Oh Mom! Pretend Fish Can't Like Things!

On Sunday I  spent the afternoon and evening with a childhood friend, Shari. I lamented mildly that I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do next with Ellie. She's reading sentences and is bored - there's no more challenge. I also wrote stories about her toys, but they are all true statements - and it would be weird to write, "Zed swims in the water outside" when he is clearly sitting next to us on the sofa, not swimming.

I thought the concepts of true/pretend would be too hard to explain. The thought of it made me think I needed some wine.

Monday I bit the bullet anyway and decided to write statements that were: TRUE / NOT TRUE / PRETEND.

• True would be: Ellie likes pancakes.
• Not true would be: Ellie likes Isabelle
• Pretend would be: Pretend Ellie is going for a ride in the car.

Today I wrote simple stories for Ellie and put them on flashcards:

• Zed is a pretend fish.
• Real fish live outside.
• Real fish swim in water.
• Zed likes green.
• Zed likes Ellie.
• Ellie likes Barney.
• Zed doesn't like grass.

Then a story for Barney, her elephant.

• Barney is a pretend elephant.
• Real elephants live outside.
• Real elephants are HUGE!
• Real elephants eat grass.
• Barney is a toy.
• Barney likes Ellie.
• Ellie likes Barney.

Then I asked her reading comprehension questions. Here is the video. When I got to, "Ellie likes Barney." She answered "True." But "Barney likes Ellie" - she answered "Not True."

The same happened with Zed. "Ellie likes Zed" was true. "Zed likes Ellie" she answered "Not True."

She got all of the other reading comprehension questions correct - Zed is a pretend fish. Real elephants live outside...

So, a few possible (if strange) conclusions:
1. Ellie trusts her own judgment above what she's reading
2. More interestingly - Ellie appears to understand that things that are pretend do not have the capacity to "like" anything. Only "real" things can "like" things. And I may be wrong - but I think that's a very advanced concept, actually!

Joe was really funny. I was in the middle of telling him the story...
Joe: Wait - you told her that her fish and her elephant like her? Why would you say that? They're fake!
Me: STOP IT!!! SHE'S OBVIOUSLY YOUR BIRD CHILD AND YOU ARE BOTH SMARTER THAN I AM!!!