Dada

Oliver has been beginning to babble a bit more now, but had not discovered a grouping of consonants and vowels that he has taken a liking to enough to repeat over and over.

Until yesterday.

I picked him up at daycare, and just about fell over when, about 10 times in a row, he said, "Dadada. Dadada, dada, da." Our Pam said, "you should see his face when he does it." He was sitting in my lap, so I picked him up and turned him towards me. "Ollie!" I said. "Say 'dada'!"

He grinned at me and Pam, like he knew that he was being asked to do something very exciting. And there it was: he smiled a wide-mouthed smile that showed off his dimpled cheeks, bared his two little bottom teeth, and put his tongue to the front of his mouth. "Dadada. Dadadadada."

"You'll never guess what your son is doing," I said to Michael when we got home. And henceforth began the entertainment for the rest of the night. "Oliver! Say 'dada'! Can you say 'dada'? Say 'dada. Daaaa-da'!" And he would, after enough coaxing.

Michael said that Oliver was probably just putting these sounds together, and not really identifying him as his Dada. But hey, if he's looking at Michael, and says "Dada," does it count? Judging by the beaming admiration on Michael's face, I think the answer is quite obvious: it sure does.