A is for All Gone!! B for Baba!!!

In that time-honored tradition of beginning again and making a bunch of resolutions we won't keep, Ed and I have decided that we'll be better about recording Reed's life. I like to think I've done an okay job thus far, between the blog, scrapbooks, and a few notebooks with random jottings, but there's lots I haven't captured, and we have little video. I think it's a sheer waste not to preserve in this era that provides us with so many unique and interesting mechanisms to do so. A lot of laziness, too, probably, but I don't want to wind up in that category. I know that I wish fervently that more of my childhood was preserved. I'd love to have something to go back through (besides the obligatory baby book and scattered photos). I know my parents had far fewer options for preservation than I. Perhaps Reed won't really care about the record of his life for some time, but he will eventually. I'd like to think he'd share this blog with his loved ones, whomever they turn out to be. So here's to 2009 and to Reed's ever-growing vocabulary Since this is a such a huge part of his personality and one of his main interests, we thought we'd devote an entry to each letter, noting the words he's attained for each thus far and which have proved most important to him. He certainly has his favorites. It should be duly noted that he also has enunciation preferences -- generally, the first syllable in any word gets all the emphasis, with a few exceptions( like lasagna, in which the "za" is joyfully drawn out). Some, like "apple" get the same stress on all syllables, but really, almost all of them are marked by the first-syllable favoritism. We think it's cute, and now that we've got a video camera (highly recommended if you want something both cheap and easy), we hope to demonstrate as much on the blog.

So here's to you and to me, to a and to b. May you have a blessed New Year.

We know we've left out quite a few, but this is what we can come up with . . . Exclamation points = well, an exclamation -- these are favorites.

A:
apple!
all gone!
algator/algy (wooden alligator Dalyn and Josh gave him)
alright
airplane
air
always
almost
Amy
Amber
Again!

B
e-baba! (why e-baba, you ask? We have yet to figure this one out. Ed thinks it was originally "a baba" and it just morphed into the "e". Who knows. It's weird, but we here it many times per day despite the reduction of the e-babas. Little do you know, little Reed, that your days of the e-baba are slowly drawing to a close.)
boat
bear
beach
butter!
bread
bubble
blankie!
baby! (loves babies. All of them. I think he identifies. Odd, no?)
bed
barn
better
bee
bird(s)!
boom!
bonky! (his name for his purposeful falls, usually performed by laughing and throwing his head on the ground to fall down, then yelling bonky! or boom! It's charming, really. Brain-damage? On the way, probably.)
butterfly
beak (absolutely the most important part of the bird)
big
butt/bum/booty (depending on the moment, whether something's come out of it, and the like)
back
blue
ball! (this was an early and beloved one)
bottle (i.e., "e-baba")
burn
banana!!! (absolute favorite fruit, er, food, until its demise once mangy! (mango) reared its orange head)
bulb (associated with Christmas ornaments only, and usually muttered upon ripping one out of the tree)
belly
beads
Big Bird! (loves those Sesame Street characters)
bark! (as in "doggys bark!" and the bark that fills our front flowerbeds).

Ciao, blog. I'll post another entry from his highness's perspective soon.