I have made a startling discovery: I think that Elsa can say "kitty."
OK, so she pronounces it "ghee ghee," but close enough, right? She has uttered these two little syllables, or sometimes just a single "ah-gheee!" in the cat's presence far too many times for me to believe it's a coincidence. It first occurred to me the other morning as she lunged for the cat, wild-eyed and grinning, that her exclamation of "ghee ghee" may not just be a generic gurgle of pleasure. When else did she say ghee ghee? Almost never, that I could remember. But I thought maybe I was just hearing what I wanted to hear.
Then, other day, she was sitting on the floor, beaming across the room in the direction of the back sliding doors and said "ghee ghee," and reached out her hand. Our cat was sitting on the couch next to me, so my initial thought was, well, I guess "ghee ghee" doesn't mean anything after all. Or maybe it means "sliding doors" or "Gosh, it's great to be alive!" Then, I looked out the back doors, and what did I see but our our neighbors' big, fluffy badass cat strutting about on the back porch. Ghee ghee!!
Am I crazy? Is it possible that Elsa is actually sort of saying her first word? It makes complete sense that it would be "kitty." She is the cat's number one fan, and we say "kitty" this and "kitty" that whenever the babies see or interact with her. This actually would take care of the "what did they say first? Mama or Dada?" angst quite nicely. The cat, once again, shows us who's really in charge.
Now, of course, Alastair and I are both obsessed with trying to get Elsa to say ghee-ghee. I've taken to randomly scooping our poor, beleaguered cat up and holding her in front of Elsa and saying "who's that? who's that? Is that the kitty? Is that the ghee ghee?" Elsa gives me her "what have you been smoking?" look and the cat writhes and complains and Clio watches the whole affair with twinkly-eyed amusement as she sucks on a rubber spatula. (Clio's first words are going to be "oral fixation.")
Anyway, we'll see how this ghee-ghee thing develops. Although, for the next week there will be no ghee ghee around -- and probably no new posts, either. We're headed up for our annual week-long vacation at Sandy Island, a YMCA family camp on Lake Winnepesauke in New Hampshire, which Alastair's family has gone to for years. It's a little like that place in Dirty Dancing, but much more rustic, and no dance lessons with Patrick Swayze. Alas.
See you in a week!
