Tragic Sandwich

Lt. Weinberg: You’ve heard her. My daughter said a word. She said, “Pa.”
Kaffee: She was pointing to a mailbox, Sam.
Lt. Weinberg: That’s right. She pointed to the mailbox as if to say, “Pa, look, a mailbox.”

—A Few Good Men

My mother always said that my first word was “word.” Today, that sounds like I must have been a really early rapper, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the case.

Baguette’s first word was “monkey.” She said it while looking at a monkey, so I’m reasonably certain she was actually talking about monkeys. Also, Mr. Sandwich’s mother heard it too, and there’s no way a grandmother could be biased in favor of early speech, right? Meanwhile, Baguette has yet to repeat the word.

Her next word, several weeks later, was “diaper.” My unbiased witness in this case was Mr. Sandwich.

Now she’s 16 months old, and her vocabulary continues to grow. Here are a few of her favorites:

• “Mama”
• “Daddy”
• “Wicket”
• “Up”
• “Out”
• “Outside”
• “Bubble”
• “Ball”

…and something that sounds suspiciously like “more milk.”

What were your children’s earliest words?