R.I.P. Mama & Dad

(Don't worry; I don't mean anything dire by my title.)

As I mentioned a long time ago, Craig and I decided we wanted Isaac to call us Dad and Mama. Isn't it every parent's prerogative to choose their own moniker? Anyway, it worked very well -- Izzy said "Mama" perfectly, and although he still said "Da-da" most of the time, he was beginning to drop the second syllable. Then sometime in the last two weeks he started saying "Mommy" and "Daddy." He calls me "Mommy" at least half the time now, especially when he's thinking about it, and I can tell by the way he says it that he really likes it (although his primal cry for me in the dark of night is usually still "Mama"). Craig is "Daddy" about a third of the time.

We were very surprised! And, we wondered, where on earth did it come from? At first I thought it was from exposure through books -- most of the stories we read together use the terms "Mommy" and "Daddy." But it turns out that although I almost always read the books as written, Craig almost always re-words them to say "Mama" and "Dad," so that cancels out. Plus we always refer to ourselves as "Mama" and "Dad," even to the extent where we seldom use personal pronouns, and that should be more powerful than the written word.

My next theory is that it's developmental. Don't babies often create easier-to-say words by repeating the first syllable of the word twice? For example, Isaac used to call a ball a "ba-ba," but now he actually says "ball." Maybe he feels like Mama and Da-da are too babyish, and he's ready to move on to the next level -- the one where instead of saying "dag-dag" for dog, he would say "doggie." (Although he hasn't done that yet.)

My final theory is that Isaac is seeking parallel construction in our names. He calls himself "Baby," and Mommy and Daddy end in the same ee sound. Now our family is a matched set.

The more important question is, however, what do we do about it? We could do nothing -- it could be just another passing linguistic fad, over within a few weeks like Izzy greeting me by saying "Hi, baby!" I think it might take a while longer than that -- Craig just told me that when he said, "Let's go find Mama," Isaac corrected him -- but we would eventually get our way.

But I have to admit that I kind of like being called Mommy. Why is that? For one, it's thrilling that Isaac has chosen it on his own, in contradiction of what he has been taught. It may be a parent's prerogative to choose what they'd like to be called, but the baby's veto power lies in their cuteness. But also "Mommy" is what I called my mom, which turns out to hold a certain archetypical strength. Even though I thought "Mama" would be more modern and cool, "Mommy" has a appealingly familiar ring; although I thought I disliked the diminutive ee, it actually sounds loving and sweet. (I feel the same way about "Daddy" -- but that isn't my word to dictate.)

So I don't know what I'll do!