IELEV8

Cecilia was a very late talker in comparison to her big brother and big sister. When she first started talking she called both Cooper and Lucia, “‘see-ya” and both Mark and I, “Mommy.” This was rather ironic, considering that both Cooper and Lucia’s first words were “Dada.” We tried so hard to help her understand the concept of us all having our own individual names, but I suppose in her little brain, “see-ya” was the name for “little person in my family” while “mommy” simply meant “big person in my family.” Every morning we would try to help her practice, pointing to Mark and saying “daddy,” which she would repeat appropriately…yet every evening when Mark arrived home from work, the garage door creaked open and Cecilia would sprint to the door screaming, “Moooommyyyy!” Nowadays, Cece melts all of our hearts when she sees pictures of Mark and enthusiastically exclaims, “Mahk Ha-wis, me daddy!” But what I am certain would really make Mark beam with pride are her spontaneous fist-pumping cheers from the backseat of the car: “Da-ddy, DA-ddy, DADDY!!”