Premature possible first word
Korean life, Parenting December 31st. 2009, 9:20pmMy wife was putting our daughter Glow down into the bed after one of her many diaper changes. Glow only has a few tricks up her onesie at the moment. She can take off her sock as soon as you look away from her, she can drool, she can vomit at the worst possible time, and she can almost do a sit up crunch. She can’t yet walk, scoot, or move around, or even roll over yet. When you put her down, she’s stuck like a turtle. It’s basically this fact that keeps us having a sliver of free time. If you put her down to go to the bathroom, she’ll be in the same place you left her when you return.
My wife put Glow down for a short time to wash her hands, and when she returned to the room, Glow was attempting to sit up again. She’ll raise her arms and head cleanly off the bed, then lift her legs, which throws off her balance and pushes her head back to the bed. She can do more sit up crunches than I can do, but she still can’t lift herself off the ground to levitate, which it normally looks like she is trying to do. This is your clue to offer her a finger, which she will use to hoist herself up to a sitting position so she can look around. She can stay upright and sitting for a minute without a hand to steady her before she leans too far one way and falls over. Then you lay her back down on her back and the game resumes.
During one of these Glow work-outs, offering a finger, having her grab it and pull herself up, and her falling down again, Glow let out a powerful little grunt that my wife claimed to have sounded like the word, “Help!” She never said it again, so we have to just take it as noise. It is different than the sort of vowel soup Glow normally says all day. “AwwwwooOOOoooooAAAAhhhhhhuuuuUHHHHaaaahhhhh!” is very different than a short distinct “Help!”
I told my wife I wouldn’t be surprised if the first word Glow manages was, “Help!”, since my wife and I are constantly using it around her. My wife is always trying to get Glow to say, “Appa” or “Daddy”. I’d be happy with that, but there would be a few other words I’d also like for actual first words too. “Mommy” is fine, but it’s not that far from the word, “Zombie” either. Glow is certainly exposed to either one enough while I am home buying something like Left 4 Dead on STEAM that they have an equal chance of being a first word. Either one would make me proud.
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