Using Her Words

As Claire hits 13 months, here are the words that she's now saying. I tried looking back through this blog to see how it compares to what Elsa was saying when she was around this age, but I guess I didn't make a list of the words Elsa used until she was about 15 months. But I do think this is either equivalent to what Elsa was saying at the time, or possibly more.

• Mama
• Dada
• Elsa - the pronunciation on this one varies and it isn't very clear. For a while, I think she pronounced Elsa "la la," but recently I've been hearing "all-da" or "all-la." And she has said "El-da" at least once.
• Belle Belle - she says this one very clearly
• Dog - "daw daw"
• Bye bye - "bah bah," sometimes accompanied by waving, and usually said long after the person in question has already left
• Hi - she doesn't say this one often, but earlier today, she was watching Bob walking around outside, and I swear she said, "Hi Dada."
• Turtle
• Uh oh - probably the word she says the most often
• Baby - she loves other babies
• All done - "ah dah!"

Claire also makes lots and lots of conversational noises. Every time I hand her a toy or other item of interest, she says, "Eh!" and examines the object. Her voice has a sweet, high-pitched, up-and-down tone that reminds me very much of Elsa when she was first learning to talk. And Claire loves to laugh, even when she has no idea what she's laughing at. If Elsa laughs, Claire does too, it's pretty much automatic.

Claire likes to call to people when she sees them outside or hears them talking from another room. She always starts yelling "Dada! Dada!" when she hears Bob walk in the door from work. She also yells to Elsa during Elsa's tennis lesson. During the lesson, Claire and I sit up in the balcony—I watch the action down on the courts, while Claire generally scootches around on the floor. So Claire can't see Elsa from her vantage point, but she can sometimes hear Elsa's voice, and when she does, she calls out to her, loudly. The tennis pro has actually even remarked about it, telling Elsa that he thinks her sister is calling her. It's adorable, although probably not conducive to Elsa's concentration.

And finally, kisses are big right now. When we ask for a kiss, she often (though not always) leans in and says "mmmmm." (She's better about this with Bob than she is with me.) She's also gotten really cuddly and even a bit clingy lately, although that varies too. Sometimes she's in the mood for a cuddle, and other times she's too busy scootching around and playing. But even when she's in busy mode, she will frequently scootch up to me on her butt and throw herself down over my lap in a "hug" before scootching away again, back to the toys. She's such a little sweetheart. : )