First words

Tobin has been talking for quite some time now. Only recently have Matt and I been able to understand him better.

"Dah" and "duh" have been used for months now. Of course, we thought that "dah" was "Dad" or maybe "dog," but one couldn't be sure. Then sometime shortly after his 13-month birthday (as best I can pinpoint, it was 6/20 or 6/27--feel like a bad mom that I didn't write it down, but I did spend the last 20 minutes looking at cell phone records to try to figure it out!), Tobin said his first, unmistakable word: "gentle." As Matt tells it, he crawled over to his sister Hannah and started petting her, saying "gentle." Matt called me to tell me as it was happening and I even got to hear Tobin say it a couple of times over the phone. It was crystal clear and adorable. You see, we've been trying to teach Tobin to be "gentle" with Hannah and pet her gently rather than pull her ears or bop her on the head. (We're successful in communicating this message 3.5 out of 10 times and possibly improving. Hannah is really a good sport.) So it's really sweet that his first word was "gentle." He has a very gentle spirit himself, so we think it's appropriate. Now, we've since come to realize that he may use the word as a noun as opposed to an adjective--i.e., Hannah is a "gentle" and also a "dah" as well as "Hah"--but at least he's associating the right words with her. Matt will teach him about parts of speech next summer. :)

In addition to gentle, Tobin also regularly says "Daddy," light ("dight"), Hannah ("Hah"), and, most recently, "dratch." We're still trying to figure that last one out. Oh, and he says Cheerios (his next favorite food to breastmilk) with a very efficient "chuh" and open and closes his fist--sounds and signs he also uses to tell me he wants to nurse.

We're enjoying our communicative little household very much these days.