Actually, Tanika, you must be kidding me.

In the last couple weeks, the boys have started saying phrases that remind me how much they're growing.

I overheard Dean looking for a toy, saying to himself, "Actually, I think it's over here."

Cary said to us last night, "You know what, y'all?" (Sidenote: Yes, Maryland is SOUTH of the Mason-Dixon line, people. So we say "y'all." And what?)

Dean has taken to calling me "Tanika."

And a couple days ago, I asked Cary to do something for me and he said, "No problem!"  So cute.

Not so cute? The time I asked him to pick up his toys and he said to me, "Are you kidding me, Mommy?"

No I am NOT kidding you, you little pipsqueak. Pick up your toys!  (That's what I said in my head. You can't really call kids "pipsqueaks" or else they'll repeat it to the people at CPS.)

Anyway, it cracks me up to hear them talking like big boys -- and it also (of course) makes me stop and take note of how fast they're growing. Sigh.  I remember when Cary used to stare up at the ceiling fan and say, "Dan!" That was just like seven seconds ago.

More importantly, it reminds Lester and me that we have to always be thinking about what we say around them. They are picking things up like wildfire these days.

What funny things are your kids saying?

P.S. Clair has become simultaneously more aggressive and more lovey-dovey in the last few months.
She whacks at us and her brothers all day long, and fusses at us non-stop. But she also hugs and kisses us -- and her stuffed animals -- ALL the time:

That's her kissing "Baby Beanie."

 I love that she is sweet AND feisty.

I have no doubt that this girl will be the kind to "lean in" when the time comes. So happy she's my sassy sweetie!

I'm having a synapse breakdown

Today, Clair is 8-months-old. She's crawling, standing and even beginning to cruise. She is moving so fast, I can barely stand it.

But as she grows, and I compare her to the boys in terms of how much more she can do at this age than they could, I have also started thinking about how much less time she actually gets with us.

Ugh.

Particularly since she is almost always being edged out by her noisier, more demanding brothers, we almost never have time to just sit with her and read, read, read. Or sing and play individual baby games. Or just point out/narrate all the mundane stuff going on while we cook, eat, dress, and go about our days. Frankly, by the time we are wrapping up with C & D, we are SPENT. She gets a lot of love and hugs and a ridiculous overdose of kisses and tickles, but way less one-on-one chatter.

I was already slightly worried about this discrepancy. Then I read this article in the NYT.

These two lines in particular:

Children of professionals were, on average, exposed to approximately 1,500 more words hourly than children growing up in poverty. This resulted in a gap of more than 32 million words by the time the children reached the age of 4.

As the education theorist E. D. Hirsch recently wrote in a review of Paul Tough’s new book, “How Children Succeed,” there is strong evidence that increasing the general knowledge and vocabulary of a child before age 6 is the single highest correlate with later success. 

And now I am freaked the funk out!!

You know me, people. I am synapse-nuts as it is! Reading this just sends me over the EDGE! And yes, I know technically Clair isn't a child of poverty. And yes, I know she has almost 5 and a half more years before she reaches age 6 (so I have a little bit of time). But still!!

STILL!

How come you people with "second' children (I count her as the second, because the boys are twins) didn't tell me that the second one gets such short shrift? And what can you do about it when they're just babies? And does it even out over time??

Can people please tell me stories about their second-born kids and how they're well-rounded/sweet-natured geniuses?

(P.S. Happy 8-months, Clairzee! We love you so much! We really do!!)

Talking up a storm

The other day my friend Stacey mentioned how her little boy, Hugo -- one month older than Cary and Dean -- was speaking in 4-to-5 word "sentences." And my friend Angel recently mentioned how her son Zachary -- one day younger than Cary and Dean -- has had a "language explosion."

It got me to thinking about how my boys, like theirs, have really been talking up a storm as of late. Everyone notices it, from my Mom to Michelle to people we meet out and about. They talk and talk and talk ...and talk some more. Like Hugo, they are stringing more and more words together. Like Zachary, they are able to say just about any word they want now, with some, but not a tremendous amount of, effort.

Michelle and I have daily marvelfests at all the things these boys say and do.

They can speak in complete sentences:

•  "Mommy upstairs with Baby Clair, resting."
• "Baby Clair crying, want her pacifier."
• "I no like it. I no like poop in the potty."
• "No, no go to Aunt Tootie house. Stay inside."
• "Eat dinner when Daddy comes home."
• "Mommy, I find a truck (pointing underneath the sofa). I find it under there."
• And here's one that really floored both of us: Cary to Dean the other day, while sitting in their highchairs: "No Dean, stop making the noise. Eat your lunch! Drink your agua! Okaaaaaay?" 

(Dean, of course, upon being given a direct order, did the exact opposite.)

They also use pretty big words for not-yet-2-year-olds.

 Today Cary used the word "pretend," as in "Dean pretend to cry!" And yesterday, when one of the boys' toys kept going off mysteriously (freaking me out) Dean said, "Somebody pushing it."

Cary routinely tells me he's "busy" or "I'm doing something," when I ask him to come here. And Dean can sing at least four songs, word for word, all the way through in perfect pitch. (Unless I ask him to do it for friends or family. Then of course he can't do anything but say "NO!")

They throw pillows on the floor and say "Pillow mountain!" And then they scale the pillows and say, "Mountain climber!" Cary tells me about the "neighbors" he hears running up their stairs next door (hazards of living in a rowhouse). Dean asks me for "pineapple, please!"

At the doctor on Thursday, Cary (while reading a book) yelled, "Dr. Bodnar!!! The monkeys eating the bananas!" Dr. Bodnar cracked up. And then told me, "His language is out of this world."

Both boys cry when the "ice cream truck" rolls down our street without stopping, and ask for it to "come back."  They love their bathtub "hippopotamus" toys. They flip through "magazines" or "newspapers" and say, "reading." When I'm working, they say, "Mommy's computer." They tell me to put their food in the "microwave." Their favorite words are "lawnmower" and "weed whacker."

They blabbed to my Mom that we had gotten a new "shower." (It was just the curtain, but she didn't need to know that. It would have been fine for her to think my bathroom always looks that bright and clean! Thanks, boys!)

Dean comforted Cary when he was looking out the front door for Michelle by saying, "MiMi on her way. MiMi driving." When Michelle told them to use their spoons to scoop up their yogurt like a bulldozer, Cary said, "Scoop it like excavator."

Ummmmm. Hello! Do you boys know you're not yet 2? Hellloooo!

And this is all I can remember off the top of my head. There's so much more they say, it's unbelievable that these are the same boys who used to just stare off into space and coo at things. I am seriously amazed at them.

They are so much fun to talk to and be with right now, it makes it infinitely easier to deal with the meltdowns and tantrums that pepper their day. It's like their language explosion, as Angel so aptly put it, is my reward for months and months of not knowing what the heck they wanted! And apparently it only gets even more pronounced at 2-and-a-half, so I can't even imagine what kinds of things they'll be saying then. I can't wait to talk to them more and more!

By the way, my daughter is also clearly going to be verbal. At not even three months, she already says "H!"

I'm telling you! See for yourself:

Geniuses, these Davis kiddos!! And darn cute, too!