While we were sitting around having lunch, I was feeding Genevieve. With every bite, I would say (in a crazy, sing-song voice) "More please, Mama!" while furiously signing the same thing.
GreatBeauty looked at me, looked at Genevieve (10 months old at the time) and said plainly, "You know, she's not going to say it back to you."
The parents among us will appreciate getting child-rearing advice from someone who (a) is childless and (b) very likely hasn't read a book in the last year (or five years), never-mind a parenting book.
In lieu of a language development lecture (we learn language by being spoken to), I smiled at her and said, "You never know!"
(I was rewarded with an eyeroll, for the record.)
Fast forward two weeks.
I was bathing Genevieve, and in that same crazy, sing-song voice, I tell her I love her and then say, "I love you, too, Mama!" (We tell her we love her about a thousand times a day, but I couldn't help but lobby a bit.)
She looked me straight in the eye, and in a tone that said "you are mistaken, mother," she said clearly, "Luh DADA."
After I got over the shock, I thought about it for a moment.
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Andrew, wearing Genevieve in his ERGO Sport , with the new sucking pads |
Posts
I remember the joy of that same first sentence. MY 13 and 15 yo daughters still call him Dada :)
ReplyDeleteOh how wonderful. My little girl still adores her daddy, and it makes me love him even more!
ReplyDeleteThat is SO AWESOME.
ReplyDelete--Cari
Luh dat! (love that :) ) So precious. M. is totally smitten with her dad at the moment. "I need a new diaper!" O.k. let's go. "No, Daddy do it" :) Not complaining ;)
ReplyDeleteYou get to tease her about that for the rest of her life (especially her teens.) Too fun!
ReplyDeleteGreatBeauty will mature...hopefully. In the meantime, YOU have the better life and loves!
ReplyDeleteYou never under estimate the smarts of a child. What a wonderful moment! Everytime I try to get my daughter to say Mama, she says Dada. She knows already, and is trying to get under my skin! Children never cease to amaze me!
ReplyDeleteI love how you recorded this memory. I'm pretty sure I was probably once a snarky 20 yr-old and said stupid things, too, which I'd cringe to remember. Sounds like you handled her annoyance with grace.
ReplyDeleteAwww that is so sweet!
ReplyDeleteAw so sweet. My Taylor (14 months) always says daddy. Except when she is hungry. They always come back to mama
ReplyDeleteI love this story! Thank you for making my day.
ReplyDeleteAwe!! Carmen is a daddy's girl too! And her first word was uh oh but dada was CLOSE behind it. :) Took her A VERY long time to start calling me mama...even though she knew it. Now I'm mommy and I love it!
ReplyDeleteHow cute! I'm sure she loves mama too.
ReplyDeleteShe's a riot!
ReplyDelete