Milestones--And Talking!

Before I yammer on about uninteresting things, Eliot said his first word this evening!  He had been getting closer to including consonants in his babbling, especially while eating, but wasn't quite there.  Chris and I read to him at least twice a day, and say over and over, "Mama!  Dada!"  We figured he would say one of those first.  Of course, right?  Well, we were wrong.  He was crawling on the floor when out of nowhere he looked up at me and said so clearly, "Nana."  This is what my niece and nephew call my mom, so she was quite happy to hear that Eliot's first word was "nana," even though he probably doesn't know what he said.

I had been getting a little worried that Eliot wasn't including consonants with his babbling yet.  I know that milestones are so very different with each child.  Those milestone charts aren't even that reliable, really, but it sure is fun to get excited when your baby falls into the advanced category.  From what I understand, boys quite often develop language skills a little later than girls, but they are more physically advanced.  Eliot has done most things at an advanced pace or right on time (rolling over back-to-tummy at two months, crawling at six months, pulling up right before seven months, beginning to cruise cautiously at seven and a half months, and I really think he'll be walking by Thanksgiving), so despite knowing that his language could come slower simply due to being a boy, I found myself surprised and worried that he wasn't talking yet.  In short, this has been a relief for me even though it shouldn't have been a thought to begin with.

I guess this puts an end to a bad joke.  We'd always come up with silly things that we said would be Eliot's first words, such as, "Abed-nego, stop licking me," or "Go Miami Heat!"

You know, it's funny.  Eliot started to crawl on 8/8/11.  He said his first word on 9/9/11.  I asked Chris what he'll be doing on 10/10/11.  We all know what he was doing on 1/1/11--faking labor.