I tried and tried to get my son to make "prestidigitation" his first word, but he didn't see the point.

What he DID say one day told us something about how young kids think. He was breast-fed intermittantly until he was past two and doing reasonably well at talking. He learned to say "nuss!" (nurse) when he wanted Mommies attention. So...one day he happened to be playing with and old copy of Playboy magazine, and, happening on Miss February, he pointed at the appropriate place and said brightly, "NUSS!"....ah! It's NOUN, not a verb.