So, it's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Bank holiday, as they say. It's been pretty divided, over the years, whether I get the day off from work or not. This year: not. Mostly because the company realized that if they give us three "floating" holidays, to use at our own discretion, with our supervisors' permission, then they can keep their offices open three more days out of the year, and thus make, um... About 1% more in profit.

Whatever. I like having floating holidays, actually. Mind you, I hoarde them like leave and just use them at the end of the year on my Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations, but I appreciate the principle of them. And it provides a few days' cushion, too, for new employees who haven't earned much vacation time.

So. Right. Today's theme is "words."

Item 1: I've been waiting for nearly a year for Penny to start saying "Mama" and "Dada." Even if they don't really talk otherwise, many babies at least have one or both of those down well in advance of their first birthdays. Not Penny.

As many people have commented, Penny has no need to say them, because Matt and I are both very attentive.

A few weeks ago, while I was in the shower, Penny stood at the foot of the stairs and whined, "Ma-ma! Ma-ma!" until Matt brought her upstairs to see me. I was just coming out of the bathroom when he brought her into the room, and she reached out to me with both arms. "Ma-ma!"

I was excited. "Mama, that's right!" I pointed at Matt. "And who's that?"

"Ma-ma!"

Not so right.

Matt told me later, "I expected to see a jubilant journal entry from you."

"But she said you were Mama, too," I explained. "It's still just an all-purpose word."

Late last week, Penny was playing in the kitchen while Matt made dinner. I came in to get something, and Penny ran over to me. "Ma-ma!"

"That's right!" I told her. I pointed at Matt. "Who's that?"

"Da-da!"

What's more, she continued to (mostly) use the correct versions for us through the weekend. By George, I think she's finally got it! Yay!

And still more: She's teething again, we think, because she's been going through a rash of waking up in the middle of the night and needing some soothing to get back to sleep. When she woke up Saturday morning at one, it wasn't just wordless wailing. It was the most pitiful, "Ma-ma-ma!" I ever did hear.

(I stuck a finger in her mouth this morning to see if I could detect teeth on the way. I think I did, and if I'm right, she's about to lose the remaining gaps on her top row of teeth. Which will give her exactly twice as many teeth on the top as on the bottom. We don' need no steenking bottom teeth!)

As for Item 2, well...

I'm going to have to eat some words.

Matt said, "I want to get Penny a cup with a built-in straw."

"Sure," I said, figuring that even if Penny doesn't use it now, she'll probably be able to figure it out sometime in the next few months.

At the grocery store, I picked one off the rack and put it in the cart, and said, "And here's a new cup for Penny, even if you've got idea whatsoever what to do with a straw!"

When we got home, I took the cup out of its plastic, and Penny reached for it right away. Well... Sure. I put a little juice and water in it and handed it to her, and tried to show her how to suck through the straw. She looked frustrated that I wouldn't let her tip the cup up, and she wouldn't close her mouth over the straw.

Which was about what I figured she'd do. I let her have the cup, and turned back to finish putting the groceries away.

Less than thirty seconds later, I looked down to make sure she wasn't making an enormous mess... And she was sucking juice out of the straw. I stood, shocked, and watched. She did it again - I could see the juice rising in the straw, and hear her swallowing. She emptied the cup in about five minutes.

She still wants to tip the cup back to drink, but she's slowly figuring that out, too.

So I've got some words to eat: Penny knows exactly what to do with a straw, and we may need to buy her some more straw-enabled cups in the near future, because she loves it.

--Liz