As the months built up, it became apparent that my son was more eager to process thoughts and talk rather than move his limbs. By the time he was 5 months (when he blurted his first MAMA albeit without meaning), both hb and I were convinced without a doubt that he will speak first. Sure enough, he was calling mama and papa by 9 months (deliberately, not just random mumbling); he could speak a few words by his first birthday; and now by 15 months he is learning a few words a week while imitating random words we say. (see here on what I did to try and help him speak earlier / build his vocabulary from young)
Throughout the months, I always found myself anticipating the 'next word' he would learn. I googled for the most common baby's first words - most did NOT make sense (e.g. dinosaur), while others were too straight forward (papa and mama). I tested some words and decided to teach my son a few words that we encountered daily and I thought were easy to learn (e.g. banana, lalala, mooo), but he decided to speak other words instead. I realized that every bub will choose their own first words differently, be it things they like, or sounds that they find fun, or words that they figured out the way to pronounce first. Whatever it is, don't rush them, and have fun! And if you're like me curious about what your baby will say first, here's my very own list to share :)
- mama
- papa
- car
- ball
- moo (sound of cow)
- bus
- roar (lion / tiger)
- bird
- bear
- fish
- there
- bobobo (sound of motorbike)
- bom bom bom (sound of drum)
- chee chee chee (sound of monkey)
- yeye (grandfather)
- card
- banana
- baby
- star
- jiejie (older sister)
- chair
- book
- korkor (older brother)
- cut
- cheese
- touch
- hot
- cold
- hair
- hulk (yes, the fictional super hero)
- bao bei (precious darling - his pet name)
- cap
- poo poo
