No dada...

While Elise makes a variety of sounds, of course her favorite is "da." I repeatedly tell her that there is no Da, but she does not care much what I have to say. Obviously she doesn't mean anything by it, but no matter what sound she starts out with (mamamayayayazazaza), it always becomes dadada.

Sometimes, she will just repeat it to herself while she's playing. Occasionally, she will grab my neck and lean in close and whisper "da" so seriously that I can only imagine she thinks she is telling me some grand secret. Maybe she's trying to divulge whatever mystical meaning of life we are all born knowing and forget by the time we can think to tell anyone about it.

I think she does get that words and sounds have meanings. When she is upset, she now repeats mamamamamama. And she's starting to understand words. She knows what her cup is. She grabs for the light switch when I tell her to turn off the light. She knows a book is a book. I think she's even starting to understand inflection and tone of voice. We play a game where she picks up a toy and I tell her what it is, and sometimes if I don't tell her right away she'll say "da?"

I guess one day, I'll have to explain why there really is no Dadada. But I'm not so worried about that. She has two parents who love her as much as anyone ever loved a kid. We wanted her and deliberately went about making her. She is both lucky and unfortunate enough to be growing up in this weird and crazy family. She's the first grandchild on either side, and so she will always be the golden child.

For now, I'll just wait and listen to everything until one day dadada becomes ball or duck or mommy or #*^%. I can't wait to hear what she has to say.