Words and sayings of Clair Davis

As this blog serves as my baby book, as much as it is my journal, photo album and record of Davis history, I thought I should get down Clair's vocabulary.

• Haaa - Hi
• Bah-bah or bye-bye  - Good-bye or good night
• TaychOO - Thank you
• Down - she says this one very clearly, and with gusto.
• Hup - Up
• Dee - Dean
• Dee - Cary
• Muh-muh or Muh-mee - Mama
• Da-da - Daddy
• Dop - Stop
• Doppt - Stop it
• Uh-oh!
• Guck - Stuck (this is a frequent one, as she is always getting herself stuck somewhere)
• Hot
• Code - cold
• Tit - Sit
• Teet - Feet
• Tep - Step
• Teeee - any letter of the alphabet she sees
• Tooo, Teee - attempting to "count" as she goes up the teps
• Boon - Balloon
• Bah - Ball
• Moos - Nose
• ...shhh - fish 
• Heyh - Hair
• Hmm - Here (handing someone something)
• poo-poo
• Coop -  scoop
• Kiiiiiick - kick
• Pop
• Pickbuu - Peek-a-boo!
• Heh - "Hey" as in the background "Hey!" in "Hey Bo Diddly"
• Kay - OK
• Buh-buu - Bubble

Most of the time, she speaks in an adorable gibberish that makes no sense to anyone but her. But her vocabulary is growing  enough now that we can  - most times - figure out what she wants or needs.

She also barks like a (small, yappy) dog, mooos like a cow, quacks like a duck, cheeps like a bird, oinks like a pig, baas like a sheep and growls like a dozen or so other indistinguishable animals.

In addition, as has been noted here before, she kicks, swats, yells, screams, shrieks, screeches, hits and is a veritable crazy woman. She teases her brothers mercilessly. She has a very defined proprietary sense (everything is hers). She laughs louder than she cries. She never, ever, ever backs down.

She is the most spunky, spirited, fight-for-what-she-wants child I have ever known.

I love her!

Edited: Tonight, she said her very first sentence! In the bathtub, Dean kept pouring water on her head. At first, she liked it, but she grew increasingly annoyed. Finally, she said. "Dop. Dop, Deee!"

Aww, my baby's first sentence!!

The rest of this T-shirt says "crazy child." OK, not really. But it should.

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!!)