Papa was wrong

Earlier in life, Papa couldn’t imagine speaking to his baby in the third person. Papa always thought it sounded weird (if not condescending), and he always swore he would never do it. Papa was wrong.

Now Papa has experienced the strange pull of the third person first-hand, almost as if there’s a fourth law of parental thermodynamics that dictates the decay of selfishness into babytalk. He has tried (and from time to time, still does try) to force himself to avoid talking about “Papa,” “your Father,” or “the Big Dog” — but mostly he fails.

p{color:gray}. Photo: Papa took this picture. (Obviously, Lucy’s got no problem with the first person.)

He wonders why this is. Surely babies are as capable of understanding first-person pronouns as any other elements of English grammar! (That is to say, not very well.) Papa himself certainly can’t claim ever to have observed his little Lu seeming puzzled at such sentences as, “I love you,” but then having her face light up in comprehension upon a shift to “Papa loves you!”

So Papa is pretty sure this is one of the sheer mysteries that overcome those crazy humans whenever there are babies around. (Their sudden, unquestioning willingness to eat food that has been either in someone else’s mouth or on the floor, if not both, is another example.)

Papa will just have to get used to it.