We also took her to Bette and Tina’s every now and then. She liked Angelica, so we liked having the two of them play together. Bette was also trying to teach both of them about art with all the colors and shapes in paintings she had in the house. I don’t think she ever held Kallie’s attention long enough to be satisfied, but I thought it was kinda cute and never objected.

We usually still had family night at their place, too. Or ours. Sometimes even at Shane and Jenny’s, although for the most part we usually decided not to go there. I have no idea why, since I’d always liked their house. I have the sneaking suspicion that it was mostly due to Bette and her continuing dislike of Jenny, which I never really understood but which stretched on for years, even though they were amicable for the most part.

Kallie still adored Jenny, though, so Alice and I would stop over to their house a couple times a week. They came to our place pretty often too, but after our initial nesting phase we liked taking Kallie out. She was so well behaved that there was really no reason to keep her cooped up in the house.

She said her first word on one of those afternoons, at a little over eight months old. Shane and Alice had gone into the shed, presumably to look at some new camera equipment Shane had bought. I didn’t much care. Kallie was clinging to Jenny and laughing at her at random intervals, so I was perfectly content to stay inside and watch them.

I don’t think either of us heard her the first time she said it. Still, since she kept repeating it, I started to realize that she wasn’t just babbling between her laughter like usual. She was saying the same word over and over again. “I think she’s talking,” I whispered to Jenny. She had probably been thinking that Kallie was just making baby gibberish again, because she sort of snapped to attention at what I’d said. After a few seconds, she looked away from Kallie and grinned at me.

“I think she’s saying my name,” she whispered. I pulled my chair a little bit closer, and there was really no doubt about it. Kallie was nuzzling into Jenny’s shoulder and repeating the word “Jenna” over and over again, and laughing sometimes.