DD calls me by my first name?!

[candelaria80]

Is this a common thing?  DD has a decent vocabulary, but has never really mastered mama.  The other night I was working on the computer and she was trying to get my undivided attention to read her a book, I kept saying "hold on Mads" "just a second", all of the sudden I hear "Etch-a-ca" (my name is Jessica).  I was stunned.  I of course dropped everything and read her the book.

Well it has now become her favorite word.  When someone asks her anything about her mama she will say "Etch-a-ca?"  Part of me thinks it is hilarious of course, but another part of me is a little sad.  I was really looking forward to mama. 

Has this happened to anyone else?  Also, would you try to correct this?  It is super cute at 15 months, but I could see it being a little annoying at 5, ya know?

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Both mine went through that at different times. I did discourage it because I wanted them to call me mom or mommy. I would say yes what do you want mommy to do or something similar instead of saying my name.

[Rlin]

DS does it with his dad. He'll say papa a few times, and when he doesn't get his attention he'll say "papa Name". If that doesn't work he'll just use dad's name. He sometimes says my first name, but I told him he is the only one who gets to call me mama, and I like hearing it. And I respond quicker to mama than to my first name anyway, lol.

[Forthwith]

Heh.  According to my mother, all four of her kids went through a period when we called her and our father by their first names.  Mine was at about age 1 1/2.  They just kept on calling themselves 'mommy' and 'daddy' and we all stopped on our own.  I think it's a pretty normal phase!

[sleepingbeauty]

I don't remember me or my sisters doing that but I imagine that it is common.  I mean, your kids call you mama but everyone else who talks to you calls you by your name.  I can see where the confusion can come from.  Just refer to yourself as mama and it'll catch on eventually, right?

[lyterae]

DD didn't call me by my name, but she went through months of calling her daddy by his first name. We would gently correct her and ask her to please call him daddy and move on. Eventually it took.

[caenach]

DD is in a phase where she's very curious about what our names are. First names. Last names. Titles. All of it. She's called me by my first name a few times recently, but I don't really mind and don't have a particular desire to enforce mama/mommy so I just responded as if it was totally normal.

[secondimpression]

20 month old DS has always done this to DP...or at least I think that's what he's doing. He calls DP "ma" or "mama" probably because he hears me using DP's name (Matt). We use dad/daddy when addressing DS so we're just chalking it up to a personality quirk. With toddlers, who can really tell though, right?

[nickysan]

Her uncle got my little one out of this habit, my gentle reminders to call me mummy fell on deaf ears but every time my brother heard her call my by my name he would remind her to call me mummy and within 2 weeks she got the hang of it. You could try to ask other people in your life to remind her as well as you to reinforce it.

[nkintzel]

My DS is 2.5. He calls my hubs Mark all the time. I think its funny and hubs doesn't mind. He uses daddy, too. Its just perfectly interchangeable with Mark. Interestingly, he never calls me Nicole, only Mama or Mommy.

I guess I don't have any advice. Just that my DS does it too. I think my MIL said hubs did it when he was little, too. So, I guess its common.

[Spring Lily]

My kids (4 and 2) all do that, too. DH & I respond by telling them they have a special name they get to call us (dada or mama) and no one else gets to call us that. It's not a negative thing, but we do giggle and act like they're silly when they call us by our first names. They usually switch back to mommy/daddy/etc quickly, and say it very lovingly because they know it's a "special name."