Daddy Daddy Daddy

At 18 months old, Jonah has quite the vocabulary -- for a toddler. (At 4, Noah does too, for a preschooler, but you already know that if you've been reading these posts.)

Jonah's most important new word, however, is one that is near and dear to me in particular. Mama.

Now, I never expected I would like being called Mama. Mama is my mom's mom -- my grandmother. She's been Mama since I was a toddler, though now she's GGMama (Great Grandmama) to my boys. Still, to me she's Mama. So how can I be Mama?

That said, the alternative (from Jonah's perspective) appeared to be Daddy. I've been Daddy (as has Adam) since Jonah learned the word, and until now he's never really comprehended the fact that we have different titles. But, of course, having us both be Daddy has caused a few moments of confusion. For example, when Jonah was sick last week and I stayed home with him, he would call "Daddy Daddy Daddy" several times before I realized he didn't miss Adam but rather wanted my attention.

Adam and I have regularly tried to explain that I'm Mommy, not Daddy, but to no avail. Then last Tuesday, when Jonah said Daddy once too often, I replied, "Jonah, can you say Mama?" "Mama!"

Two syllables never sounded so sweet.

So, at least for now, I'm Mama. Maybe someday I'll be Mommy, and eventually I'm sure I'll be Mom. But at least I've graduated from being a Daddy.