Half Whisper, Half Statement

Often Brendan makes nonsense garble as he wanders throughout the house, moving room to room repeating monosyllables, juggling sounds across his tongue. On Saturday morning however, Ricky half cradled Brendan, the two of them watching an educational video for babies and preschool children: I leaned over, making baby noises at my son. He reached out, tugged on my whiskers, looked me directly in the eyes, and said “Da-da,”— half whisper, half statement. For me, inwardly the world titled on its axis. One of those moments for a first-time father. My role in his life confirmed. The simple phonetics served as clarification, definition. You could see the tumblers clicking in his mind, making the proper identification of language to object. The world is now his oyster.