fionaspeak

Boy, you fall far behind quickly if you miss a few days. Catching up...

Since one of the first phrases Fiona understood was "leave Buddy alone," Andrea and I joked that the first word she said wouldn't be Mommy or Daddy, but Buddy. And, sure enough, we were right: on January 6th, the night before her first birthday, Fiona looked at the cat and clearly shouted out two syllables which were unmistakeably "Buddy!" (the "D" wasn't particulary defined, but there was no doubt about what she was saying).

Since then, Fiona's had a bit of a verbal explosion. She won't speak on command yet (gee, that sounds like I'm talking about a dog)--I can't point to myself and ask who I am and have her say "Daddy"--but we have heard the following words on a few occasions:

• Buddy
• Daddy
• Mama
• Bathtime (we sing a song to her that features the words "bathtime baby" prominently while we draw the water)
• Hi
• Bye

And there are several others that aren't decipherable yet to our adult ears, but Fiona is clearly speaking.