"Ha ha ha ha. Let Me Have My Dumb Baby."

There are totally a lot of "kids say the darndest things" moments in my line of work, but this is, by far, one of the funniest. The following is an example of an unfocused chain, a narrative structural form produced by typically developing preschoolers, from Hedberg and Westby (1993). It's told by a 4 year old boy, and it cracks me up every single time I read it. Here it goes:

1. One day some people saw a dog gonna eat a baby

2. And the dog liked their baby.

3. One of them came and kicked the dog out and took the baby away and then bring the baby to the mother.

4. And she hided it inside of her.

5. Then she made a baby.

6. Then they had some kids.

7. They were all from her kid.

8. So they wanted to buy a gift

9. And they never wanted to.

10. So they wanted to go the kid's store.

11. Then the wolf came and said, "Ha ha ha ha.

12. Let me have my dumb baby."

13. Then took one of them and all the stuff from the other baby, too.

14. And they moved all the other one kid.

15. They said, "I want a kid, too."

16. The others started a kid.

17. They walked right to the store.

18. And they had two kids.

I think my favorite line is, "The others started a kid." Maybe not the most obvious choice, but so, so good.