First Words

Will had his first word like forever ago. It was dada or mama..I can't even remember. But I decided not to count that as his first word. For some reason, in my over-achiever-mommy brain I came to the conclusion that it could not be a first word unless Will recognized the person or object to which the word was referring to (I probably read this in some crazy Montessori magazine). And since the chair, table, bottle, you name it was "mama", it didn't make the cut. However, no sooner had I created this first word definition when one day shortly before his first birthday Will and I were blowing bubbles out on the deck and he said...BUBBLE! Sooo exciting!!! (I blew bubbles all afternoon just to hear that word). But..the "first word" turned out to be anti-climactic. There have been no words since.

Will is now 13 months and the words still aren't coming. We went to Barnes and Noble and purchased First Word flashcards. These are actually pretty good. The objects on the cards even have textures. (Will is really in to texture). I sit with him in the chair and we do the cards together. "Car, car, car, car, car, car. Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish. Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby" and so on. When we get to "cat" there is a lot of ooohhing and aahhing and petting of the cat. Will loves cats. But no more words. After talking with a few friends and my husband, I decided to let it go. The words will come when Will is ready.

But of course, its not that easy in this crazy, competitive North Shore world I live in. At school today I was talking with my coworker about her grandson who is one month older than Will. She always has great stories about him. On a normal day, I love to hear all about it. Bobby (this is not his real name) rolled over. Bobby took his first step. Bobby whatever. But today, she talked all about the words that Bobby can say. Bobby says "cool" and "sure" and "yes" and "hi" and "daddy". The list goes on and on forever....really... forever.

So I was really bumming about it. (And I was not having good feelings towards Bobby). I wandered across the street to the baby house on my lunch break. I decided that I would forgo my lunch to spend the half hour with Will working on our word cards again. When I walked through the door, I saw Will before he saw me. He was sitting in the corner building the most amazing block tower. It was at least four blocks high. I had never seen anything so beautiful from a one year old. His teacher even commented on it. I went and congratulated Will and spent some time with him looking at the tower. And I came to the conclusion (for real this time) that even if Will can't say a lot, he is learning at his own pace. Comparing Will's development to anyone else's isn't going to help him or I. When I see him with his block tower, and watch him smile over his accomplishment, it speaks volumes.