Up, up and away !

When people talk about a baby's first words, and whether they might be mu-ma or da-da, mae or pae, shouldn't they be equally, or more, excited by the first sign of comprehension ? Just now I think we had clear evidence of Sam the linguist. "Balloon" ... "ba-loon", says I, while holding him a few feet away from the delightful object which we bought in Buenos Aires and which has been a source of (rather violent) fascination for him ever since. And on hearing the word, in marked contrast to the many previous occasions, he turns his head away from my face and towards said object. Gulp. I think we just created our own little piece of history. 8.15am, Tuesday June 14, 2011, 8.5 months after entering the world, Sam now sets sail on a voyage of verbal discovery.

PS: Retried experiment a couple more times and, no question, he associates the word with the object. Eureka !