The intricate quilt pattern of child language development can be pieced together from the numerous swatches of each child's language fabric which have been gathered by watching, looking, and listening when young children write. The necessity of watching, looking, and listening is demonstrated by the example of a preschooler's verbal protocol which accompanied the writing of a story. The language researchers who try to look at children's language by pulling children (and their language) out of context, will have only threads to look at. Adopting a qualitative, contextualized approach will lead to a better understanding of the complicated and elusive phenomena of the development of child language. (RS)