Al Gore

At 13 months, here is a list of Isa’s vocabulary:

• Agua
• Ma Ma
• Da Da
• Hola
• Nada
• Bye
• Hi
• No No No
• Uh Oh
• Wow

Coming in at number one, however, is Isa’s first and still favorite expression:

He’s been making this sound since he was just a couple of months old. Eduardo and I can not for the life of us figure out where this comes from or what it means. Granted, we are a fairly liberal family, but I don’t think we talk about the former Vice President any more than your typical American household. Perhaps Isa just never got over the travesty of the stolen 2000 election. (There must have been some coverage where ever he was at the time) Or perhaps he’s just keen on that particular collection of sounds. Well, whatever it is, it’s a mystery. And it doesn’t seem to be used following any consistent grammatical rules. Isa’s proclaimed it as a noun when pointing at something, a greeting when entering a room, a salutation when leaving, a question with inflection and an exclamation when thoroughly excited. If anyone has any theories as to what this magical phrase “Al Gore” could mean, please share them.