The way to a man's heart

A few weeks ago, a stranger stopped by our table as I was enjoying lunch out with the kiddos. He leaned over, pointed to Caleb's cheeks, and said sarcastically, "You should feed the boy." I get it...he's fat. He eats like a horse, and I'm fairly convinced he's storing up food for the winter in those chubby cheeks of his.

So is it any wonder that his first word is a food word? This morning as I walked through the kitchen en route to the fridge, Caleb spotted the fruit bowl and began flapping his fat little arms, pointing and saying "Nana! Nana!" repeatedly. So I did what any mom would do...I gave the kid the banana he was asking for, and I whipped out the video camera.

He's been making the nana, mama and dada noises for about a month now, but I'm hesitant to give kids credit for noises until they associate them with something. Then, and only then, will I call it an actual word. We've suspected for some time that "nana" meant banana, but I'm ready to go on the record and call it his official first word now.

I'll also go ahead and give him full credit for "Dada," since he's consistent about yelling that whenever Justin walks into the room. And he can have partial credit for "Mama," since he almost always greets me by saying "Mama! Mama!" when I come in the room to get him up from his naps, but fails to call me by name at any other time of the day.

With all the chattering that goes on around him all day long, I'm not surprised to hear Caleb spitting out some words before he even hits his first birthday. I'm impressed he even manages to get a word in at all.