Dada

Over the last several weeks I’ve been trying out new sounds. One of my first was “dada,” which, to my surprise, excited my father a great deal. When I first said it, standing in my crib and making direct eye contact with him so to show him that I was indeed expanding my vocal prowess, he returned a great big smile and immediately called for my mother. When she entered the room, I gathered up my voice once again, looked her square in the face, and said “dada.” She smiled, in what I can only assume is approval, and looked at my father. Then, probably being a bit brash, I looked at my giraffe Nelson and said “dada.” As he is a stuffed animal, this elicited no response. My mother thought this was hilarious while my father just rolled his eyes.

Now I’m not quite sure what this meant to all of them, but to me it’s my first steps to being able to speak directly the people around me in a way in which everyone can understand and take pride in.