first sort-of word

the other day
whilst shopping for groceries at the supermarket
to keep my shopping-phobia-boredom-so-scream-head-off-in-public
from setting in
papa pulled out my favourite ribbon
for me to play with
thus causing me to exclaim with delight
and i excitedly squealed ai-yah aloud
mum was so stunned
cause that's my first real-ish word
not ma-ma da-da nor ga-ga
apparently if you believe her theory
you can take the mum out of malaysia
but you can't take the malaysia out of her
so i must have inherited my vocabulary
either genetically or by osmosis...

(they are next expecting to hear alamak)