"Hi" is Audrey's first real word. She has done mama and dada, but more as sounds than in actual association with each of her parents. Anytime she sees someone now, she will say hi and wave. I really thought dog would be the first word, because she makes the "Dah" noise when she sees the dogs, but she can't get the "guh" attached to the end of it. It is so funny to hear her actually use a real word in proper context. I am so used to her babbling sounds and random noises and have perfected my response of having a fake conversation with her. However, with real words, I feel the need to respond in a manner that is appropriate to what she is saying. So, when she says "Hi," I often reply with "Hi." Unfortunately, that starts a cycle of back-and-forth "Hi's." I guess since it is her only word, she likes to use it every chance she gets. So, I am having to adjust my response to be another sort of greeting like, "Good morning" or "How are you doing?"
Today, we made our first visit to the zoo this year. Audrey really liked looking at the bears, monkeys and leopard. She would point at the animals and say, "Dah," which in baby-Audrey speak means dog. That's right, she thought every animal we saw was a dog. Then, she would say "hi," wave to the animals, and then wait patiently for them to wave back. None of them did. I think she really enjoyed the trip, even though she fell asleep before she got to see the hippopotamus and elephants. I was pleasantly surprised by how engaged she was the entire time. Her favorite part was the ducks, because they were very active and splashed into the water. She called them dogs as well, but "dah" sounds somewhat like duck, so we pretended that she was calling them by the correct name. I forsee many more family trips to the zoo coming this summer and in future summers!
