A few months back, I thought that Elsa was trying to say "kitty," based on the fact that several times she exclaimed "ghee!" prior to lunging for our cat. Then she stopped saying it, and I told myself it was just a fluke. So, I hesitate to write this, because I don't want to jump the gun again, but I am reasonably certain that Elsa is now trying to say "dog." She pronounces it "dah!" (Note exclamation mark.)

When we were down at Alastair's parents' house for Thanksgiving, she started saying it almost every time she saw their two golden retrievers. She'd stand up against the glass doors leading out from the living room (the designated "baby" room in the house) or the sliding doors over the deck, and when the dogs approached she'd say "dah!" over and over again. Not just a babbling "dah dah dah," mind you, but a very pointed "dah!" (pause) "dah!" Like, "Hey! That's a dog! See? I know the word for dog! That's what it is! A dog!" And sometimes she'd even go up to the glass doors and say "dah!" when the dogs weren't there, like she was looking for them. (Maybe she was just saying "door?" Nah.) The corker: on our way home when we stopped at a rest stop and I took her out of the car for some air, she saw a woman walk by with a dog on a leash and said "dah."  (No exclamation mark that time, because we'd been crawling in holiday traffic and she -- like the rest of us -- was exhausted.)

Full discosure: She also said "dah!" several times while pointing to the drawing of Eeyore on the back of her new Winnie the Pooh rider toy thingy. Now, I realize that Eeyore's not a dog. But he's got four legs and a tail. Same goes for our cat, who Elsa is also now calling "dah!" So, maybe she doesn't understand the finer zoological distinctions that make a dog a dog. But she does seem to think that "dah!" is a word associated with four-legged animal-type creatures.

OK, even fuller disclosure: sometimes she says "dah!" for things that don't look remotely like a dog. But I swear, it's not just a random sound. I get the sense she's actually trying to talk. Or at least she seems to get the idea that when you make a sound, it can actually mean something. So, while I'm not sure "dah!" counts as her first word, I'm going to say it's her first proto-word. 

Meanwhile, Clio's got a new linguistic trick of her own: sticking her (surprisingly long and pointy) tongue out and saying "la la la la la" when she hears music or singing. My dad swears she actually sang "Ode to Joy" after I played it on their toy keyboard, but I think she just got lucky. Still, there's definitely some kind of vocal mimicry happening. In fact, more and more, the girls are becoming little imitators.

Pretty soon we're going to have to stop cussing, spitting, and kicking puppies. Truly, it's the end of an era.