-ga” to you.
The day comes when they stop playing “this little piggy” with your toes.
The day comes when they stop praising you for being such a “big boy/girl.”
Then the day comes when your mother stops saying “later gator.”
I don’t what makes parents decide to stop doing these things on a particular day. I don’t know why the little piggy was going to market yesterday, but not today, but it happens. It just doesn’t seem right any more. It isn’t cute any more. It may be possible that one day your mother saw that you were as tall as her, it stunned her, and it was time for another ritual of childhood to end. But you had your special thing with your mother. Treasure it fondly and go on to make new memories.
This is Momma’s way of fighting the complete denial that her little boy is indeed, growing up. She’s just doing what she can, baby steps, to acknowlege that you’ll soon be a man. She’s not doing it for you, she’s doing it for herself. Let her be, maybe she needs this.
My Dad sometimes would call me “Two Two” (second son of a second son) and I would find some way to reply “First Two” but sometimes around 15 or so he just stopped doing it. When I was in my twenties I asked him about it and he said it just seemed a kid thing to him and he didn’t want me to think he still thought of me as some 3 year old. I told him it was perfectly fine; I would always be his kid and in a lot of ways still that 3 year old who drove him nuts with why’s all the time. From that point on, here and there, he would slip another Two-Two in on me and I’d get a First-Two back in on him.
Like the other poster said – talk to Mom and ask her.
