Ty
When you have a young grey parrot your days are punctuated with waiting for that magic moment. It may or may not come, but you promise yourself you will love your bird regardless. Still your anticipation is killing you.
This was me, fifteen years ago, waiting. Ty was 9 months old and it was likely to happen in the coming months if it was going to happen at all — his first word. What would it be? Something revelatory. Something prophetic. Something sage, divine and life changing. I just knew that this amazing creature was going to say something equally amazing.
I imagined all the things he might learn from the household. “I love you” seemed a good candidate. Who wouldn’t want that to be a common statement from a beloved parrot? Another possible candidate was “Good Morning.” If that was his favorite phrase, it would surely mean he loved that moment when our day started together and so chose to learn the sound that marked it, better yet if he sang it in my best Debbie Reynolds imitation, “Good morning, good morning to you!”
I thought it could be a surprise too, something rarely said but interesting and catchy. It wouldn’t be swearing because I’d cleaned up my potty mouth, but it could be something sharp and punctuated, exciting. “It’s a party!” Get back, Jack.” Or maybe from the endless cartoons on television. “belepbelepbeleep… That’s all folks!” Or maybe something said frequently but unnoticed, “Join the club.” or “Oh, please.” or “Duuuuude.”
I imagined him practicing carefully, learning to enunciate and perfect the phrase or word that meant the most to him. When he presented his lingual abilities it would with style and flawless pronunciation. (or at least as flawless as mine.)
I wasn’t wrong about this. When Ty was ten months old in a quiet evening just as dinner was being served and before the television was turned on, he belted out his chosen word. It rang like a bell announcing the beginning of his vocabulary.
“Boo!” he said.
Boo? Seriously. He said, “Boo.”
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Catch up on Tuesdays with Ty
Are you sure he didn’t say “Poo!”?
No. I’m sure. Because the next thing he learned to say is “go potty”. Pffffth.
That’s hilarious, Echo’s 1st word was “hello”
My parrot(7 months old)’s first word was penis