Is this a phase or is DD being a tad bit odd?

[ellemenope]

Anyone else's DC gone through a phase where they felt they need to label things as real or fake?

I mean I get it. She is trying to understand the world, but DD is stuck on some fallacies that I must hear 20 times a day:

"That is not real cause it's a toy."
"That is not real cause it's plastic."
"This is not real cause it has batteries in it."
"That is not real cause it's a drawing."

Should I really try to argue with her about this? So far she doesn't seem to want to hear me politely disagree so I have just left it alone.

I mean it is not completely coco puffs over here. Half the time, she is making remarkably accurate observations about the world. She has come to the conclusion on her own that any toy she has that makes noise, lights up, or moves, must have batteries in it, that there is a difference between a photo and a drawing, and that her plastic dinosaurs are just toys and that the real ones are the bones we see at the museum.

Then she makes bizzare remarks, asking me if I am her real mommy or a "plastic mommy" while she feels my face, has a weird preoccupation with mannequins, and won't drink out of her cup because it is plastic and demands a real one.

Just wondering if anyone out there, anyone has seen this before.

[LadyCatherine185]

My DS will label things as "real" or "big." Like, he doesn't want to use the plastic "baby" fork, he wants the "real, big" (metal) fork. Or he wants a "big drink" which means a cup without a lid. He will also label things as "pretend" such as fake food, etc.

I think it is pretty normal for toddlers to label things, like you said, because they are figuring out their world.

[teachma]

I think they're all a tad bit odd when they're toddlers. And here's another perspective: When my daughter was between the ages of two and 3 years old, she would sometimes establish imaginary scenarios and hang on to them for an entire day, never breaking out of whatever she'd created in her mind. During this phase, I would have *loved* for her to label anything as "fake" because she was so involved in her play that at times, I wasn't sure she knew what was reality! Fast-forward four years and she's a highly creative, slightly quirky, exceptionally social, athletic child. It all worked out...Your daughter is most definitely categorizing to make it all crystal-clear for herself.

[journeymom]

I'll just add that some kids are more literal minded than others and the difference between what is real and what is fake can be not only fascinating, but also disturbing and disconcerting. Even for what seems simple, straight forward and obvious to us, like mannequins.

And I agree, toddlers are sometimes just odd.

And if your dd is particularly chatty it might be that you'd be a little exacerbated right now regardless of the subject of her musings.

[cdmommie]

DD1 (3) labels things as dead or alive...kind of on the same basis of your LO's real and not real rules. I just watch and answer questions when they arise. I try not to interfere because I think she's trying to rationalize it in her mind and I don't want to confuse her further, lol.

[ellemenope]

It is nice to hear that toddlers are odd.

I was thinking that this might be more common, but I guess not.

DD is hung up on the real/pretend thing, too. For example, she seems to have decided that the Winnie-the-pooh drawings in the books are not of a 'real' bear. So, we have introduced the phrase 'make-believe' into her vocabulary.

I guess this stuff is important to her. I guess she is more literal-minded.

And, you are right. It would not be so bad if she weren't talking nonstop. She narrates everything, and her favorite words right now are 'because,' 'so,' 'that means,' and 'that's why.' So, she basically goes around making statements and then explaining why she thinks that way.

I guess I am not a literal person, because I think everything is 'real' on some level.

On the other hand, she is very imaginative.