This psychoanalytic descriptive case study of a 2-year-old girl investigates the emergence of self-object differentiation, particularly in relation to the anal, urinary, and genital zones. An early emergence of genital excitation and awareness in this child due to certain early experiences, intensified a search for "the missing phallus." In the case study, the symbolic use of a number of concrete objects (pens, crayons, and cigars) were examined as a distortion of the normally developing symbolic function. An attempt is made to identify those factors in early life which predispose to such distortions, as well as those circumstances which tend to cause particular stress during the first very active period of symbolic emergence, the second year of life. (CS)