Minutes?

An exchange from the other day:
Mommy: Grandma and Grandpa are coming over later.
Nicholas, his eyes lighting up with hope: A-la-la-loo? (Uncle Andrew)
M: No, buddy, Uncle Andrew has to work. You won't see him today.
N: Minutes?

Nicholas has taken to asking how many minutes until something will happen if he is told not right now. Or, probably more accurately, if it can/will happen in just minutes, since "how many" requires quantification he doesn't understand. And, yes, after the above exchange I called Andrew to let him know his nephew wanted to know how many minutes until he will see him. We had the conversation on speaker phone so Nicholas could hear and when I hung up, Nicholas asked sweetly, "more-more A-la-la-loo."

The one thing I couldn't figure out was that Nicholas is always turning his hand as he asked about minutes. And then Joe solved it--he is mimicking looking at his watch. I wasn't making the connection because the conscious point of his motion is obviously his hand. But when he sees us looking at our watches he doesn't understand what we are looking at and so just sees that our hand twists and so was mimicking that.

One more cute anecdote, this one from today:
I walked into daycare to get Nicholas, he came over and leaned in for a hug. I held up his jacket and the following dialogue ensued:
N: Outside!
M: Yep, time to go home.
N: Dada?
M: No, Daddy won't be home until late tonight.
N: Minutes?
M: How many minutes until Daddy gets home? (At which point Miss Hannah lets out an audible awww.)
N: Minutes?
M: No, not minutes. He won't be home until after you go to bed.
N pauses and considers for a second and then heads for the door.
M: Say bye-bye to Miss Hannah
N (turns and waves): bye-bee Nana