Forming words

What is considered his "first word"? I mean... is mama considered a valid "word" when he's just saying sounds? Or is it the first attempt to associate a word with an object? Or is it when he successfully, continuously, associates a word with an object?  But then how do you know???

I'm thinking too much.  Either way, pure awesomeness ensued when yesterday morning LLM said "nahnah" while reaching for the banana that grandma was cutting up for his breakfast.  It got me thinking about if that's his first word or what would be considered his first word.  It's the first time (that I know of) that he'd said something remotely close to a word while reaching for something.  I mean... other than mama/dada when reaching for me...

This morning he said "aht" at the cat.  Holy little talker Batman! He's growing up... Wahhhhhh.... where's my snuggly baby?

Getting to be a big boy