What's In A Name

So recently baby girl has been calling me Cararine, which is her closest approximation at my name.

She throws it out there all casual and hip like, as if all cool toddlers called their mom by their first name.

Who knows, maybe they do.

I know my sister and I called my parents by their first names, but they were hippies, so we did things a little bit differently.

But in our house, I'm Momma and John is Daddy.

It all started with her asking me one day "where's John". It was cute. I made the mistake of laughing. It stuck. And now he is Daddy 50 percent of the time and John the other 50.

I am Mommy or Momma when she is sad or really wants something. Cararine is saved for when she is feeling spunky, ornery, or "talking" to me on the phone.

But for some reason, I'm not really all that worried about it.

Part of it is that I feel this is just a stage. She is trying out calling us by our first names as part of being "big". She has also tested out calling me Sweetie, Honey, and Sunshine, all of which are names that John calls me.

The other part of it is that the two of them have worn me down to an exhausted little nub. What she calls me is the LEAST of my worries, as long as it isn't too bad.

The truth of it though is that I pick my battles. I am big on respect and treating one another with consideration. And as long as she is calling us by our first names as a play at being big rather than out of disrespect, I'm OK with it.

Besides, I grew up calling my parents by their first name and I turned out OK. Wait, perhaps that's not exactly a strong endorsement...

"Hello? Cararine? I'm going to be especially naughty today, you might want to get that wine ready now..."