First word

It's official. Elliot's first word is not "mama". Nor is it "papa" or anything else normal. It is "dog". He starts saying it as soon as we hit the first floor in the morning. He is looking for Nana, pictured here, or "the beast" as Michael and I often call her. They have a love-hate relationship. Nana is always the love part. Elliot could go either way. If he's board and Nana is running around, chasing things, or running from the remote-controlled truck, it's definitely love. If she's licking him to death so that his hair looks as if it were recently washed from the dog slobber, it's usually hate. He taunts her, as she obediently sits, like she is here, waiting for a morsel from the high chair. Sometimes it comes, sometimes no. Elliot always looks suprised when she actually takes the entire graham cracker out of his hands, even when he wasn't really offering it.

So "dog" it is. This has been quickly followed by some body parts, though none sound quite as close as "dog" to the actual English word. He's working on "nose" right now. However, it's very close to "knee".