Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Mama

When Duncan first began talking, we were excited that he quickly added "Dada" and "Mama" to his limited lexicon.  Now, he has more words than we can count, and almost every day he says something I've never heard him say before.  Recently, he seemed to know "ten," where previously his number system and numerical vocabulary were binary:  "two," and "three."  On Sunday, he suddenly knew "paper towel."  Listening to him talk to Jamie during our recent vacation, I realized that he has made the complete transition to "Daddy" while I remain "Mama."  I was bemoaning Duncan's inability to upgrade me to Version 2.1's "Mommy" when Jamie reminded me that we stopped correcting Duncan's "Mama" since I seemed to like it.  I mulled over this observation for a while (having the time to do that kind of thing over vacation) and decided that our instincts feel right to me.  Although I sort of feel that a two year old should be able to say "Mommy," I am just fine being "Mama."  "Mama" is a delicate, wispy umbilical cord that still connects me to the one year old boy, uncertain on his feet, a novice speaker, awestruck by his upright stance, and totally in love with his mother.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sam always called me Mama when she was a toddler; it didn't turn into Mommy until she was in kindergarten. I liked it! Be happy Duncan calls you Mama; soon enough it will be "MOM" or even "MOTHER" when he's annoyed with you!!!!