THE CHANT HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD

First, it was Naomi (No. 10 on The Roster) who uttered her very first word just eight days ago. And now Neo (No. 8) is singing that same happy song, “Papa, Papa,” halfway around the world in the mountains of Mindanao.

For Neo, however, this was only his second word. He first needed to learn the word, “Hi”, so that he could use the more important word, “Papa”, in the proper context.

I have a couple of 2-second audio clips of Neo uttering these two words but, unfortunately, these clips do not want to upload to this posting. Nevertheless, here are the complete written transcripts:

FIRST AUDIO

Belinda: "Hi Neo."
Neo: "Hi."

SECOND AUDIO

Belinda pointing to photo of me: "Neo, kin-u an?" (who's that?)
Neo: "Papa."

And there it is! The chant heard ‘round the world!

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Naomi, earlier this month, was not able to say the word “Papa”. She tried to cope with this inability by doing strange things like sucking on bottles of sunscreen.

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Naomi, who still cannot say “Mommy” or “Daddy”, appears quite giddy since she has learned how to say “Papa”, often laughing and doing silly things like wearing buckets on her head.

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Neo, shown here only two months ago, frequently wore a serious expression on his face prior to being able to say the word “Papa”. He tried to cope with this burden by sitting alone and clutching lifeless toys.

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Neo, who can now unleash his joy verbally, is sandwiched between two sisters who are obviously thrilled that their little brother can now say “Papa”.

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Neo likes to watch his mother feed a piglet when he is not too busy doing other things like chanting the word “Papa”.