As an English teacher, words are very important to me. My house is littered with books; I understand the basics of linguistics enough to understand what my son needs to develop language. It should come as no surprise to anyone that, more than being able to walk, I have been eagerly anticipating my son's first words.
Seriously, Don't you think he should have said "Mama"?
Hugely pregnant, I remember asking my husband, "What do you think his first words will be?" And my husband, with eyes full of naive, doe-eyed wonder, would say, "Of course it's going to be Mama!"
According to almost everyone I know, I can say that 98% of them supposedly said "Mama" as their first word (obviously made up statistic based on general observations and semi-sober conversations). According to my mom (who I have come to realize may have had a skewed version of reality, because, according to her, my son could have been writing Pulitzer Prize winning literature AND could easily be Poet Laureate of 2012), my and my sisters' first words were all "Mama". "Papa" being my & my sister Maria's second word, and "Gimme" being my sister May's second word.
My two nephews both said "Mama" as their first word, and apparently, so did my husband, his two brothers, and his little sister.
Based on this non-scientifically based statistic, I held out all supreme confidence that Micah would say "Mama" as his first word. Dad says it all the time. Abuela tells him every time she feeds him , "Mama makes you the best food!" EVERYONE calls me Mama, and I am his primary caretaker, so of course he would say "Mama" as his first word, right? (Right?)
I became even more confident that "Mama" would be his first word when he started making "MMmmmmmm" sounds, followed shortly by a series of loud "Mamamamamamamaaaamaaa" sounds. Excellent. My confidence faltered when he only started using the "Maaaaa" sound when he would start wailing bloody murder in the middle of the night. At this point, I really thought he was saying his first word, that it was "Mama", and he was expressing it with the tone of, "Mom you better get the hell over here now before I need serious therapy, it will be your fault, and I start to hate you!" (Luckily, he didn't mean it, and it was just a figment of my hyperbolic imagination).
At some point, I told my husband, "I think his first word is going to be Dada". And he replied as any good husband would reply, "No...I think it will be Mama. I'm sure of it." Hug. Kiss. Move on.
And so my son said his first word. It wasn't "Mama". It wasn't "Dada." It was neither variation of either word. What was his first word? DOG. Yes, DOG.
When I heard him say it, at first I thought, "no way--he's not saying `dog' ". Then I took him out on a walk in his stroller, and he proceeded to point to every dog and say, "DOG!"
Although I am obviously excited that he said his first word, I have to admit that selfishly, I'm a little miffed. As I'm smiling and clapping about my son's first word, internally, this is what's happening:
Seriously? You're going to choose "Dog" over "Mama"? "Mama" is so much easier to say than "Dog"! And besides, the dog freaking hates you!! You torture the dog to no end! The dog runs away from you. Poor China Dog thinks you are the bane of her existence! She thinks we got you to punish her for some wrongdoing that she has committed.
But, all right...all right...I get it. We do say, "Dog" a lot. We are both constantly saying, "Be nice to China Dog. Be sweet to China Dog." But seriously, it wasn't a plea to learn her name.
And as my husband looked so sweetly at me to tell me, "I'm sure he'll say `Mama' as his first word", I nodded. Because, after all, after "Dog", he's got to say "Mama" as his second word.
His second word? "Dada". F*@# me, I'm on the bottom of the totem pole. Sigh.
According to almost everyone I know, I can say that 98% of them supposedly said "Mama" as their first word (obviously made up statistic based on general observations and semi-sober conversations). According to my mom (who I have come to realize may have had a skewed version of reality, because, according to her, my son could have been writing Pulitzer Prize winning literature AND could easily be Poet Laureate of 2012), my and my sisters' first words were all "Mama". "Papa" being my & my sister Maria's second word, and "Gimme" being my sister May's second word.
My two nephews both said "Mama" as their first word, and apparently, so did my husband, his two brothers, and his little sister.
Based on this non-scientifically based statistic, I held out all supreme confidence that Micah would say "Mama" as his first word. Dad says it all the time. Abuela tells him every time she feeds him , "Mama makes you the best food!" EVERYONE calls me Mama, and I am his primary caretaker, so of course he would say "Mama" as his first word, right? (Right?)
I became even more confident that "Mama" would be his first word when he started making "MMmmmmmm" sounds, followed shortly by a series of loud "Mamamamamamamaaaamaaa" sounds. Excellent. My confidence faltered when he only started using the "Maaaaa" sound when he would start wailing bloody murder in the middle of the night. At this point, I really thought he was saying his first word, that it was "Mama", and he was expressing it with the tone of, "Mom you better get the hell over here now before I need serious therapy, it will be your fault, and I start to hate you!" (Luckily, he didn't mean it, and it was just a figment of my hyperbolic imagination).
At some point, I told my husband, "I think his first word is going to be Dada". And he replied as any good husband would reply, "No...I think it will be Mama. I'm sure of it." Hug. Kiss. Move on.
And so my son said his first word. It wasn't "Mama". It wasn't "Dada." It was neither variation of either word. What was his first word? DOG. Yes, DOG.
When I heard him say it, at first I thought, "no way--he's not saying `dog' ". Then I took him out on a walk in his stroller, and he proceeded to point to every dog and say, "DOG!"
Although I am obviously excited that he said his first word, I have to admit that selfishly, I'm a little miffed. As I'm smiling and clapping about my son's first word, internally, this is what's happening:
Seriously? You're going to choose "Dog" over "Mama"? "Mama" is so much easier to say than "Dog"! And besides, the dog freaking hates you!! You torture the dog to no end! The dog runs away from you. Poor China Dog thinks you are the bane of her existence! She thinks we got you to punish her for some wrongdoing that she has committed.
But, all right...all right...I get it. We do say, "Dog" a lot. We are both constantly saying, "Be nice to China Dog. Be sweet to China Dog." But seriously, it wasn't a plea to learn her name.
And as my husband looked so sweetly at me to tell me, "I'm sure he'll say `Mama' as his first word", I nodded. Because, after all, after "Dog", he's got to say "Mama" as his second word.
His second word? "Dada". F*@# me, I'm on the bottom of the totem pole. Sigh.
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