In an adorable story out of Chicago, IL, 11-month-old Jamie Waterson just opted out of saying her first word verbally, in favor of debuting something much more communicative: her first scathing up-down look.
“I mean, sure, I might’ve been secretly hoping for ‘mom’ or ‘mama’ to be her first foray into language,” Jamie’s mother, Angie, told reporters. “But the look of silent dismissal she gave that little boy throwing a tantrum in the grocery store was pretty perfect too.”
How sweet!
Angie continued, saying, “At least it wasn’t ‘dada.’”
Child development experts say babies tend to mimic the level of judgment and sarcasm they sense from their parents, and that often influences what they say and how they say it.
“If a baby sees their parent roll their eyes, or hears them call someone’s necklace ‘interesting,’ their brain will file that away, and it is often reflected in their speech, gestures, and other behaviors later on,” early childhood researcher, Dr. Jessa Watters, told reporters.
She continued, adding that expressions like a diabolical side eye; saying, “Is that what you’re wearing?”; and holding in a giggle are actually very common first expressions for children. However, they often go underreported because parents feel more comfortable with first words like, “up,” “no,” or “ba-blah.”
“That last one’s not even really a word, but for some reason parents feel more comfortable admitting their child is dumb than cunty,” Dr. Watters explained.
Interesting!
However, Angie says she couldn’t be more thrilled about Jamie’s development thus far.
“Her being judgemental just means she can already recognize which things are worthy of being judged,” Angie told reporters. “At this rate, she might even skip her gauchos phase altogether.”
Wow! So precocious!
As of press time, Jamie had continued to develop rapidly –– expressing distaste for one reporter’s choice of shoes with a simple but effective purse of her lips.
Angie was over the moon, saying, “She’s my little Miranda Priestly!”
Aww, how adorable!
Responsible Pedestrian Looks Both Ways to Check Whether Anyone Hot Nearby