De De

Ethan's first word! He repeats it very often... just that we're not 100% sure exactly what it means. The word is De De or de de depending on what you think it means!


What does this oft-repeated phrase conjure in Ethan's mind? It could be:

1. Daddy (this is Ivan's vote, backed up by the fact that Ethan sometimes says De De when he sees a picture of his Daddy)
2. Computer - as in compu-de-de (this is Ethan's favourite thing and he also says de de when looking at the PC even when it's off and no picture of Daddy is on it)
3. Anything Electronic (Ethan sometimes says it when he sees a handphone)
4. All of the above (Daddy is highly associated with the computer and handphone so de de could all these things which make him happy)

This has got me thinking. Poor mummies. They do most of the work of baby raising and the first word out of a babie's mouth is not usually "mama" because the Mmmm sound is more dificult than the hard De or Da sound. Is it the same with other languages I wonder?