Things Eli says at 13 months old

Papa is most definitely her first word. The first thing she does on a weekday morning is to look at the door and repeatedly say Papa, as if to ask me where Papa has gone. She also points at Greg's photos and says, Papa. She has yet to mean Mama when she says it. 

Papa is most definitely her first word. The first thing she does on a weekday morning is to look at the door and repeatedly say Papa, as if to ask me where Papa has gone. She also points at Greg's photos and says, Papa. She has yet to mean Mama when she says it. 

Other than that, she says Tschüss (goodbye in German) while waving her hands when she goes to her room for a nappy change or anywhere, really.

This little babbler also says Hopper Hopper when she's on my or Greg's lap to ask us to sing the Hopper Hopper Reiter nursery rhyme to her. 

Some English words that she can say are Hi and Bye Bye! She especially likes saying hi to me as she barges in the toilet to announce her arrival! Bye bye is what she says when she ends her 'talks' on the phone.

The word that came out of nowhere for me is dede (deh-deh) which to her means 'I want to drink milk'. Dede is a Tagalog word for to nurse but I don't remember using the word to her. Maybe I did? My memory is fuzzy. I just think it's quite random still, especially that I usually speak English to her at home and then Bisaya when we're outside. 

She does some animal sounds and can match the animal sound to the animal. I find this stage quite interesting because I feel like she is on her way to being able to express her needs and herself in ways that is not limited to pointing or crying. 

The game that never grows old (hasn't grown old yet) with her is Peek-A-Boo! I always melt whenever she says the cutest Boo! every time we play it. Other games she can play with me is the 'Where is' game. But for now, we're only limited to a couple of words that she recognizes, point out or fetch. She knows who Baby Doll is (a lovely present from her grandmother on her 1st birthday), knows Book and picks one whenever I ask her if she wants to read a book. Sometimes she insists on reading Po (what she calls the book Pee-Po)  all while flipping the pages very quickly!

It's magical - this time - the first handful of precious words. I'm getting excited about the prospect of having a conversation with her!