Straight From the Bottle

I used to call my parents by their first names when I was a kid, and apparently it was considered weird. So, my parents started calling each other 'mom' and 'dad', and after a while, so did I.

My two year old calls her dad "Daddy James", me "Mama Caya" and her sister "Sissy Anna".  It is so odd, but we roll with it.  They come up with the craziest stuff, huh?  Now that he has started expressing himself, maybe he will just keep it up and the therapy won't be needed.  Words come in handy with our 2yr old especially when she is whining!  How I loathe whining.  We tell her "USE YOUR WORDS!".  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  Hey, they are two right??  I have to cut her some slack.

If your kid calls you Mom and Dad, they still need to know your actual first names. I had a friend who worked security for various events, and often had to track down the parents of kids who got lost, and he was stunned by how many kids--even grade-school age--who didn't know their parents' names.

Now we just need some video of the kid talking. ;)

He's on his way....there's no stopping him now.  I wonder how long it will take before you're wishing the "why"s would stop.  Mmmm you could take wagers on that.

thanks for the laugh (asshole and howl!! ha!) I teach 3 yr. olds and I make tapes for the parents and one of the questions I always ask is what their parents names are. My favorite is when they preceed the name with "aunt" or "uncle." What's mommy's name? Aunt Jeanette. I laugh every time. I asked a little girl once what her mom's name was and she said she didn't know so I asked what daddy called her and she said "beautiful." Gotta love those kids.~jjlibra

When Jack was 2 years old he slipped off his chair and nearly bit his tongue in half. Seriously… It looked as if it had been dipped in iodine it was so bruised. His speech development was already delayed because he was born with a severely clubbed foot and was in a cast until he was 2 ½ (the doctor told us this would prevent him from walking until he was 14-15 months which would in turn hamper his speech development) What helped us until we could make some sense of the sounds he was making was sign language. He was able to pick up the signs for help, more, mom, dad, hungry, and a few others including asshole I think. He’s forgotten them all, but we can understand him now (although he still struggles with L’s and R’s) As far as knowing our names, he doesn’t. We’re Daddy and Mommy, but he does know his own name, my cell phone, our address, our home phone, his social security number and Pi out to the first 20 digits. As Ronald Reagan as it sounds I actually refer to Kathleen as Mommy even when the boys are asleep and we could speak to each other as adults. Even to his friend’s I’m Jack’s Daddy although being an Allen Ginsberg fan I’d kill to be called Howl. Since my first name is Bill the best I could hope for is Bowel, which I suppose is only slightly better than asshole.

At the age of 3, the kid of a friend of mine decided to call her by her first name. She was fine with this, but another friend of hers told the kid he should be calling his mother "mummy". His reponse: "Why? She knows she's my mummy."

Me, I'm all muddled about what I'd like to be called. I just don't see myself as "mummy" or "maman" (my son is speaking French and English) so before he started calling me anything (which was long after he was calling his dad "papa") I had planned he would call me by my first name ... but to my huge surprize, all my friends  - even the ones I thought weren't at all conservative - vetoed this, saying it was weird. So it's been interesting to read people's comments on this! By default I've become both mummy and maman, which actually isn't as bad as I had imagined... but lately he has started to call me "Emma" when speaking to other people about me, so maybe I'll get my original wish after all, without pushing him one way or the other.

And, even though I know you were fine with Archer having his own language, great news that he's started to speak English! Life becomes even more entertaining once you can hear what's going on in their minds.

I've been reading your blog for the last couple hours. Seriously. I'm absolutely in love with the way you write and all the adorable stories you have about your son and life. I think is great that you stop to see all the little beautiful, wonderful truths, memories and details that many mothers seem to overlook, and share them with everyone. I wish I knew you in real life, seriously, because I can relate with a lot of the things you have said. (Even though I haven't reached parenthood yet!) I read on your other blog that your book is coming out in March, I'll definitely be first in line (in my city at least, haha) to buy it. Your writing is just beautiful.

Anyway, I hope everything is well with you and your adorable little Archer! Its great that he's starting to talk. I think sometimes kids just like to go at their own pace. When he does decide on a name for you, it'll be all the more special coz it will be his own decision, not just a repetition. :D

One of my little cousins called me "Cake" until she was about five and the other one called me "Girl". I agree with what you said, lol. Its just nice to be called something.

My little guy, at 20 months, says "hot! hot!" for all food and decided to call the cat "pot." He doesn't say mom or dad at all but started parrot-ing words like "shoes" and "home." Slowly but surely!

i'll still call you asshole, thanks.

I call my parents by their first names, and have since I was three or four. My parents say it stems from that phase I went through, the one where I was so totally convinced that I was royalty that I only responded when addressed with proper respect, as Your Majesty or Princess, and in turn called my parents King R___ and Queen F____. When I got old enough to have to explain it to confused friends, I always snobbishly said, "Well, if I were lost and screamed out 'MOMMY!' lots of people would look at me! But if I yelled my mom's name, only she would come. So I won't ever be lost for long."

It's possible that I lifted that explanation from a book.

I feel like I've been trying to catch rain in a bucket for the past year and now, suddenly, I'm caught in a torrential downpour. I'm talking about words. W-O-R-D-S. As in, Archer has them. Them , becoming more plural as the days pass. Yes

Lizzy called me "K" until she was almost 3. I became Mommy out of the blue one day.

My son is almost 4 and his speech is hindered.  He has been seeing a pathologist for a year now and has not had much progress.  There is nothing wrong with him medically.  

We have brought home a baby from overseas and now my son has regressed even more...to the point where he is in pullups again!  SO frustrating.  We are trying to have patience, but it's hard.

My son started speaking at six months and he taught himself to read at three. He didn't sound like a baby at all when he spoke. He was like an adult with a tiny little voice. People used to do double-takes when this tiny little kid in a stroller would spout these adult-sounding phrases. Other parents used to ask me what I did to make him so bright. I said my husband and I talked a lot - to each other, to the baby to our pets. We're also big readers and the first non-picture book our son finished (at 4) was Treasure Island., He's 18 now and a junior at a very well-known university. He still says the most marvelous, funny perceptive things. There's no greater joy in life than the joy we get from our children.