We were getting out of the car on a warm, but windy, Durban spring day when it happened. It’s one of those moments that a parent wonders over; one of those moments that they want for with eager anticipation. On that Sunday, Alice said her first word.
It’s an agonising thing, this first-word business. Will it be a swear word? Will it be “mama” or “dada”? Or will it be something completely ridiculous? In our case, it was one of these. But it was perfect.
Alice’s first word was “hello”.
She said it as I opened the door to get her out of her car seat and take her down to the beach for a swim. I reached in to unclip the harness and said something like, “Hello, baby. You ready for the beach?” Her response was assured, and she looked me deep in the eyes as she said it. “Hello.” I called Meg, and Alice looked at her and said, “Hello.” There was no doubting it; this was her first word.
Now she’s said other things before this. But this was the first time she knew exactly what she was talking about (not like when she looked at me and said “Dada”, causing my heart to melt...until she looked at the dog and said “Dada”, and the table and said “Dada”, and the...you get the idea).
Truth be told, I’m really happy that this was her first word. It just feels right for a sweet, loving, go-to-anyone girl to say “hello” as her first word. Yeah, "Mama" would probably have been better, given just how awesome here mom is... but "hello" just fits.
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