First word...yes, that is right, skeptics

Daisy said "cat" today. She really, really did. I have been totally conservative on the first word question, people: I did not count "dada" or "mama," which she has been saying for months, because I don't believe she knows what they mean. She does say "hi" and "hey" and I think she's aware it's a kind of greeting, but I didn't count that, either. (Oh, and she waves now--it's the cutest thing. She waves AFTER the person has left, and waves in the opposite direction, so they can't see her doing it. But she knows it's associated with a person's departure.)

But today was something completely different. She was looking at the cat and saying her word for "cat," which sometimes sounds like "gak," sometimes like "dat," and sometimes like "cah." I pointed to the cat and said, "cat." She was looking very deliberately into my eyes, and she repeated, "gak." I again pointed at the cat and said "cat." She kept looking back and forth between me and the cat and slowly and deliberately saying her "cat" word (gak, cah, dat). We went back and forth about TEN TIMES. It was amazing. She was concentrating hard and working on her pronunciation. Her pronunciation is still imperfect--of course. She is 9 months old. But I could see her grasping the concept that this guy who fascinates her (the cat) has a name. And she really was trying to say it!