I think Nine and Ten were trying to re-learn how to relate to Time after the destruction of Gallifrey. Previously, there had been an entire Time Lord civilization around to control and tend to Time. Nine was traumatized by what had happened when he took all that responsibility for himself (see Father's Day for a prime example of this fear in action), and Ten eventually got hubristic and said hell with it, I'm making Time do what I want, because I'm sick of being afraid of it, all bluster and bravado.

Now it's Eleven's turn, and he's learned not to fear Time, but to respect it. He knows that he can fiddle a bit without breaking the universe, but that he isn't actually a god, nor should he try to be. So he and Time can just go along together, sometimes having a bit of fun, sometimes leaving well enough alone.