My Ungrateful Children

I am a mom. I love my kids. Really, I do. But, they have a tendency to drive me round the bend. I spend my days taking care of my house and kids. I clean their rooms, sort their laundry, scrub their toilets (I have boys who have no aim at all!), pack their lunches, cook their dinners, drive to their sporting events and practices, help with homework, cuddle them when they fall down, read them stories, wax their eyebrows (my oldest has a serious unibrow issue), break up their fights, e-mail their teachers, play endless board games, wipe their asses (and noses and hands, and faces), rock them, sing to them, and any number of typical mom things. For the most part, I do not complain about doing these things (I do whine about the pee-crusted toilets). I have great kids, and they do say please and thank you. They probably say thank you more than most kids.

Out of my three beautiful boys, do you think one of them could say mama as their first word? No way! For the oldest it was cookie, totally understandable since my grandmother started giving him Vienna Fingers when he was 3 months old. For my middle son, it was dada. Also understandable since he has always been his daddy's boy. The two of them used to sleep together in the recliner, my hubby would hold him like a football, it was sooooo cute! But just a couple of days ago, my baby, my sweetie, my (probably) last child, said......dada! I am with my baby all the time, he and I are like frick and frack. Everywhere I go, he goes. I spend my days watching Noggin and playing on the floor. I am totally in love with the little cutiepants. Most mornings his dad is gone before he wakes up. Most nights his dad gets home only an hour or so before bed. He does spend time with daddy on the weekends, but not nearly the amount of hours that we spend together.

Would it have killed him to give me a mama? I know that the d sound is easier than the m sound. I know that most babies say dada before they say mama. I know that it is not personal. I know that he loves me. But I really would have loved to hear that mama.