For the Record...

Claire is such a talker! The past week or so, she answers many of our questions with "ja" or as Matt says, "yea." We'll also get a "nein" here and there. For example, yesterday when I asked her if we should give her pancake to Speedy, the neighbor dog, because he clearly wanted to eat it. :)

Here is the list of newer words (within the last month or two) that I can think of right now of what she says on her own without prompting. Many are nouns, but she's also got a few verbs in there and even an adjective or two! These are in no particular order, but I'm just recording them as they come to me. Also, most of the words I'm recording are in German, but I'm sure she has an English arsonry as well. However, I think she already knows that she uses German with me, so that's usually what I hear unless she doesn't have a German equivalent. (Language researchers, feel free to disagree with me on this one. These are just my observations.) Disclaimer: This is probably not as interesting for you unless you're madly in love with Claire like us (Omi, Grandma, Opa, Grandpa?) but I want to do this for our own records, especially because I love language development!

Tuer (door)

auf (up)

aus (off)

besser (better)

Duerst (thirst)

Wasser (water)

Milch (milk)

Hunger (Let me guess, you can get this one? 35% of words are cognates in German & English...it may sound a little different, but it's very close!)

Essen (eat)

schreien (scream - Claire likes to scream!)

gehen (go)
Bauch (stomach)
Arme (Got it?)
Nase (nose)
Feet (Yes, that's already English.)

Beine (legs)
Mund (mouth - Don't confuse this with moon!)
Augen (eyes)
Ohren (ears)

purse/Tasche

Pancake

schaukeln (swing/rock - We saw the pendulum of a clock the other day and she noticed it was schaukeling! Good job Schneckele...you're generalizing! :))

dirty

Haende (hands)

waschen (wash)

Bus

Auto

Ball

Buch (book)

Vogel/bird

draussen (outside)

aus (out)

rein (in)

Haus/house

Decke (blanket)

Nudeln (noodles)

kochen (cook)

Gabel (fork)

Loeffel (spoon)

Messer (knife)

Amen

Staubsauger (vacuum cleaner)

Mond (moon)

Sterne (stars)

suchen (to look for something)

finden (find)

steigen (climb)

Ni-Night

yellow (for any color!)

window

Maus (mouse)

Baum (tree)

"Bit du?" (Bist du? - (Where) are you?)

Buddy (Opas Hund - dog)

Now, if you got through that list and you're still reading, congratulations! I know I don't have all of them, but this paints a good picture at least.

And for reading so long, you now get a cute story. Lately Claire talks a lot about "Mond, Opa, Vogel" (seeing the moon with Opa and seeing a bird and if prompted, also a squirrel - Eichhoerchen). Last week we were coming home and I pulled into the garage only to hear Claire say "baum" (tree). I told her that there were a lot of trees outside. She told me "see"..."baum"..."maus." I was putting two and two together and realized she saw a 'mouse' in the tree while looking out the back window. It was actually a squirrel, but Eichhoernchen is a really tough word to say. She understands it, but can't say it. So anyway I asked her if she saw a squirrel in the tree and she was so excited I had figured out what she was trying to tell me. I was also just in awe because I'm thinking, man, my 19 month year old just communicated to me that she saw a squirrel in the tree, and that's a pretty big step, especially without any gestures! Oh the wonders of development! I love her! :)

Maybe someday I'll get around to posting some pictures on here. That would mean we have to start taking them...hmmm, better get to it!