We’ve been working with Tristan on who “me” – that is, himself – is lately. At this point, we’re not going much past repeating it, reading it, and trying to identify himself in the mirror and in photographs. He’s starting to get that “you” is a totally different concept than the letter U, but I’m not sure to what extent.

I’ve been showing him pictures of himself and asking him, “Who is this?” The question prompts his attention – yay! He looks at the picture and says, “baby!” if it’s him. However, he also says “baby” for other babies, so I’m not sure if he knows HE is the baby in most of them. He doesn’t yet say his name, though from time to time he sort of whispers something that could possibly sound like “Tristan” when his name is spoken. (I hope he doesn’t turn out to dislike his name, but I will understand if he does.) He also says “baby!” when asked about his own image in the mirror, but doesn’t yet identify (or classify) other people.

I’m also trying to get him to identify me in pictures. He will say the word “mommy” when it’s presented in print to him, but he does not call or label me as “mommy” in person or in pictures. Same for “daddy” although Tristan does occasionally say something that sounds like “daddy?” around the time his dad is supposed to get home from work.

Since he’s interested in the exercises of reading, looking at pictures, and looking at himself in the mirror, I expect he will start to learn this one pretty soon. So long as he stays interested, of course.