I don't think ours does that so much. He's plenty grabby, though.
When she first moved in with us, Mara started all "what is it?" type questions with "That's your...?" I'm not sure whether this means she was always disabused of the notion that things were hers or that she never had it and always assumed they were someone else's. Maybe her language delay at HaPu's age kept her from it? I wish I knew.
She does like having things of her own, but is also incredibly generous and almost always willing to share. (The only exception I know is when she got the fire truck toy a classmate had smashed into her shins six times and then he asked for it back, she whined miserably rather than going along with it.)
I think there's a developmental stage right around two where they get the idea that they can own or control stuff, and it's really interesting for them. I remember thinking at eighteen months that Sally was a really laid back, generous kid who understood sharing at a fundamental level, because there were never any issues about it. And then she developed a little more, and suddenly the toy-hoarding and non-sharing started.
So, maybe not the literally saying "MINE", but the obsession with it seems pretty standard to me.
Maybe it's a language thing partly? It's such an easy and fun word to say in English. So is "No!" I'm guessing "La mienne" is less popular among folks of the same age in France....?
Maybe it's a little working song. That's what you get for strapping those little helmets on them and sending them into the earth to bring back coal for the furnace. Sure, it's annoying, but they look awfully cute in the helmets, and the house stays nice and warm!
In French, "à moi!" is pretty fun to say.
Contrary to all the sane-sounding child-development comments, I theorize that you've made a libertarian. Congratulations!
We get a lot of milage out of having faux serious debates about whose it really is, while "mineminemine" goes off in the background.
I was once briefly responsible for a toddler who was a) seriously abnormally large for his age, even among the Dutch; we're talking a near two year old who was the size of, like, a chubby 3 yr old; b) newly obsessed with the idea of toy possession and hoarding; and c) had recently learned the joys of headbutting.
He would systematically conquer all of his playmates, headbutting them one by one and taking their toys, which he would amass in one pile. Then he'd guard the pile.
He also figured out pretty quickly that if he threw his entire mass at me while I was sitting, or reaching for something, or otherwise off balance, he could pretty reliably knock me over.
He was such an awesome kid. (Not actually being sarcastic.)
I was reminded of all of this when I saw all those stories about the German baby with two copies of some mutated gene that normally inhibited muscle development. The one who could hold out two 5 kg weights for, like, 5 minutes at a time at the age of 5 or whatever. All I could think was, "good luck getting into daycare."
There's also "I share!" which is my local toddler-speak for "I would like to have that object of yours."
My kids were more into "gimme" than "mine" at that age, IIRC. It sounds ruder, but doesn't directly imply a desire to hoard forever. Now they say "Let me see! Let me see!" They will do this about any object you turn your attention to or mention in conversation.
Mine is more into saying "Is that . . . . mine?" with a sneaky, evil grin, before grabbing the toy. Also, she's fond of telling others "you have to share" right before pushing in, grabbing something, and not sharing. I think I'm training her well to be a supervillainess.
My kids never went through the "MINE" phase. Maybe you're doing it wrong? If you want them to turn out well, you should send them to me to raise. You can have them back when they're teenagers.
That's about all my oldest says at the moment. As far as I know, I never told her anything was mine, so it seems to have arisen as a spontaneous result of ecological pressures of having a younger sibling.
1: Oh he does plenty. I think he picked it up from his little buddies though.
We get a fair amount of "dat's mine's!" And admonishments that there's "no grabbin'!" which is usually preceded by some serious grabbin'.
I guess there could be a culture somewhere that is consistently giving any such toddler the near-lethal electroshock it deserves whenever it produces that MINE.
Unfortunately such culture would underperform the cultures with lower infancy death statistics.
Ours is sleep-talking "mine mine mine" right now in a very distressed tone.