Doodaddy

After months of “Daddydaddydaddydaddy,” Boobaby’s finally started saying “Mama” a lot. Boo used to call for me whenever she wanted something, which I felt no end of guilt about. Now, at least, she’s gotten a lot more equitable, and Working Mom’s noticed.

“Is she doing that on her own, or did you work with her on saying ‘mama’?” asks Working Mom one day.

“Um, yeah, I think so,” I non-answer, hoping against hope that she won’t notice.

“You don’t mean you’ve been teaching her to say ‘mama’?”

Oh, good, a negative question! Let’s just double that negative: “No…”

“Wait. Which, now, have you been practicing ‘mama’ with her or not?”

She’s got me completely trapped now. “Well… which would be better?” I stammer.

“Well, it would be wonderful if she were saying ‘mama’ all on her own. But it would have been a very loving gesture for you to have been teaching her, too. So either one would make me feel very loved.” Great. She’s not going to tell me what to say. “So…. which is it?”

Two can play at that game. “Oh, she started saying ‘mama’ and I reinforced it, but she started it, so I guess you could say, well… um, both?”

“Ah,” says my wife, and smiles. “Coward.”

Well, she got the right answer in the end.