A Major Milestone

As children learn to talk, dada and eventually Daddy are some of the first words that are expressed as "d" is an easy sound for them. This typically happens somewhere around age one. Mama and Mommy normally don't come until later. Not so with Ellie.

She has been saying Mama since she started talking. For months now, we've been trying to get her to say daddy. We knew she could make the "d" sound as every once in a while we could get her to say something that sounded like daddy, but overall, she just refused to say his name. Most of the time, she insisted on calling him Mama too. I always knew when Eric got home from work because as soon as the garage door opened, Ellie would be at the top of the stairs yelling to Eric, "Mama, Mama!". He would tell her that he was not Mama and would work with her to say Daddy, but she just refused to say it. We could also see that it was becoming a control issue with her...she's a little bit stubborn and a lot a bit ornery. We'd try to get her to perform, "Say daddy, Ellie"...the response was always a little grin and "NO!". We figured that someday, she'd decide to call him by name...hoping he wouldn't always be, Mama.

Well, that day finally came yesterday...just a few days short of 21 months. In another attempt to see what she'd say, I pointed to Eric and asked her what his name was. She looked at us and very clearly (like she's been practicing this word for months), said, "Daddy!". The room was filled with cheers...Molly was jumping up and down, Eric was clapping and hugging Ellie. Of course, with that reaction, we heard daddy out of her several more times.

My favorite though...this morning as I'm still lying in bed...I hear a little voice calling over the monitor, "Daaaaddyyy! Daaaddyyy!" Unfortunately Eric had already left for the day, so it was still up to me to get up...here's to hoping this excitement sticks until Saturday!