At our home, I speak Hebrew to our son and my husband speaks English. So when we were deciding what we wanted him to call us, naturally John wanted to be called Dad or Da-da and I wanted to be called Ima (mom in Hebrew). When Kyle was born, we repeatedly told him who we were. Me, Ima and John, Da-da. Of course, it wasn’t until Kyle was over a year before he said any real words.
I don’t want to brag, but Kyle’s first word was Ma-ma. Not exactly Ima, but he actually meant me when he said it (not his favourite toy or stuffed animal, but me, really!). His second and third words were Ball and Goal, respectively. About a month ago Kyle started calling me by my first name. It wasn’t just a simple Maya but usually, it was a very demanding, loud cry for help that sounded like MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYA!! And from then on, it was “Maya, Maya… Maya,…Maya, Maya, Maya…Maya!” 
Even though he never called me Ima, I still prefered Ma-Ma over Maya. I also didn’t know where he learned this from. John doesn’t really call me by my first name, so it didn’t make sense. I thought maybe he’s saying Ima backwards… it’s sort of like Maya, maybe, no?!?! It wasn’t until a few weeks later, when I was at my parents house, that I heard my dad call my name, and it sounded a lot like the way Kyle says it. And there it was, my son picked up my first name from my dad and he wouldn’t let it go. It was his new favourite word. It reminded me a lot of a family guy show:
I still continue to say Ima as my name to try to get Kyle to say it, but it’s of no use yet. Kyle has since learned to say Da-Da and a few days later he learned to say Co-Co (a bird’s name) and Bobba (aka Bobby, my brother’s dog). For everything else, he says “Ga”. I’m definitely enjoying seeing Kyle saying new words as each week goes by. The best was just last week when we told Kyle that we were going to watch Da-da play hockey and he immediately put up his hands and said “GOAL”. It really was the cutest thing ever.
I know there’s a stage when all kids call their parents by their first name, and maybe Kyle’s came early. I guess for now, I’ll take Maya over nothing. At least he said “Ma-Ma” before “Da-Da” 😉
Maya I LOVE the “family Guy” episode.. !!! Hilarious!
HAHA! it is a good one – and so true!
This Family Guy clip cracks me up EVERYTIME..lol!
My 2 year old frequently calls my husband by his first name after he has tried “Daddy!!!” a few times. Lol!
Gotta love their creativity and how they do things their way 🙂
it is pretty cute and it does get a good laugh out of everyone else!!
I also LOVE that family guy clip. So funny ’cause SOO true!
Agree! and love the fact that you insist on Hebrew .. our Maya also speaks and understands two languages funny enough she calls me mommy and she calls her daddy who is canadian ABA …. gotta love those kids!
So adorable! Maya, you rock for doing this!
tnx Deb 🙂
My children call me “sir”
What a cutie! I think it is awesome that you and your husband can give your son the gift of being bilingual. My son said mama first too…I did a victory dance 😉
Thanks. We also hope to put him in French immersion school once he’s in grade 1 (mostly since Hebrew isn’t really useful in Canada). Boys sure do love their mommies!!
What a gift! I am sure he will love it! I wish I could do that for our kids. My understanding of Spanish is good enough to get around with, but I’m afraid I would do her no favors in trying to speak it around the house.
No – I’ve read a book that said that you should def. speak to your kid with the few words that you do know, and if at all possible, look some up. It’s probably harder to do it if you don’t know a lot of words, but even if she picks up a word or two here, and it won’t confuse her. You never know! Think of how many kids learn a few spanish words just from Dora!!
Food for thought, thanks! I do read her books in Spanish, I am just not very quick at conversation. You’re right, it’s better than nothing!
My daughter started calling me ‘Nancy’ when she heard my husband call my name from downstairs once. She was about 2 at the time. And she still calls me ‘Nancy’ to be cute. (Most of the time it’s ‘mommy’ or ‘mom’). Now that she has discovered the Fancy Nancy series of children’s books, I get called ‘Nancy’ all the time because she thinks the books are about me! I prefer ‘mommy’, but I think it’s cute when she calls me by name. She sounds sooo grown up 😉
I also thought it was cute when Kyle calls me Maya, but now it’s “Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya… x 100000” and it’s driving me bananas. Mostly cause he only has 7 words, so he just says my name, with no follow-up. Lol I finally got it on video though. I’m sure I’ll look back and just laugh 🙂
what a stunning photo.
Thank-you. It was from a modeling photo-shoot. The photographer was nice enough to take a pic of the two of us together and send it to me 🙂
I enjoyed your post and couldn’t help thinking in a few years when he is a teenager, you will be missing this stage. because at least he is talking to you. lol
so true! It’s hard to see into the future at this point though, but I know I’ll look back and think the same thing 🙂