How does a pterodactyl say I love you?

There is a video of my son at seven months old. He is in his high chair with a sippy cup in front of him. In the video I ask him, "What does a baby pterodactyl say?" And he proceeds to screech and giggle in a manner that I find faintly Jurassic and very funny.

Since then, I have learned a lot about being a parent. And, thanks to my son, I have also learned lots about dinosaurs. (For example, I now know that "pterodactyl" is really just the informal name bestowed upon all pterosaurs.)

Recently I've learned that my son was probably really trying to communicate with me in those prehistoric screeches.

Research by the University of Washington has found that babies as young as seven months are "rehearsing" how to respond to their parents' voices. Evidently, their language centers light up with ways to respond to Mom and Dad, even though they can't vocally make the actual responses yet.

And that is pretty cool.

For me, it just makes that moment where my son said his first word (mama), all that more amazing.

What was your child's first word? Tell me in the comments.