You is Me

Something that G said today reminded me of one of her early linguistic learning quirks. In the not so distant past, she had trouble with her English pronouns – and even now she speaks of herself in the third person in Chinese. I was thinking on it just now, and in actuality, most of the phrases she uses are simply repeated from what we adults say to her in different combinations and variations. So it's no wonder that this particular quote came out the way it did. Sometimes when G would give Drew the universal sign, i.e. arms up in the "hold me" gesture, he would ask her, "Do you want me to hold you?" And eventually, without waiting for him to ask, G would tell him, "I want you to hold you."