I have no idea!
I’ve never been a good listener.
I’m reminded of this not only when my husband sighs and abandons his conversation with me when it becomes apparent I’d rather check my twitter feed than listen to the words coming out of his mouth. But also when I notice other parents talking about their precious babies’ first words. They seem to know exactly which word was the first uttered by their darling offspring.
I have no idea what Ruby’s first word is. I don’t even know if she’s said a real word yet.
She’s said mamamama and dadadada for a long time, but apparently that’s just noise-making that parents misinterpret as “Mom” and “Dad” (we’re so self-centred!). Sometimes I think her first word might’ve been “kitty”. A few weeks ago she ran around yelling “COCK COCK COCK”. Was that her first word? Gosh I hope not.
I may be an appalling listener, but it isn’t so easy to tell what’s a word and what’s not a word. I thought it would be obvious. I expected her to wake up one day, look straight into my eyes and say something totally intelligible. Like “Greetings mother”.
Her latest “words” include what sounds like “I die I die” when she’s tired or upset and “Happy happy” when she’s in a good mood. I have no idea if that’s what she’s really saying, so for now I’ll assume it is.
