[w8ting4Thomas]

I don't know whether to worry about this or not...help would be appreciated!
I have 3 stepchildren that are with us quite a bit. They call me Allie. We brought our son home in January and he was/is saying lots of words including mama and dada. But LATELY...he has picked up the other kids calling me Allie and is now INCESSANTLY saying Allie (sounds like owie!) to me instead of mama which he used to say. My family and friends say he will figure it out and he probably is just proud of his new word. I have told me husband to only call me mama or mommy and the other 3 even offered to start calling me mommy...but they forget most of the time!!!
As a mom I was so thrilled to be CALLED MOM...and now this.
Any advice??

[wildboyz2]

I think that you are right that DS has picked up on what the other kids are calling you. It probably is a phase. Just continue to refer to yourself as momma and have DH and your step children refer to you as mama as much as possible.

Also you might "reward" him for saying mama. DD and my favorite game is that she'll come up and say mama and then I shower her with hugs and kisses. She loves it and it reinforces that I am her mama. Good luck, I know that after waiting so long to be mama that it is upsetting to be called any thing but mama.

[Alexismandyjr]

I had the SAME thing happen to me when J.R. first got home. He starting calling me Mommy, whenever my stepdaughter came to visit and he heard her call me by my first name he jumped on that wave. What I did was correct him everytime he said it and I would explain I was his mommy. He understood after a short period of time. Then he'd call me by my first name and laugh, just to get a reaction from me. (J.R. loves to kid around)... I wouldn't laugh, I would just say, it's not funny J.R.!! He'd laugh and say "ok mommy"... He hasn't done that in a loonnngg time.

[sfalone]

HI,

I think that all kids go through a phase of calling us by our first names especially as they are learning to talk and hear other people refer to us as our names. Marco did it to both dh and I, he also has called grandmom and grandpop by their names. I have just always corrected him and said yes, my name is Stacy but I am mommy to you.

Stacy

[JustBarbara]

Well, sometimes my niece and nephew will call their parents by their first names and I always look at them askew 'you mean your mother/father'?? Yes, they giggle and think it's funny but I don't want to encourage them. I tell them they call me by my name but DS calls me Mama or Mami.

[Mariais5]

Sofie called me Marcy for several months and just recently stopped.. My advice is to not make a big deal out of it, and he will go back to saying 'Mommy'.. I think we made too much out of it, so Sofie continued to say it because she would get a reaction.

She still calls one of my sons by his brother's name.. She knows his name but knows it irritates him when she calls him the wrong name.. She's such a stinker!

[mommytoEli]

lol....he'll come around. sometimes my kids call me by my first name....they think it is funny sometimes, and sometimes they slip up. my 5 year old has also taken to renaming people. last week he announced that our baby's new name would be Madden because he "liked that better than the name already picked." lol. great. anyway, i think it is a phase that lots of kids go through....especially when they hear other people calling you by your name.

[linda512]

I agree that it's just a phase and that she is just repeating what your stepkids are saying. Try not to let it bother you.
My son was calling my SIL mommy for a while (when he only called me Mama) because he heard my niece and nephews call her that. I just had to laugh, although it bothered me a tiny bit.

[jules17]

I agree, a phase for attention (although it would bother me too!)

My husband never calls me by my name...only "Honey" or "Babe."

It will be interesting if my kids pick that up!

[DPline]

Originally Posted by mommytoEli

my 5 year old has also taken to renaming people. last week he announced that our baby's new name would be Madden because he "liked that better than the name already picked."

That is too funny! Lauren does that too (she is 4.5) but they are made up, nonsense names like 'I am going to call you goobedygoo today.' (Makes her brothers scream which is probably the fun of it!)

To the OP - My kids have all gone through phases of it too. In fact my 9.5 year old will still do it to get my attention when he is screaming 'mommmmmmm!!!' from the other room and I am not responding. Yelling 'Debbieeeeee' gets my attention!

I think like Marias5 said, they often do it for the reaction.

[jeck]

DS just started doing this too! We were in Sam's the other day and my DH was in the same aisle as us but at the other end looking at something. DS keep yelling Daddy, Daddy then when that didn't get his attention he started yelling his name. It was funny!!! I think it is a phase and he is just learning that other people call us by different names.

Also when BIL and SIL were here recently DS was calling SIL momma, because that is what her DD calls her. I just kept telling him her name and he finally got it...

This too shall pass!!!!

[w8ting4Thomas]

THANKS for all of the answers!!! I love being able to come here for the BEST opinions and advice!
I hadn't thought that some of it could be the way I react...I think I may be making too much of it with him. I have to admit it is cute to hear him say it over and over...but I want to be MOMMY!!!
I will just keep reminding him who I am and try to ignore it for now!
THANKS!

[connorsmommy1999]

we have the same situation here:
my DS from previous marriage calls DH by his first name. Our younger DS (bio of DH and I) called him by his first name for years! we thought he'd just alway do that but at some point right before Kindergarten he started calling him "dad" and almost never calls him by his name.

[Ms.Judi]

I am a teacher at my DD school and she hears ohte kids call me Ms. Judi and she calls me Judi just to get a reaction from me. It doesn't bother me she knoes I am her Mommy. I just give her a look or do not respond and then she calls me Mommy.

[BobMiami]

Lol! I don't know what you all are talking about. My little guy loves to get my goat by calling me "mommy". He notices it especially gets to me when we are out in public or with friends or family.

He also likes to call me "Bobby" (as my family and very, very longstanding friends do). I shoot him a killer look and he stops. Frequently saying "I'm sorry, Mommy."

I am very sorry my son inherited the sense of humor that runs through my family. (Naw, not really.)
Bob