Carson's first word!

Great Googily-Moogily! Carson said his first word! Was it one of affection? Yes. Was it "Mama" or "Dada"? No. No, it was something else near and dear to his heart: BOTTLE. "Ba-Ba" to be precise. He's understood the word for quite some time. We could ask him where his bottle was and he'd begin looking for it and smile. But yesterday was the first time he vocalized his admiration for the plastic container of "good stuff". He started carrying it around--all smiles--while repeating over and over "Ba-Ba, Ba-Ba"! Then he'd begin clapping because he knew Mommy was happy about this new development.

Now he is on the verge of saying "Ball". Like most little boys, he is fascinated with anything round and if he gets his hand on something of said shape, he is guaranteed to throw it, whether it's an orange, a hard golf ball, or a Christmas ornament. To him, it is round, therefore it is a ball. What else can it be? But back to his vocabulary breakthrough: now that he has mastered "Ba-Ba" we've been practicing and I think it's only a matter of time before it has evolved into "Ball". I can't wait for the months to arrive when babies seem to say a new word each day.

I do think it's interesting how children tend to lean towards certain consonants over and over in their beginning speech. With Halle, at first everything started with "G". Dog was GOG,, etc. Wyatt preferred "H". Dora was HORA, etc. If you have children, were they like that? Maybe Carson's first word begins with B simply because the true word does. But it will be interesting to see if he has a future of "B" words in the next year. Either way, I don't care. The minute I heard Carson communicate with me verbally for the first time, I knew he was a genius. And he received applause appropriate for the occasion.

Mr. Webster would be proud.