I'm not sure you are. As a critic who has reviewed hundreds of children's books for mainstream media, I used to think you couldn't "dumb down" board books because they're so basic to begin with. But I over time I saw that some publishers seriously underestimate what children can understand. As you noted, they'll change words like "chrysalis" to one they think children can understand more easily. It seems pointless when a parent has to read the book to a child and can explain an unclear word. I've often thought that if Maurice Sendak were writing "Where the Wild Things Are Today," an editor might try to get him to change the word "rumpus" because "a 3-year-old doesn't know what a rumpus is."