official first words.

mercer has been saying "maaa maa" and "dah daaa" for a long time now, but just recently, he started saying "ahh-pull." when he says it, he is usually pointing to where we keep the apples or eating one. so, mom and pop have decided that "apple" is his first real word since he's saying it on purpose and not just as gibberish.

we're happy that it's something healthy and not "cheetos" or "ice cream," though he does like both of those things. he likes his apples even more.

congratulations, little mercer!

first words...maybe??

mercer may or may not have said his first words this week. he's always said "mamamamamama" or "dadadadadadada," but only when he's distressed or in need of snuggling. we don't really count those. the reason we think these new words might actually be words is because they were said in response to something.

tuesday: mom and pop were playing with mercer in the living room and mercer was going for something he shouldn't be playing with, like the phone or a phone charger. one of us said, "mercer, play with something else." mercer replies, "why?"

wednesday: pop is with mercer at a pizza joint for lunch and a man who gets up to leave from his table says 'hi' to us both. pop says to mercer, "mercer, say hi to the man. go ahead. wave and say hi." nothing. but when the man got to the cash register and mercer could see his face, he raised his hand, waved, and muttered a soft "hi." cute.

we've been asking mercer a lot more questions and talking more. he seems very interested in speech and he is finally (!) sitting still at night when we read him books. instead of wanting to bite the corners of the book, he sits in pop's lap and looks at the pictures as pop reads. reading is finally fun.