While it may be true that every parent gets carried away when interpreting their child’s lingo, I can say with great certainty that I understand one of Massimo’s first words (perhaps even his first). Massu has spoken and the word is dada!

Our friend Annely noted over lunch today that fathers tend to spend less time with their children than mothers, leading to more instances of the child hearing the mother and others refer to dada. If that is true, perhaps it is a sign that I need to work less in the office and spend more time at home with the little guy. Another response is that da is easier for babies to pronounce than ma, which sounds plausible to me. However, the most outlandish explanation is that the ma in mama comes from the first letter of mother, while da in dada does not derive from father but was rather adopted by men due to our desire to have the child acknowledge us first and the fact that it is a common sound made by infants. Although I must admit that the last explanation holds true to the nature of the male species.

While these are some fairly good explanations for why there often seems to be a phenomenon of infants saying dada before mama, I think I know the answer to why Massu is saying dada first. It has to do with the simple fact that whenever I spend time with him, I repeat dada over and over again! Now let’s hope he doesn’t pick up on too many of the words I repeat frequently.