First words

Jessica's first real word was Dada.  She said Mama first, but she used it more as a general expression of need.  She said it when she was hungry or wet or bored.  I remember one memorable occasion, driving home on Rte. 117, with her in the backseat, whimpering "Mama, mama, mama" over and over again - she really didn't like the car.  It was what she said when she wanted attention.  But the first real word that she said, knowing what it meant, was Dada.  She was in her seat up on the kitchen table and Marc walked out of the bathroom into the kitchen and she looked at him and said "Dada." 

Sam's first word, really, was "Dis."  I'm sure he said Mama too - but his first real word was dis.  He said it for anything.  He'd point at something, say "dis" and know that he was communicating effectively.  It's Marc's fault - he used to walk around the house with Sam in his arms and say "THIS, Sammy, THIS is a (fill in the appropriate word, door, table, sister, etc)."  Dis, plus nodding his head yes or no, was really all Sam did for a while, prompting me to go to the pediatrician and ask why my son was developmentally delayed.  He wasn't.  He was just a man of few words, and dis plus head nods were more than enough to get what he needed to get communicated.  Now, of course, he's a little chatterbox, but back then, it was just dis.

Julianna isn't talking yet.  Not really.  She says AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA a lot, and has recently started with LAAAAAAA and BAAAAAAAAAAA, just to shake it up a bit.  But really, when I look back, I'm going to think that her first real word is a cough.  She learned how to do it back in September, back when Sam got his cold, and still does it several times a day.  She does it on purpose, and never actually because she's got a cough.  She just thinks it's a fun thing that we do.  For a while there, most of September and October, it seemed as though all of us had a cough - except for Julianna (thank you breastfeeding).  So I suppose it's normal that she'd think it was a word, and a way to communicate.  Every time she coughs, I tell her she's not sick and she grins at me.  It's what she does know when she wants to get me to look at her, both Jess and Sam also laugh at her. 

She's scooting on her butt, still won't crawl, but she's moving her little tushy to get where she needs to go.  She's so freaking cute, so social and sunshiney happy all the time.  She's got a little toy radio and last night, we were playing it for her and she was bouncing and dancing to the music.