Wow, I really left that poll up for ages, didn’t I?  Well, the results are definitely in:

In our house, we mainly call each other by nicknames (Honey, or Honeychik/Honeychka – the Russian influence and all), or Tatty/Mommy.  We do use our proper names, but with the little parrot in our house (Little Man, that is), it has started to be amusingly problematic.

Just last week, I was calling to my husband, who was in another room.  Immediately after I did so, Little Man did a perfect imitation, inflection and all, of my husband’s name.  And kept repeating it for some time.  It was really cute, but not exactly something I was going to encourage.

And then yesterday, when Little Man wanted me to bring him a snack, he again said my husband’s name, then looked at me.

“What’s my name?”  I asked the little tyke.

“[my husband’s name, with that same inflection – do I really sound like that?  yikes.]”

“I’m Mommy,” I say.

“[again with my husband’s name]”

“Mommy.”

“[the name]”

“Mommy.”

You can see where this is going.  Anyways, it’s pretty funny.  But now I really have to be mindful of what I call my husband.

We do joke around about how it’s funnily/creepily Oedipal to say things like, “I love you, Mommy.”  I mean, really?  Ew.  Also, we end up referring to each other by Mommy/Tatty even when the kids are sleeping.  Or when we’re out at a restaurant.  Or whatever.  So it’s got some quirky side effects, but overall, it doesn’t faze me.  Just another unexpected kick of parenting.  At least this one isn’t physically gross, unlike other parenting experiences.

Check out the new poll in the sidebar (yeah, over there).   Let me know where you stand.