First Words!

As you may recall, Gwen sometimes says "buh-buh" when waving goodbye, and she first did this on January 24th.

I was hesitant to call this the Official First Word, however, because it was really a mimicking of what everyone else in the room was saying. I kind of felt like the Official First Word should be spontaneous.

On Sunday, my wish came true.

I was trying to distract Gwen from her pastime of eating my bookmark. "No," I said, removing it gently from her hand and mouth for the third time in 30 seconds. "No, Gwen."

Well, Gwen is very into words right now. She immediately looked very closely at my mouth, concentrating intently, and said, "Nuh."

"That's right," I agreed. "No."

Half an hour later, I was wiping her face after a meal. It seems to be a universal truth that babies hate this with a passion. She whined piteously, pushed my hands away, violently shook her head from side to side, and cried out: "NUH!"

(This is the part of the story where my parents laugh knowingly and settle in to enjoy watching me being taken on the exact same ride I took them on for the first 17 years of my life. I can hear the self-satisfied chuckles from here...)