What's In a Name...

It is such an exciting moment in a parent's life when their darling child begins to speak. Kirk started talking in earnest at 18 months and has yet to shut up about anything. He is at ease in nearly every situation and is quite deft at expressing himself. In fact, he's yakking at me while I type this--it's all about the Relay for Life, which he and Greg participated in last weekend. They camped out all night and he played with his friends and slept under the stars, and checked out the luminaria, and played with his friends...yadda, yadda, yadda.

Suzanne talks a lot, but mainly in Russian. At least it sounds like Russian. She has a lot of single words, but doesn't put them together very much. In fact, her first word was "dada," which totally made Greg's day 2 years ago when she said it. She is learning everyone's name, too--except for mine. I don't know why she won't say "mama" because usually M sounds are easier. She says "me" and "maymen" which actually means amen. Gosh, she can say "Kirkie" which has got to be harder than "mama" and Ok for Oscar. She can even say Emmy (more Ms). Maybe it's because she's with me so much that I just blend into the scenery.

Whatever it is, I'm finding myself getting a little impatient at the wait. She's going to be 3 this month, which is astonishing. She's made tremendous progress in her life, with this one exception, so I shouldn't get too torn up about it. And it makes her daddy feel good every time she runs to the door to welcome him home after work. I should be content with that, right?

I've settled for a lot of things in my life, but this is not an area where I want to settle or make do. I want my daughter to recognize me as a person who is important to her, not just a presence in the background. I think a lot of women settle for being that presence in the background, but when you do that you're relegating yourself to the status of the furniture or the wallpaper. You start to become invisible to others and to yourself. The old saying is that children should be seen and not heard--it doesn't say anything about mothers...