October 2007. Berkeley, CA
A conversation I recorded with my son when he was 5 or 6:
h: did you write asha?
s: you have an asha in your class?
h: yeah, but she’s not my best friend, but did you write any asha?
s: no, i didn’t know – i don’t know a lot of kids in your class.
h: did you write anthony?
s: yeah, anthony’s on there.
h: he is? where is anthony? there?
s: yup.
h: i want to make an arrow that says this row is in – this row is in hugo’s class.
thomas! he plays soccer.
s: yeah. he likes pirates.
h: but i don’t, ’cause they’re so nasty and they never brush their teeth and they’re
smelly and they’re just so weird. but i do like those skulls. the cross sword things.
what is that? an ‘r’?
s: r-e-x
h: that doesn’t look like a ‘r’… daddy, when can ju-ju have a playdate with us,
because she said “when can i have a playdate with you?”. that’s what she said in
kindergarten. i mean not in kindergarten, in pre-school… what’s that – peter?
s: yup.
h: what’s that?
s: jack. jack the dog was in your class?
h: no! jack the person, who’s lazy because at nap time he’s almost always the
last one to wake up. he’s like a cow he’s so sleepy.