LIFE SIGNS by JOHANNA DAVIS
183 pages. Atheneum. $5.95.
Mommy pops a Dexamyl and to her firstborn, whom she is diapering, explains that she must dash to keep an appointment with her psychiatrist, who is trying to determine why she is cuckoo.
"Goo-goo," says the baby. "No," mommy tells him, "goo-goo is how babies go. Mommies go cuckoo." This time the kid gets it right: "Mommy koo-koo." It is his first sentence, and mommy is charmed. "You smart thing," she says, "have a zwieback."
The reader may feel at this point that what he needs is...