What a Big Word "Hi" Can Be

These days Furry walks into a room and announces, "Hi!" for all to hear. His eyes are wide and his smile is big, so of course we can't help but acknowledge his greeting with a resounding, "Hi!" back to him.

Therein lies the problem.

See, he doesn't get that he can just let it go at that point. He answers your "Hi" with yet another, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiii," though this time in a more breathy and excited voice. The cycle repeats until you distract him with the cat or a cookie.

But imagine what a big word those two letters must be to him. It's a word filled with expectation. It can mean, "Hi! I'm here now. Adore me!" Or, it can mean "Hi! What do you wanna do now?" How about, "Hi! Wow I can't believea minute ago you weren't here and now you are!" And even, "Hi! Right now you are my most favourite person in the world!"

The word gets everyone's attention. It puts smiles on people's faces.

"Hi" is a mighty big word when you look at it that way.

I was beginning to think Furry would never talk. Of course I speak as the mother of Little Dog, who practically came out of the womb with fully formed opinions to share. His first word was "Batman!" He also used it much in the same way Furry uses the word "Hi" though it didn't prove to be much of a conversation starter.

By 12 months he had quite the vocabulary. Instead of saying "bye bye" he would wave and lisp, "Drive cars! Drive cars!"" I guess it made sense to him, as when people left they usually got in their cars and drove away.

He also sprinkled "pizza" (pronounced pee-puh) and "turtle" (Tutt-uhl) liberally throughout his conversation. The context was irrelevant.

Though he has become quite eloquent as he matures some of his baby words have become permanent in our family vocabulary. To this day we still refer to the living room as the "wib-worm." A blanket is a "gamma" and the foot of the bed is the "down arrow."

I can't wait to hear what Furry comes up with to add to our lexicon. Right now, though, his "Hi" pretty much says it all.