"Mamma."
Arnav and Khushi looked at each other with utter shock, muting the movie they were watching for the past fifteen minutes sitting on the couch.
"Did you hear that?" Khushi asked him.
"Yeah, I did." Arnav nodded and they both looked at their eight month old Arush, crawling on the floor in front of them. He was staring at both of them with his wide hazel eyes while he smiled to reveal two tiny teeth in his lower jaw, as drool dripped down the side of his chubby mouth.
"Ga goo goo." He spoke in his baby language and turned around and crawled to the nearest toy, putting it in his mouth to chew it.
"Arush! Come to papa." Arnav said walking towards his son and bent over to lift him in his arms. Arush eagerly obliged and jumped into his father's arms.
"Khushi! Our son spoke his first word right now! He called you Mamma." Arnav exclaimed kissing the baby's tummy, tickling him in the process. "Say Mamma. Mamma." Arnav ushered his son, pointing at Khushi.
Arush stared at his father confusedly and simply flashed his charming smile that he had inherited from his father.
"My baby." She cooed in his ears. "Come here!" Khushi held out her arms to receive him and started nibbling his tiny fingers as he laughed out in delight. "Say Mamma." She repeated and once again, Arush stared at her with confused eyes and turned around to look at his father. It looked like he was quite amused to see his parents making him talk.
"Baba baa Gooo..." Arush continued to talk, looking once at his mother and then at his father as if he was trying to say something.
"Maybe it was the tv." Arnav said a little disappointed.
"Maybe lack of sleep is making us hear things." Khushi agreed, yawning widely after hearing no response from her son while as she rested her head on Arnav's shoulder cuddling Arush in her arms. But Arush had other plans. He slowly leaned forward and climbed back into Arnav's arms, using his chubby palms to play with his father's stubbly cheek.
Arnav turned on the volume once again, as both of them continued to watch the movie with Arush playing with his face.
They were busy watching the movie, when suddenly, Arnav heard it once again and this time he was not mistaken.
"Mamma."
Arush said, looking at his father while he flashed his two tiny teeth at him. And when Arnav muted the tv, Arush once again called out. "Mamma."
"Yes, he did speak his first word." Arnav exclaimed excitedly with a huge million watt smile on his face. The feeling was simply out of the world to experience his baby's firsts and this was one of those moments. "He spoke his first word!"
"Yeah, he did." Khushi joined him as she hugged both her baby and her husband cheerfully.
Suddenly, Arnav stopped smiling as the realisation struck him. "Oh ho! Khushi, we have a problem." He said, looking at Arush who was still smiling at him.
"What?" Khushi asked, wondering what was wrong.
"I think he is calling 'me' Mamma. Not you." Arnav explained with wide panicked eyes.
"Oh no! no! Arush, my rashgulla, he's your 'pa' 'pa'!" Khushi carefully told her baby. "I'm your 'ma' 'ma'."
Arush looked at her and immediately looked at his father and once again called him, "Mamma" and both of them instantly burst out laughing.
"I guess our craziness is hereditary." Arnav laughed as he placed a soft kiss on his son's nose, while he chuckled out with delight.
"I guess it is. Lard Governor's and Sanka Devi's... Ha ha ha!" Khushi burst out laughing clutching her tummy. "Sanka Governor!" and the three of them laughed till their sides hurt.
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Anupamaa
