Johnny's First Word

Since, Johnny is my first, I have no idea when babies typically say their first word.  I do always laugh at those parents who say their child said their first word at 6 months.  Really?  Their first word?  I think you want your child to be a genius because you know they probably aren't.

But I know that Johnny said his first word.  No, really, this was his first word.  This wasn't the mamamamamama sound he'd make looking at whatever.  Or the dadadadada sound looking out the window.  This was a real word, right word, used correctly and everything.  But I didn't want it to be his first word.

Here's why:

For the last year, I have dutifully and religiously pumped for him.  Other than breaks from school and weekends, I have done this every day.  Can I see hands of the women who love to pump?  Wait? None of you?  Yeah, no one loves pumping.  But I did it.  I cut my lunch to 15-20 minutes to shove my face, so I could pump.  I took 20 minutes out of my prep to pump.  I even got up 30 minutes earlier to pump him a bottle first thing in the morning.  I have just about been obsessed with pumping!

That, of course, says nothing about the other typical mommy duties, but I'm not as proud of all those.  But, pumping?  That is my crowning achievement and sacrifice for him.

In all honesty, I would have been totally happy if his first word was "dada."  Jason would have loved it and it would have shown some appreciation for all that Jason has done for him and, by association, me too.


Yet, somehow, with all of this, his first word was "ball."