Milestones
October 25th, 2006 by amylherzog
That “first word” milestone is trickier than it seems. While I was pregnant with Jacob, I indulged in daydreams of my adorable little boy looking up at me with big blue eyes and an unruly mop of red curls, saying a perfectly-formed “Ma ma!” and smiling.
Of course, it turns out he needs to practice at language like everything else. And to complicate matters, we’ve been signing with Jacob and he uses that about half the time. So by some metrics, his first “word” was probably the sign for ‘more’; by others, the excited “Meh!” for me/milk/nursing/food and “Deh!” for Jon/wanting something/wanting to know what something is.
If we cut the confusion, though, and declare “first word” to mean “first verbal utterance that sounds very much like an adult”, he’s just gotten there recently. At the dinner table the other night, Jon and I realized that Jacob has gotten quite articulate at “No”. He even gets the O sound right. “Jacob, would you like this food?” “No!” “That food?” “No!” “To get down?” “No!”
…and on and on. Yup, you read that right. Our kid’s first real word is No. I suppose it could be worse–Jon’s first words were apparently “Me first!”–but something tells me that our parenting ride is not going to get any easier.
At least he’s a helpful boy, too.
(I swear to God that was not staged in any way.)
hah. We have been getting “mem mem mem” for food (not just nursing, much more often “want to eat that! that looks like food!”) for quite some time now, but I didn’t know that usage was not unique to Kata.
She’s just added ‘nn..nn..’ to her rather made-up vocabulary, but I’m choosing not to believe it means “no” yet. ;-)
I’ve enjoyed reading your Jacob updates! Good luck with the little naysayer.
amy-
i’m in love with your blog, cutie pants jacob, all the photos of produce you keep posting and the lovely way you write. i read every day. just thought you should know.
-nicole
Hi!
Gee…and to think that he isn’t even two yet! Language is Power and NO is a very Powerful word! The conflick of wills begins in earnest…
Great Pics. Sorry to have been absent from the computer and your lives…Love, Bev
Oops! Should spellcheck. I know it is c-o-n-f-l-i-c-t.
:-)