First word (sort of)

Last week or so, around the time that he turned seven months old, Isaiah said his first word: "Da da."

I didn't hear the first utterance. Michelle did, and so I heard about it when I returned one day from work. I remember Michelle telling me how Isaiah says it over, followed by shrieks of joy, like a rebel yell. I believed that he was uttering his first words but I was less convinced by the vigor behind them.

Until I heard it myself. Many times, Isaiah starts off slowly with a soft string of "da, da, da, da" that kind of floats in the air, at a level a little above the whisper. Once he's warmed up, though, the words get louder, more emphatic, the bursts of "da, da, da" more forceful and staccato-like. Now he's humming along, and he's finishing his "da, da, das" with a screech on the last "da," followed by gleeful, wild yelling. Sometimes, he gets so wound up it's downright scary. He sounds like he's going mad. And then you look at him, and you can see that he's just so pleased with himself.

It's really fun to watch him get all revved up. When he says "da, da," his mouth drops open so violently that he looks like some wooden puppet whose lower jaw has become unhinged, only to snap back shut, before suddenly opening again. His jaw muscles are sure getting a good workout.

I'd like to think that he is talking about his daddy. Advantage father, right? Well, it's hard to know whether he's calling for me. Really, the evidence points otherwise. Isaiah blurts out "da, da, da" when I'm around and when I'm not around. He'll yell it when he's alone in his crib. He's shrieked it in when he's riding in the car. He lets it go when he's twisting around on his blanket on the floor. So, who knows, really, what's going in his head?

The good thing is something is going on in there, enough to propel him to want to let all of us know about it.

I can't wait to hear more.