05 June 2011

Of First Words

With the gaggle of sounds a baby emits, it's no wonder, really, that I've found it hard to distinguish my children's "first" words - I'm really not sure how others do it.  Sure, they make sounds that vaguely resemble words.  But do they know what they're saying?  Or is it just another fun sound for them? 

At just about a year old, I was certain Micaiah's first word was "Book", as she said the word clearly and pointed to the book I was reading - then again, she did not repeat the word for months after that.  In the mean-time, "Hi", "Bye" and "No!" entered her repertoire quite regularly.  So were these her first words?  Who knows.

Meanwhile, Emmett has begun, within the past couple of months, to announce "Bye-bye!" along with his waving hand to any parting guest (or any time Mommy and Daddy encouraged him to show off his skills).  Thus, I suppose this would be his true first word.  Yesterday, however, Philip began determined efforts to teach him "Mama" - Emmett gave many concerted efforts but typically came out with, "Uh . . . Be?"  Which relates to the fact that "Baby" has been his most recent word of choice (yet another to which I am not certain he has attached a meaning).

Imagine our surprise and delight, therefore, when we took a family field trip to retrieve our son from his Sunday School Class this morning and, upon seeing us, he looked up, smiled and said, clearly, "Mama!"  As I turned to ask if Philip had heard it, Emmett repeated himself, stretching his arms out to the object of his speech, "Mama!"

If that doesn't melt a Momma's heart, I'm not sure what would.

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