The Chooch’s First Word

Choochie’s first birthday was two days ago, and I had a plan to write the big “We survived the First Year” post, complete with thoughtful, funny, and decidedly not-boring reflections on the past year and all the ways in which this lovely baby has changed my life.  I was going to tell you about how she has developed a personality, and preferences, interests, and even a few skills (not many, but a few).  But life is busy, and it got really busy this week with class and work and my Mom visiting for the Big Day, and planning for (and pulling off!) various celebratory activities, so the post never happened.

Fortunately, something more interesting did.  The Chooch said her first word.  (We think.)

Just to be clear, she’s been making noises and sounds for quite awhile now.  I think we’ve heard all the vowels and many consonants in a variety of combinations.  She’s even said “Dada” to Josh and “Mama”  to me and looked at her bottle and said “Baba”.  However, these words happen inconsistently, and she’s also Da’ed at the chair or a toy, or Ma’ed at the cat or her shoe, and so we didn’t count the few times that she got it right as words.  According to our rules, saying a word means saying the right word at the right object (and not other objects) on more than one occasion.  Not surprisingly, we thought for sure that her first word would be Dada or Mama.

Wrong.

Her first word was “Eeeee!”  Now, Eeeee! might not seem like a word, but you must consider that it was directed at EeBee.  EeBee was a birthday gift from some dear friends, and Choochie’s affection for this plush doll was quite a shock to Josh and me.  Chooch has expressed little or no interest in any stuffed animals or dolls until the arrival of EeBee.  I must confess that my initial reaction upon opening the package was, “Great.  Another toy that Choochie will completely ignore.  It has no zippers or buttons or snaps or straps, and it’s not even wearing shoes.”  (The Chooch’s interest in shoes is consistent and long-standing.)  The thing is, she loves it.  Really loves it.  She grabs it around the neck, squeezes it, and drags it around.  After Josh and I called it “EeBee” a few times, she began shrieking “Eeeeeee!”  (I think she even got the Beee in there a few times, but I might be wrong.)  If I asked her where EeBee was, she would crawl over to it, put it in a choke hold, and once again, “Eeeee!”

So, there you have it.  Two days after her first birthday, Choochie has her first word.  And EeBee, even though you are an “eccentric looking toy,”* Chooch loves you, so welcome to the family.**

* My mother’s description of EeBee.
** After months of trying to get Chooch attached to a small toy or blanket, it would be just my luck that she would choose a 17″ plush doll as her attachment object.  Great.  Well, it hasn’t happened yet, but I’ll keep you posted.