A few months later, Jess and Mark went to Leona's first birthday party. It was a small party, the only other guests were Emma's sister Nadine with her 2-year-old son Oliver and 2-month-old Charlotte. The infant slept through most of the afternoon in a sling and Mark didn't see much of her, but when Nadine briefly took her out to burp her after a feeding he couldn't imagine he himself had ever been so tiny and helpless.
Oliver on the other hand looked huge and a bit scary to him. He ran around the room, called Mark and Leona "Stinky poopy babies" and when he said he had to poo his Mommy quickly took him to the bathroom. Mark was a bit jealous about the running part - he could stand by pulling himself up on furniture, but it felt much too wobbly and uncomfortable to let go or even try to walk - but having to stop what he was doing to pee or poo didn't really appeal to him and he certainly didn't want to seem as rude and arrogant as the big boy.
Mark was pushing a big plastic lorry around, enjoying the sounds it made when Leona walked past in front of him and he realized that she had mastered that skill before him - for a moment he felt sad, but then she fell on her face and cried for several minutes until Emma resorted to breastfeeding, and Mark's empathy mixed with relief that nothing could happen to him crawling.
He kept playing with his - well, actually Leona's - lorry until she appeared in front of him and picked it up. Mark said "No!" and tried to grab the lorry, saying his first word. Leona didn't seem to care and clutched the toy to her chest. "No! No!" Mark said, or maybe yelled, again, and by now the moms realized. "I didn't know Mark was talking!" Emma remarked "Neither did I - wow, can you talk, Marky?" his Mommy asked. He realized "No" would not have been the right answer, so he said nothing as she picked him up, distracting him from the loss of the toy. She sat down on the couch with him. "Can you say 'no'?" she asked, and now Mark readily repeated "No! No!" and laughed. Feeling somewhat hungry, he looked at Mommy, tugged on her shirt and said "Mama!". "Yes, that's me! I'm your Mama, and I love you Marky!" Mommy said, and Mark could hear the emotion in her voice. She showered him in cuddles and kisses and fed him, and as Mark nursed he was looking forward to learning to talk more.