"Cat"

Give a stuffed animal to any child and her eyes will glow. I've lost the reasoning behind the allure myself, but I suppose it could be any number of things: the velvet feel of the fur, the gentle gaze presented in the lifeless glass eyes or even the warm reassuring embrace the toy returns. As much pull as a fluffy doll has, you can imagine the intrigue stirred by a walking, purring, soft and fluffy stuffed animal.

Aveline has three of these living toys: Elvis, our shar pei, and Trixie and Niobe, our adopted kitties. Niobe is an older and much wiser cat; she stays out of sight when the baby is around. Elvis rarely acknowledges her presence, but tolerates her. Trixie is just a few hairs past kittenhood and still possesses a naive curiosity. She often ventures close to Aveline when she is on the floor. Mainly she skirts the blanket upon which the baby plays. Lately, though, she has sauntered straight towards the child.

Yesterday, Aveline and I were playing on the floor when the cat, Trixie, approached us. Trixie is a great babyproof cat. She lets you pull her tail, ears and fur without any complaints. Perfect for us right now since Aveline's idea of "pet gentle" is just this side of completely mauling the cat, practically stripping the friendly feline of all her fur. (Nervous Nana Note: She rarely is near the cat unsupervised. We do love our cats. Besides, vets are expensive.) I pronounced the word "cat" very clearly. We petted Trixie for awhile. I repeated "cat" numerous times during our love fest. Trixie walked away and Aveline said "cat." It was very distinct! I could not believe my ears. My parents confirmed her word today as she jabbered for them.

Now, as the story goes, when I was a wee baby, my first word was fish. I'm not sure as to what Dan's first word was (Kris, if you are reading, help me out!) but would love to know. So I will write in the baby record book that on December 5, 2005, her first word was "cat." What was your first word?