When Mazzy started talking, she said every word in the book before MAMA. Chapter Number One? DADA. Something my ridiculously competitive husband rubbed in my face every single day.
I had no idea Mike and I were in competition until we had a child. Now I win at bedtime and diaper changing and Mike wins at "excitement levels exerted upon returning home from work". None of it seems quite fair.
But at least in this part of the world, we take things out on each other instead of our kid.
Do you know what happens in Australia when a baby says MAMA before DADA? That baby gets called in for questioning Law & Order style…
In the spirit of today's inquisition, I rewrote an old favorite for Babble called "7 (Not So Serious) Stages of Speech Development". If you haven't read it, go check it out.
If you are craving newer material, do me a favor and go sign "The Mommy Wars Peace Treaty". It's about ending the ridiculous debate between stay-at-home moms and working moms.
And don't worry, just like in parenthood— nobody has to admit defeat.
I’ve hated this so-called ‘Mommy Wars’ since I became a mother. This vs that etc. Blech. We’re all mothers and on the same side.
I signed the treaty!!
And the video, haha! Monkey doesn’t say Mama as much as he says Elmo. Should I be offended?
Hopefully you have time to edit the post, that’s Australian not British. When in doubt, check with your resident Brit (moi). G’day!
Oh crap did I break a pledge rule or something?
How did I know that was going to happen? Thanks for the correction- it’s fixed.
My son is 16 months and STILL will not say mama. I come in the room, pick him up at daycare, ask him to bring me something and he lovingly calls me dada. He also calls his dad dada. I know someday I will lovingly look back at this time when he did not say my name 1478 times a day, but it does make me a bit sad. I was actually looking on your site last week to find your post about Mazzy not saying mama, I wanted to see how old she was.
To the dismay of my MIL, my little one’s first word was MAMA! It was not until mastering NANA (banana) and MOTE (remote) did DADA even enter into the vocabulary!
My daughter didn’t say mama until she was 17 months old! She had about 200 words she said including Dada and when I would ask her to say Mama she would laugh at me! How does a toddler know how to stick it to their mom?!
Anyone who worries about this should just sit back, relax and use the Advanced Education Guide to Parenting. It’s a calming tool for parents that always begins the same way. For instance: “no one goes to college not saying, ‘mama'”, “no one goes to college just eating chicken fingers”, “no one goes to college not knowing how to thoroughly wipe their own ass.” It just puts things in proper perspective and it’s ever so assuaging.
Here’s the link: https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/01/the-baby-hates-me.html
I wrote it when she was 13 months and she said it soon after. But if you look at my fanpage today you’ll see that many people’s kids didn’t say MAMA until way later. Someone said 16 mos, another 18mos and another at 2yo. So hang tight. It will happen.
MY friend just said this to me last week when we were talking about potty training. She said- nobody goes to college not knowing how to use the bathroom. Let’s just hope it happens sooner rather than later. A diaper could really ruin the line of a prom dress.
Mazzy asks for Daddy constantly. And he claims he never has problems feeding her, changing her diaper etc. when I’m not there. HUMPH.
I love how much that says about your MIL. I admire her competitive spirit. But I’m glad she’s not mine!
You should retaliate. Light your Tickle Me Elmo on fire.
Thanks for the link, it made me laugh, my little guys says, ready for this…kayak, hockey, touchdown, cracker, car, dog and dada………..mastering the big words. Everyone tells me the first time he says mom, he will definatley be whining!
Sigh. My 16-month-old says Baba. And…um…that’s pretty much it. LOL. I love him anyway.
He can *sign* more, no more, milk, bye bye, sleepy, and eat. And he does kind of chant mamamamamamama sometimes but he doesn’t seem to use it to speak to or about me, directly.
He’s my second, though, so this may all be secret plot on my part to keep him from ever, EVER, learning my name. Dada is who you want, son. Go on and say Dada.
Angus called me ‘Baba’, which was his word for Baby. He said Dada, but mostly in a really pissed-off tone while being taken out of the bathtub or somewhere else he didn’t want to leave. My husband always said ‘why is my name a swear in your language?’.
oh.my.asthamatic.cough.can’t.breathe.laughed.too.hard.
I just signed the treaty and tweeted it. Best post I’ve seen yet on the “mommy wars.” Seriously.
They say it has no effect on when kids start speaking but I know more than one kid who was really good at signing that spoke late. My feeling is if they can communicate then maybe they aren’t as motivated to start talking.
Not that that’s a bad thing.
That’s hilarious. I would kill for Mazzy to use “Daddy” as a swear word. Then I would totally win!
Thank you so much! The post has gotten mostly positive responses with a few people saying that the mommy wars are a very real thing. Maybe I am just blessed to be around non-judgmental people.
I also think that negative remarks are heard ten times louder than positive ones. Do you remember my post on Baby Center where a lot of people attacked me? When I reread it, I realized that it was just a handful of naysayers with over 100 people rushing to my defense. But it’s the bad comments that stick with you.
Oh ya… I could write a book and have a sitcom based on crapy my MIL says and does/doesn’t do!!