Pretty cool.

Our son, C.J., has been saying words for a while now.  A few months ago "mama" was a favorite, particularly when he was in distress. We don't hear it much anymore. "Da da da da da" has been a familiar chorus for quite some time, too, though it may be more of a sound preference than a declaration of affection for his father. There have been isolated incidents in which he's definitely very clearly said such words as "more," "light," "uh-oh," and allegedly even "C.J." (though I did not witness that last one). Apparently it's not uncommon for infants to repeat or blurt a word once and then bottle it up; this definitely seems to be our little guy's M.O. But, as of this weekend, there's one word that's stuck and it melts my heart.

Pretty.

He may have been saying it for a few days and I just didn't pick it up, but my mother figured it out on Saturday when we were out exploring our yard, its trees, bunnies, and flowers: My son enjoys pointing at things and calling them pretty. Although it's probably not technically his first word (I now know why so many parents find 'what was your child's first word?' such a difficult question to answer.), it's the first word he's really assertively using on his own and I think it's incredibly sweet.

He's used "pretty" to describe trees, flowers, autumn leaves, a glowing Halloween ghost decoration, a stained glass votive holder, a piece of artwork that hangs in our kitchen, the chimes of our grandfather clock, his stuffed Sesame Street toys, his sippy cup, and his grandfather's hat hair (okay, so maybe he doesn't really understand what he's saying).

But I think it's a pretty awesome first word for a pretty sweet guy.