Lumpyhead thinks his name is You.
It is entirely our fault. We speak to him using the personal pronoun, not his name ("Do you want cheerios?" not "Does Lumpyhead want cheerios?") and when he sees a photo of himself, we usually exclaim, "Who's that? That's you!"
I know that it takes a while for toddlers to master the me/you concept, but this is not a matter of Lumpyhead not understanding when to use the first person and when to use the second person. (Which he doesn't get either, incidentally. I like watching him try to maintain possession of a forbidden object by holding it away from me and insisting it is "Yours!")
He saw a picture of himself and Lula on a coffee table, pointed to Lula and said, "Baby," then pointed to himself and said "You."
We've started to say "That's you! That's Lumpyhead!" hoping he will eventually comprehend that his given designation is not You.
It's not Lumpyhead, either, but you get my point.
7 comments:
You are grappling with some heavy shit on the subject of being, identity, and awareness, sister. Fight on!
It could be much worse, Sarah was something like "No-Sarah" (maybe she could clarify). "Ritch was Damn -it Ritch". Also, my mom (Rose) became "Grandma Roses" because I was always saying "that's Grandma Rose's". Justin's 8 & she's still Grandma Roses.
Funny because I really think his name is Lumpyhead.
My daughter does it too!
My son, who's a couple of weeks younger than Lumpyhead refers to himself in the third person, with an article. "The Max need hug."
we struggled with identity as well, with the additional challenge of explaining to identical twins what the difference was between looking at your sister and looking at a mirror.
it's like an escher problem.
also, if i ever learn lumpyhead's real name, i feel certain i'm going to be disappointed. no offense, but nothing can possibly have the same expressive ring as Lumpyhead.
oh. also. a favor/question for you: do you speak dutch?
My 2 yr old still doesn't get it. He points to himself when he wants something and exclaims, "You!"
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