Language helps you find out just how weird kids are
My daughter M, my wife, and I were visiting family on the east coast about a month ago. One night, M was whining a little bit before bedtime, and after some investigation, my wife figured out that M's pajamas � a new lighter-weight set that we brought because the weather was still hot � were bothering her. The following dialogue ensued: Mom: "are your pajamas bothering you?" M: "yah." Mom: "are they hurting you, sweetie?" M: "yaaah!" Mom: "where do they hurt you?" M: "'jamas hurt mine face!" Now I don't know where M went wrong in this exchange � does she not understand "pajamas," "hurt," or "face," or does she just think that hurting your face is the ultimate insult? � but there's clearly something different in her understanding of the situation than we expected. One more example, from when I returned from a trip to the mountains last week ("dada go woods!"): M: "my ...