12 Jun 2026
First Words
ninety-one lines, kept by hand, June 2026
Sophia and Olivia, one month before they turned two. The sheet is dated 12 June 2026: ruled paper, one hand, a column each.
It is set out below line for line. Nothing is ordered or cleaned up. Where the hand struck a word, the strike stands. Where the page runs out, at ninety-one, the list stops.
The list does not stay in one language. bap, Malmeoni, Yiayia, Baba, and on line 6 the three names for one man: Dada and abba and Daddy. On line 36, in Olivia's column, is Sophs.
- 1UpUp
- 2DownDown
- 3YesYes
- 4NoNo
- 5MamaMama
- 6Dada + abba + DaddyDada + Daddy
- 7YiayiaYiayia
- 8MoonMoon
- 9BearBear
- 10BusBus
- 11Teabap
- 12Two
- 13bapfood, in Korean
- 14BabaBaba
- 15WawaWawa
- 16IceIce
- 17meme
- 18doordoor
- 19hair
- 20oneone
- 21
TwoHiTwoHi - 22Bye-byeBye x 2
- 23ShareShare
- 24Thank you
- 25Soup
- 26Hot
- 27ColdCold
- 28bagelbagel
- 29Beebee
- 30moomoo
- 31
outside - 32Bubblebubble
- 33MangoMango
- 34Help(h)elp
- 35BoobooBooboo
- 36PopSophs
- 37babypop
- 38wowwow
- 39more
- 40beep-beepbeep-beep
- 41mokespace
- 42uh-oh
- 43mail
- 44wheel
- 45Shoes
- 46yeah
- 47yay
- 48there
- 49
outsideKnock-knock - 50oh no
- 51chair
- 52mirror
- 53orkork
- 54see
- 55
- 56apple
- 57bagel
- 58policepolice
- 59sirensi
- 60strap
- 61boyboy
- 62girlgirl
- 63wet
- 64pee pee
- 65bagelbagel
- 66feet
- 67blippiblip
- 68cowcow
- 69
outsideoutside - 70
bee - 71bird
- 72bug
- 73Spot
- 74Rice
- 75horsehorse
- 76broccolibroccoli
- 77sit
- 78
feet - 79Rice
- 80ShannonShannon
- 81OutsideOutside
- 82MalmeoniMalmeoni
- 83fastfast
- 84slowslow
- 85hot
- 86white
- 87happy
- 88paper
- 89paintegg
- 90boat
- 91happy
91 linesSophia 83Olivia 52both 49
Struck words are struck on the page. A dotted word is one whose reading in the hand is not certain. The numbers run down Sophia’s side and count lines, not words, so three of them carry only Olivia.
The sheet
