I always thought that a baby's first word would be some sort of definitive event, like he would look at me and say "mama" or at Kevin and say "dada", and it would be clear that he has said his first word.  Turns out it's not like that, it seems like it's a lot more subtle.  He's been making the "ma" and "da" sounds (along with many others), so it's been kind of hard to tell whether he's saying it with intent, or just babbling.  But for a couple mornings now, he's been waking up and calling out "mamama", wait a few seconds, then do it again.  So I suspected he was saying it in order to get my attention.  Well, I think we have confirmed it this evening.  I went to go upstairs for something, and left him downstairs with Kevin.  He crawled over to the gate at the bottom of the stairs, stood there peering through the bars, and yelled "MAAA!........MAAAAA!........MAAAA!".  I am sure he must have been thinking "yo, ma!  you forgot something -- me!  I'm down here!  I'm down here!  Come and get me..."