In playgroup, we call each other by our first names. I mean, of course, that the adults do. The babies don't talk -- no one even says "mama" -- so they don't call us anything yet.
But the babies are listening and learning all the time, and they will learn to address us by the names they overhear. Pretty soon we're going to have to consciously decide by what names we will be known. With a new baby you have the chance to set policy, to give them the words that will define their world -- for example, in my family we decided we'd be "Mama" and "Dad," "Oma" and "Opa," and "Aunt Erica" and "Uncle Joel." The same decisions need to be made at playgroup.
In fact, we already did decide -- we want to be old-school about it and have the kids address us by an honorific and our last names -- but it feels funny to get started. It's one thing for a child to do it, but it's totally bizarre to be hanging out with a friend and have her call me "Ms. Last Name."
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Note: As I write this five months later, this formality hasn't actually appeared -- it seems like we're going to be California casual about it after all.
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