Kate's First Word

Lots of people told us Kate would say "dada" before she'd say "mama." I'm glad lots of people were wrong. Kate's been saying the "m" sound for a long time. Each morning when I take her to my step-mom, and each afternoon after I pick her up, she "talks" and it usually sounds like "mmmmmm." So I've encouraged it. I repeat "mama" and "dada" over and over.

Seems like dads would want their baby to say "dada" first, and moms would want their baby to say "mama" first. I've been hoping for "mama." Kelley is an accountant and she's been working crazy hours since January. She's had a hard time with it this year, because of Kate. She really only gets to see Kate for an hour or so at night, Saturday evenings after work, and Sundays after church.

Unfortunately for Kelley, Kate generally sleeps all weekend. I guess she has to recover from her weekdays of fun with Diane (step-mom). Some weekdays she won't even take a nap. But Saturdays and Sundays? She sleeps in long chunks and wakes up long enough to eat and play for maybe 30 minutes.

Over the past week, Kate has actually started saying "mama." She says it a lot. Kelley heard it before I did and when she told me Kate said it, I didn't believe her. The next morning on the way to Diane's, I became a believer. And I was happy - for Kelley.

Since she's already good at the "m" sound, I'm now saying over and over to her, "Max." Max is our older/smaller Yellow Lab. I say "Cooper," too, but somehow I think Cooper (our younger/larger Yellow Lab) is going to have to wait. With me.