Secretly, well not too secretly, I have been working with Mason on basic names/words. I get close to him, but not too close so that he can properly see me, and I lay my hand on my chest and repeat "Dad". Then, to help ensure he understands what I am doing, I place my hand on his chest and say "Mason", a name that he seems to understand. Then I do the same with "Zola", another name he is familiar with to some degree.
At this point, I wouldn't say that he understands everything we say, but the basics that are used over and over again, like "hungry", "Zola", etc. seem to resonate with him. Up until now, he has even tried repeating some of them, but mostly he just babbles "dadadadada", meaning pretty much nothing. Until this morning.
Laying there, both he and I just waking, me trying to keep him relatively quiet while Audrey sleeps a few extra minutes, he playing with his hands, he looked right at me and said "Dad". Audrey rolled over and said, "Alright, I will give you that one."
It is official, his first word was "dad". What a great, early birthday gift.
