She said "Mama"

Liesl is not a big talker. This doesn't bother Tom or I, she does speak about 10 English words and has plenty of verbal "words" that only she understands. She does have a vocabulary of 100+ signs. (I have actually counted, and set up an Excel spreadsheet, dividing the signs into categories, which I update weekly. Why, yes...I AM a dork. Thank you.)

However, tonight Liesl added another word to her verbal vocabulary: "Mama." It's the first time she's ever actually said it in reference to me, though she has mouthed "mum-mum-mum-mum" in the past, I do think she was just playing with the sound. This time it really meant "that maternal parental figure that gestated me, birthed me, and nourished me." She was just out of her bath, and Daddy was putting her jammies on while I was chit-chatting with her, and Tom said, "Who is that?" while pointing to me. And out it came, and with such force and a huge grin, too: "MAMA!"

Tom almost cried--I DID cry--and we kept asking her to say it over and over, which she did. (The ecstatic reaction from both parents probably influenced the constant repetition.) So naturally I had to whip out my camera and take a picture of the event...she's actually on the verge of saying "Mama" when this shot was taken. Tom and I think it's just the cat's pajamas. (Small bit of fashion humor there.)

Life is sweet.