Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

"Did She Really Say 'Cat'"?
Erika and I were both floored earlier today when Annie said her first word: cat.

It happened over breakfast. Erika was feeding Annie, and I was about to let the cat outside. Little Annie turned in her high-chair, looked straight at Blackberry and said "cat". Erika and I both looked at each other in amazement. Instead of letting him out, I picked Blackberry up in my arms and repeated the word "cat" as I petted him. Annie answered back clearly: "cat". Since then, she’s spontaneously said the same word when she spots Blackberry roaming nearby.

This isn’t too surprising, since it was about at this stage in her development that Vanessa said her first word ("light", due to the prominent lights contained in the dining room in our old house that she was always fascinated in). Annie has always been enthralled with Blackberry -- unlike the late Naomi cat, Blackberry likes hanging around the kids (he is officially Vanessa's cat after all), and is often on the floor just out of fur-pulling reach of Annie. No matter what Annie might be playing with, her attention becomes fixed on the cat when comes close.

Can "Mama" and "Dada" be far away? ;-)