Emma says to me today: “Poop starts with the letter P!”

Niiiiiiiiice.

Emma was more interested in a book about how to dial 911. There was a phone number pad, a boy with a broken arm, a girl, and a dog.

“Emma,” I asked, “why can’t the doggie dial the phone?”

“Because he doesn’t have ‘pposable thumbs,” she answered.

Made me so proud!

Kerri thinks I like to teach Emma tricks. Except I didn’t explain to Emma why doggies can’t dial phones…I explained to her why our kitty, TC, can’t draw. She made the conceptual leap all by herself!

“Where’s Aunty Linda?”

“Dallas.”

“Where’s Dallas?”

“Texas.”

“Where’s Texas?”

“It’s in the United States.”

“Where’s the United States?”

“It’s in North America.”

“Where’s North America?”

“It’s on the planet Earth.”

“Where’s the planet Earth?”

“It’s in the solar system.”

“Where’s the solar system?”

“In the Milky Way.”

“Where’s the Milky Way?”

“In the universe.”

“Where’s the universe?”
“There universe is everything. It holds everything.”

Believe it or not, she stopped this line of questioning. I didn’t want to have to get all cosmological on her.

Like I know what that means.

I was jumping rope, but it’s a snake!
Look at what a snake did – he ate some plums!

You scared me dad! And my pull up!

I scared her pull up?

Yeeeeah. I got nothin’.

Dad: “Emma, would you like some more pineapple?”

Emma: “No thanks!”

Well I read that it’s a sign of autism. Except, we know she’s not autistic.

I supposed I screwed up when I decided I wouldn’t talk to her in the third person, instead using “You” and “I.” Well, of course, then, she’d think that she is “you” and I am, well, “I.” (Mommy is not “I”.

But seriously – how do you explain the relative nature of “You” and “I” to kids just learning language? I figured it’d just work itself out.

So now we’re trying to get the point across that she should use “I” when referring to herself. If she tells us “You have two spoons,” I’ll say, “when Emma is talking about herself, she can say ‘I have two spoons.’” And the wife will say “Emma, you should say ‘I have two spoons.’”

I’m not sure which approach will work – I suppose mine will win out, simply because it’s the one she’ll hear the most.

On the other hand, I’m the reason she’s confused.