At 2 years of age she was given a box of wooden beads for stringing. "She very quickly learned the art of holding the string in the right hand and the bead in the left, and became very much absorbed in her work. Suddenly she looked up and said, 'Beads, onions.'" The record continues: "Alternatives seem a preferred mode of expression at present, so that she wants 'soup, not peas'; her hands are 'clean, not dirty.'"
At 2 years 10 months, upon seeing a picture of a little girl mailing a letter, she told herself the following story:
Once upon a time there was a little girl and she wanted to mail a letter. She went out and looked for a letter box and found one near the drug store. She mailed the letter and it came to Wawarsing and Sheve received it." (Sheve was an aunt living at Wawarsing.)
Storytelling and writing plays and verses became a favorite pastime in later childhood.
At this time H had imaginary companions. "For several days Mr. Parkey (an invented character) was her very close friend. She played with him, conversed with him, loved him, killed him, and brought him to life again." She also invented new names for her dolls—Flossie became "Woozie" and Alice became "Katch."
At 2 years 11 months she asked the meaning of the words "excitement," "guarantee," and "neatness." She constantly asked about the meaning of words. She sang songs to herself, such as "Go into the next room, where there's no steam heat." At this age she asked how babies are made. "Where do they come from? How do they come out? Why? Will a baby grow in my belly when I'm a big lady?"
At 3 years she wanted to know if people "wear out" like brushes and combs. She purchased for an imaginary house "an extrola," "a gate-legged table," "a gate-legged bookcase," and "gate-legged chairs."
At 3 years 0 months, waiting for her cereal to cool, a lump of butter put into it is slowly melting. H remarks, her eyes on the butter, "Now it's a baby—baby died—no more baby."
And noting the snow, she said, "My muffler is as white as the snow." She looks again at snow and muffler. "No, it's a different white."
There is on record a vocabulary compiled by the mother when H was 3 years old (May 23, 1927). It was based on a count of "all the words used by H regardless of whether she could tell exactly what they mean. Tenses of verbs are given but no plurals of nouns." The list includes about 1400 words, approximately classifiable as follows: