My First Words

My first word was “DOG.”  An interesting choice seeing as we didn’t have a dog when I was a baby.  However, I still own a stuffed animal seal christened “DOG.”  Booh-booh, at the tender age of one, is a much more social child than either her mom or dad ever were or will be.  It is only fitting that her first word—an actual word used correctly —would be “HI!”  This came around 9 months and quickly became a favorite.  She amused church goers and grocery shoppers alike by indiscriminately greeting all with a loud “HI!”  Some tried to get her to say “goodbye” but all in vain.   And now at 15 months, we have added a few more properly used words to our repertoire. “EAT!”  And then there is “TEETEE,” which is applied to any mammal remotely resembling a feline (foxes, horses).  While I was terrified of the large tiger we encountered at the Alabama Zoo, Eole, with great enthusiasm, met him with “Hi TEETEE!” But none of these words can match the explosive power of The Great Word: the Word to rule them all: “NO!” Or as Eole says, “NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!”