They are not taught him, he simply hears them daily.

_26th and 27th Months._--Of his childish language he has
retained only the term _mammut_, for berries. Milk, which he
used to call _mima_, is now called _milch_ (cf., pp. 140, 157).

The child's use of the personal pronoun is strange. During my
absence an aunt of his took my place, and she addressed him for
the _first time_ with the word "Du" (thou), and spoke of herself
as "I," whereas I always called myself "Mama." The consequence
was that the boy for a long time used "thou" as the first
person, "I" as the second person, with logical consistency. He
hands me bread, saying, _I am hungry_, or, when I am to go with
him, _I come too_. Referring to himself, he says, _You want
flowers_; _you will play with Niania_. All other persons are
addressed with "I" instead of "you."

He tells his uncle, _There's an awfully pretty gentian in the
yard_. He gets the nurse occasionally to repeat the Latin names,
because they are difficult for her, and his correction of her is
very comical.

_28th Month._--He speaks long sentences. _Papa, come drink
coffee,_ _please do_. _Papa, I drive_ (for "you drive") _to
town, to Reval, and bring some parrots (Bellensittiche)_.

He often changes the form of words for fun, e. g., _guten
Porgen_ (for guten Morgen). On going out, he says, with a
knowing air, "Splendid weather, the sun shines so warm." He
alters songs also, putting in different expressions: e. g.,
instead of _Lieber Vogel fliege weiter, nimm a Kuss und a
Gruss_, Adolph sings, _Lieber Vogel fliege weiter in die Wolken
hinein_ (dear bird, fly farther, _into the clouds_, instead of
_take a kiss and a greeting_). It is a proof of logical thinking
that he asks, at sight of the moon, _The moon is in the sky, has
it wings?_

I had been sick; when I was better and was caressing him again,
he said, _Mama is well, the dear Jesus has made mama well with
sealing-wax_. "With sealing-wax?" I asked, in astonishment.
_Yes, from the writing-desk._ He had often seen his toys, when
they had been broken, "made well", as he called it, by being
stuck together with sealing-wax.

He now asks, _Where is the dear Jesus?_ "In heaven." _Can he fly
then; has he wings?_

Religious conceptions are difficult to impart to him, even at a
much later p