That's All Folks

It hasn't really been mentioned on the blog yet, but Maddie is talking a little bit. She has been for some time, and she's mastered a handful of words, but for some reason, we've failed to mention it here until now. Part of it is because it seemed to happen so naturally (and to be fair, so slowly), and part of it has to do with what I mentioned in my previous post--we're busy and lazy. Her first word seems to have been "kitty", which started out as "dee!" and then progressed to "bi-dee!", and last night, I think I heard "itty!" Since then, she's picked up a sizable vocabulary that includes uh-oh (ah-doh), oops (ups), Elmo (Ah-bo), up (it actually sounds like up), Maci (Bay-see, the dog at daycare), book (ah-boo), ball (baaaw), and Daddy (Dah-dee). (No Mommy yet. Whenever I try to get her to say it, she either laughs at me, or she comes up with something that sounds like baby or bobby. We'll get there...)

However, none of the words above can compare to the all-time favorite, the godfather of all Maddie-isms: Ah Dah! That's right; Miss Thing is frequently all done. I mean really, absolutely, 100% completely finished.

Awake in the morning, and Mommy or Daddy is not in to get her quickly enough: Ah Dah! with sleeping

Half-way through almost every diaper change: Ah Dah!

Reached the end of a book: Ah Dah!

Finished eating, drinking, nursing, bathing, sitting in her car seat: Ah Dah!

Ah Dah! Aaaah Dah! Ah dah! This is one word she gets. Up, for instance, is still for lack of a better phrase, up in the air. Up does mean up, but up also appears to mean down, and in some cases, home, strangely. Kitty is another multi-purpose word. It does refer to our cats, but it also refers to all four-legged furry animals, including "Bay-see" at daycare, when she's not being referred to by name. Daddy does mean Jon, but it can also, I think, mean me, occasionally, and oops and uh-oh are often uttered several seconds prior to whatever disaster they are supposed to describe. All done, though, always means, I'm finished. Whether or not being finished is convenient for other people does not concern Maddie in the slightest. She is Ah Dah!, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is that.