My 15 month old baby girl loves her grandparents. We are fortunate to have my parents live nearby and they engage with our children as often as possible. They are very hands-on grandparents.
As parents we look forward to our kids first words. Mothers usually hope for "Mama", Fathers usually keep their ears perked for "Da-Da". All three of my children spoke different first words, at different ages. Unfortunately for me, none of them happened to be "Mama". That doesn't mean I tried, though. I worked with them for hours, gingerly repeating the word "Mama!, Mama!, Mama loves you!" over and over. You know how it works, with the exaggerated smile and movement of the words on my mouth. All to no avail.
My daughter, the youngest of my children, came close to having "Mama" be her first word, but I was ousted by my own father. "Ba-Ba" was the first word she articulated. There was no mistake about it, she was indeed referring to her Grandpa.
Of course she received much praise and excitement after uttering her first word. She squealed with delight and continued to repeat the word for the rest of the day. Happily for me, "Mama" appeared the next day and very quickly overtook "Ba-Ba" as her favorite word. "Mama" now means just about anything and everything, including yours truly.
She currently has a vocabulary of a whopping 7 words, but "Ba-Ba" still continues to be a popular choice. Anytime my father is mentioned her face lights up and she answers with an expectant "Ba-Ba?". She "calls" him on the phone constantly. Any phone she can get her hands on (my cell phone, old cell phones, play phones) will be held up to her ear and without fail the words "Ba-Ba" can be heard. It's adorable. Her favorite way to talk to Grandpa though is on our video phone so she can see him. Anytime the phone rings she makes a bee-line to it, chanting "Ba-Ba" all the way there. If the caller turns out not to be Grandpa, she is thoroughly disappointed.
A few weeks ago she happened to wake up quite early, about 1/2 hour before I even get out of bed. I was not in any mood to be awake yet so I went to her room, lied her back down, and said firmly, "Go back to sleep. It is too early." I then returned to my oh-so-comfy bed and made an attempt to catch a few more precious minutes of zzz. About 15 minutes later, just when I thought she might have actually obeyed me and fallen asleep, I heard he precious little voice inquire very tentatively, "Ba-Ba?".
It was too cute! I couldn't resist and started laughing right then and there. After that smooth move I had to get up and get her. When in doubt, call "Ba-Ba"!
Any cute first words to share? Or any good stories about baby's first words?
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