All Foreign-Talk And No Trousers

(My husband’s family lives overseas. Our niece is four years old – her parents speak English to her at home, but it is not her first language. She and I are playing Barbies, in English.)

Niece: *holds out an item of Barbie clothing that looks like an oddly shaped skirt* “What is this? A shirt?”

Me: “Hmm. Well, it doesn’t have sleeves. So, it could be a shirt, but I don’t think it’s shaped right to be a shirt.”

Niece: *pulls the little skirt over the Barbie’s legs* “It’s a… it’s a… shirt for legs!”