duck duck duck goose

For awhile now Baby J. has been saying "da da". And some will argue she's just babbling, while I argue that it isn't a coincidence that she says it mostly to me (especially when I first get done with work or when she's bringing me something). But that's beside the point. For sure, without it possibly being interpreted any other way, Baby J. says "duck".

Since she was born, we've been giving her baths with a rubber duck. My wife loves to sing her the Sesame Street Rubber Ducky song:

Rubber Duckie, you're the one,
You make bathtime lots of fun,
Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you

Also, her absolute favorite book is about a duck that lays an egg and out hatches a duckling. Despite having given her probably two dozen board books, she will still always go back to the duck book, pull it out and have us read it to her. I know all the words by heart having read the book at least one thousand times.

So the other day, my father-in-law was visiting, and he was sitting with Baby J., reading her a book, and he pointed to a "duck" in the book and he said, "duck", and immediately Baby J. responded "DUCK!" Like she just got it. And now at bathtime, when she sees her rubber ducks, she yells, "DUCK DUCK!" And she has one of those spinning toys where you point it to an animal, and it tells you what animal it's pointing to. I asked her today, "Which is the duck?" And she immediately pointed to the duck and yelled "DUCK!"

She's not even 11 months yet. Maybe I'm exaggerating the important of this, but it seems amazing to me. It's such a silly thing but I get so excited now at things like this. What a weird concept, less than 11 months ago, I probably never thought I'd be so proud to hear my daughter yell "DUCK!" at the top of her lungs.

D.