February 10, 2001 - Saturday
She's "Mama" now. After weeks of emotional torture for his mother - he calling her "dad" for weeks - today Harry made it clear that he knows. We're no longer generic parents lumped together under "dad." She is "mama" and I am "dad'n." Of course, Harry's known this for sometime, correctly pointing us out when prompted, but for some reasons he's had a hard time saying "mama" as anything other than discontented babble somewhere between "na na na" for no and "va va va" for 'I'm really upset.' I've actually seen it coming for a while. A couple of weeks ago, Harry once looked at a picture of his mother on a computer and struggled to say something like "mom" and since then has shown other signs of trying to get his brain around the fact that "dad" is right for one of us but not the other.

And, this morning, it happened. I went in to get him first, took him out of his crib and changed him, and as we headed for the door, he started saying it: "ma, ma, ma" like he use to say "da, da, da" in anticipation of seeing her. We got to our bedroom where she was and, sure enough, Harry said it again. Admittedly, this time it was something of a cross between ma and da, serendipitously "mada," but that was good enough for her. And, as the day went on it only got better and more clear. He toddled off into the back hall calling "ma ma ma" when he lost sight of her and hugged "mama's" legs in the kitchen. But, the best came when she went in to his room to get him after his nap. I wasn't there, but I remember the time he did it to me and it was quite delightful. Today, she says, he sat up in his crib, looked straight at her, and said "mama." Then, he gave himself and her a big smile of knowing accomplishment. He knows "Mama."


Comments, opinions?