New words

Most families make a big deal over a child's "first word." This is proving somewhat difficult for us as T and I are unable to reach consensus on the standards for an utterance constituting a word. T counts "da da" as the first word. I reject this because, for a long while, M called any object "da da." I was "da da" but so was C, the neighbor's dog, birds outside, etc. By my reasoning "duck" is the first word--although the uncertainty here is that she isn't refering to a web-footed quacker, but patting her head to play "Duck, duck, goose" (see earlier post). Regardless of which word counts as first, we do agree on the order of the words that have followed: ball, Bela (pronounced Bel-Wa), and most recently, dog. Bela of course is the cat and T is most unhappy that M has said the cat's name before "ma ma". (Despite T's coaching her to say "ma ma". M's response to such coaching is to shake her head no.)

M has discovered where Bela's cat treats are kept in the pantry and when the door is open will grab them, hold them over her head and march to the couch in den--behind which Bela is usually sleeping or hiding--and wave them around. M's logic, I suppose, is that a cat will come to play with a shreeking baby waving a plastic container in hopes that the baby will be able to open the container and provide a yummy cat treat. Genetically a cat, Bela is able to ignore such logic, resist the temptation of a treat, a look at M with mild annoyance ("you woke me up for this. I would pity humans but it's not worth the effort.")

C's new word is girlfriend. He took a fancy to one of the high school girls who taught his class at Vacation Bible School this week. Fri afternoon he drew her a picture. Unfortunately, she wasn't in church this morning for him to deliver it. We asked him why she was his girlfriend. He replied "She's bootiful and she's nice to me." Two excellent reasons! The Vietnamese Valentino is now stateside.