Wrapped around her finger
When I was a kid, my little brother couldn't pronounce my name so he started calling me Mimi. It stuck.
I was Mimi to my parents growing up, Mimi to my closest friends in high school, and eventually Mimi to my husband. But when Ladybug was born, Mimi got traded in for another name. My husband and I fell in the habit of calling each other Mommy and Daddy in front of Ladybug, sometimes even when we were alone. I don't know how or why it happened; maybe we were just trying to get Ladybug to recognize us as her parents.
She has long since been able to identify us as Mommy and Daddy, so my husband and I are back to using our pre-baby nicknames with each other. And Ladybug has joined in.
“Mimi! Mimi!” she calls to me from her crib in the morning.
“Mimi! Mimi!” she calls from the living room when she wants me to play with her.
I think it's cute but I also don't want her calling me Mimi when she's 12. So now when she refers to me as Mimi, I tell her that there's a very special name for me that only she can use: Mommy.
We go through this explanation at least a dozen times a day, and it typically sticks for about five minutes. The other day it didn't stick at all. In the grocery store, in the car, on our walk -- everytime Ladybug called me, it was with the name Mimi.
As I got her ready for bed that night, I stepped out of her nursery to get something. No sooner was I out of her sight that she started calling "Mimi!" I headed back to her room, the "you-have-a-very-special-name-for-me" speech prepared. But I stopped when I saw her. She had her face pressed against the crib slats, her lips puckered into a kiss.
"Mimi!" she sighed.
OK, OK, Ladybug. You can call me Mimi for a little while longer.
To share your thoughts and to read other comments, click HERE.
I was Mimi to my parents growing up, Mimi to my closest friends in high school, and eventually Mimi to my husband. But when Ladybug was born, Mimi got traded in for another name. My husband and I fell in the habit of calling each other Mommy and Daddy in front of Ladybug, sometimes even when we were alone. I don't know how or why it happened; maybe we were just trying to get Ladybug to recognize us as her parents.
She has long since been able to identify us as Mommy and Daddy, so my husband and I are back to using our pre-baby nicknames with each other. And Ladybug has joined in.
“Mimi! Mimi!” she calls to me from her crib in the morning.
“Mimi! Mimi!” she calls from the living room when she wants me to play with her.
I think it's cute but I also don't want her calling me Mimi when she's 12. So now when she refers to me as Mimi, I tell her that there's a very special name for me that only she can use: Mommy.
We go through this explanation at least a dozen times a day, and it typically sticks for about five minutes. The other day it didn't stick at all. In the grocery store, in the car, on our walk -- everytime Ladybug called me, it was with the name Mimi.
As I got her ready for bed that night, I stepped out of her nursery to get something. No sooner was I out of her sight that she started calling "Mimi!" I headed back to her room, the "you-have-a-very-special-name-for-me" speech prepared. But I stopped when I saw her. She had her face pressed against the crib slats, her lips puckered into a kiss.
"Mimi!" she sighed.
OK, OK, Ladybug. You can call me Mimi for a little while longer.
To share your thoughts and to read other comments, click HERE.
posted by Michelle Mahfoufi at 8:16 AM
Michelle recently gave up her career to be a full-time stay-at-home mom to a toddler. At least that's the plan ....
3 Comments:
dont worry- she will call you mommy one day again-my eldest went thru the same thing when he was little-he felt very grown up calling us by our real names instead of mama,daddy etc.- i think its an independence,growing up thing-
my triplets will call me by my real name when they really super want something badly or are very urgent-but thats the only time-
its kinda cute-like mindy & buttons from the cartoon animaniacs-mindy never would call her mum mommie or mother either...& they had episode after episode of it-she always called her lady of some sort...lol!
it was cute the first few times when J would say, "Where's Russ?" ... now I get called Miss Kim because that's her teacher's name :)
Ladybug has started it with my husband too. I'll save him the embarrassment of stating what my nickname for him is but I will say Ladybug can't get it right. It comes out as "poo-poo."
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