Young children mix up their pronouns.  Have you noticed? 

The other day, my 3 year old Ella was talking about her Daddy and said his name, “Ray.”  Then she decided to try and spell it.

E:  R-A-I-J

This triggered another thought…

E: Mom, there’s a boy in my class named PJ.

Me:  PJ or AJ? (knowing that the boy’s name really is AJ.)

E: AJ

Me:  Is AJ a boy or a girl?

E: She’s a boy.

Me:  He’s a boy?

E:  Yeah, hers not a girl like me….

Older people have similar Pronoun Ambiguity.  Both of my girls were born bald and stayed that way for a couple of years.  I did my best to dress them in girly colors and put tiny hair clips in their hair fuzz to help others know they were, in fact, GIRLS.  Yet older people still often came to me, saying things like

“Oh HE’S so cute…” or

“What a cute little boy!” or

“How old is he?”

I’d smile graciously.  “HER name is Maggie.  SHE’S 4 months old.”

To which they’d reply something like, “Oh… HE looks just darling in that pink dress.”

So apparently this Pronoun Confusion has something to do with being very young.  Or with being very old.  When you’re somewhere in the middle, like me, you have other struggles — like mixing up your own children’s names, for instance…