Baby

"You didn't know English that whole first year of your life. You had that made-up, like, goo-goo, gaa-gaa baby language. It was really irritating." - Phil Weston (played by Will Ferrell) in "Kicking and Screaming"

Bud has said her first word: "Baby." She's actually been saying it for a few weeks now, but I hadn't been sure that it was her real first word. The real first word had two tests: first, it had to be a real English word, no baby nonsensical words like "ma-ma," "da-da," or "Red Sox." A few weeks ago, she was babbling something that sounded like baby, but it was only recently that it was full-on "baby." Second, the word couldn't be mumbled accidentally. Bud's said things like "oat bran," "baked potato," and "burlap," but all of it was babble (or a burp). The word had to be associated somehow with something she was looking at. Over the past few weeks, she's said "baby" every time she sees her reflection or sees another baby, in a picture or on the street.

I always thought that Bud's first word was going to just happen one day, and that I wouldn't just realize it in retrospect. I figured one day, I'd be sitting in the kitchen, feeding Bud puffs (or, as I like to call it, "Baby Crack"), when she would turn to me and say "Daddy!" The game-show bells would ring, and we would record the date in Bud's book-o-memories.

It didn't happen that way, but I'll take it.

P.S. I did not find "Kicking and Screaming" that funny, but the quote just worked.