3V0621.01 [gone]: joke extended; shows syngnostic perspective recently owned distanced by humor. 10/5/79
Peggy sat in my lap this evening as we ate cheese and crackers after
dinner. I had cleared away my dishes so before me was a place mat.
Peggy demanded her share /kae/ka?/ Gretchen and I talked with our
guest, José. Peggy, playing with my place; she lifted the mat, slipped
her cracker under and turning to me with a knowing smile said [gone].
I replied, “What’s gone ?” and she responded /kae/ka/. Peggy
continued playing this joke/game while I attempted to get her to
express the idea that the cracker was gone as a multi-element sentence.
No go.
I tired of the gone cracker — and slipped my hand under the place mat,
over the cracker, and moved it away. Lifting the mat, Peggy reached
triumphantly for the cracker and was disappointed and much
surprised. She said “Gone ?”, lifted up the mat and shook it (so it
seemed) over her lap. she did not think to look under my hand, and did
not do so, even when Gretchen said she should. I eventually uncovered
the cracker instead of giving her another at her request.
Relevance: again we see this joke, based on Peggy’s certainty of object
permanence, exemplifying the way in which a syngnostic perspective,
recently owned, is distanced through humor. (confer Miriam “flying”
joke in One Child’s Learning.)