Thursday, February 08, 2007

Name calling



















Who Dear Alex asks for - not a great sample really - just one evening's direct observation over the period from 6pm to shortly after 8pm. I had a slight advantage over Beautiful Wife as I arrived home 20 minutes before she did. I'm not really sure what the numbers mean, but I'm pretty sure that it has nothing to do with how she feels about who she's asking for.
Out of 97 discreet calls for someone, anyone, daddy came out ahead (by a mile). Don't let the numbers fool you, though - when Alex calls for daddy, it seems that the calls come in quick bursts "daddydaddydaddy daaaadeeee" and when she asks for mommy it's usually just one or two linked "ommy, mommie." It may be that she just likes saying "daddy", or perhaps it's because she needs to call me more often because I'm not paying nearly as close attention to her as Beautiful Wife does. It may be just a remnant of mommy not being around for her to call for.
The calls for Nanny Joan seem to come later in the evening as she's getting tired, or perhaps she's forgotten that Nanny J. left for the night an hour or so ago. The saddest and most pathetic of all, though, is her conflation of daddy and mommy into "dommie" - usually just after we've put her in the crib and left the room; "daddiedadd-eemommmieommie-dommie-dommie" - that is truly heart wrenching.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dommie? Perhaps she's looking for a woman in a leather jumpsuit with lots of zippers. I'm on my way!