I’ve come to realize lately that as parents we carry a variety of names. Our partners call us by our first names, or nick names. Our friends possibly the same (although possibly different first names.) And of course, our children.
We can be mums, mommies, mamas, moms (and similar with dads) plus a variety of takes on these names depending on our children’s version of them.
Our daughter, who is now five, uses different terms of endearment I’ve noticed depending on her needs. When she is mad, it’s simply ‘MOM’ in a loud, possibly screaming voice. When she’s being funny she says ‘mother’.
But perhaps the cutest is when she is happy, and has a statement or question to share and she begins with ‘mama’.
For whatever reason, it’s only been recently that I noticed she still uses mama rather than mom (which her brother typical sticks too). Her default though is still mama and it struck me as sweet and oh so innocent. She also still says dada.
I won’t correct her and I hope it doesn’t change. As I watch them grow with joy in my heart I am happy to cling to the little things that remind me they are still my babies. And that I will always be their mama.
