Mommy?

My mom will probably think this is just payback for all the times I called her by her first name just to annoy the crap out of her, but yesterday Lilli started calling me Mariko. Can you believe it? Bob and I both kind of looked at each other like "did she just say what we thought she said?" Actually, she doesn't really say "Mariko." It sounds more like "Maiko." At first we thought she might be saying "Michael," which would make Michael pretty happy, but she usually says "mama, Maiko, mama Maiko, mamiko, mamamaiko." Today she's been kind of integrating the two and calling me "mamako." All this is pretty cute, but now that the initial cuteness and shock is starting to wear off a bit, I'm not sure how I feel about it. It hasn't been that Long since Lilli started consistently calling me "mama" in a way that made it clear that she was referring to me. I LIKED IT. "Mamako" is kind of cute, but it's not quite so sweet as being called "mama" by your own dear little baby. I guess I kind of know now how Bobby felt too when Lilli started saying "Bobby." He was so afraid she was going to give up on "Daddy." Maybe this is an inevitable stage? When babies figure out that everyone has names, and maybe more than one? I hope so. . . I hope my mom doesn't get her revenge! (HI MAYUMI! MWA HA HA HA HA!)