Joshua has a sea creatures (seahorse, crab, whale, jellyfish, etc) puzzle that he loves.  He refers to all the animals as “fish”.  I pointed out to him that the whale and dolphin are “not fish”, but are “mammals”.  So now sometimes, out of the blue, he’ll say that “whale and dolphin are mammals”.  Then I generally smile and nod, thinking that my baby is smart.

Today we were driving in the car when he started talking about dolphins are mammals.  I said, “Yes, dolphins are mammals.”

Joshua said, “Whales are mammals.”

I said, “Yes, whales are mammals too, just like you are a mammal!”

Joshua said, “I’m not mammal.”  He sounded a little upset.

I said, “Yes, Joshua, you are a mammal.  You drink milk like all the other mammals do.”

Joshua now raised his voice, and said, “I’m not mammal!”

I said, “But baby, you are a mammal.”

Joshua is now clearly upset, and insisted, “I’m not mammal!  I’m Joshua!  I’m Joshua!”