My daughter just recently started using her first words. She can say a handful of words; Daddy Mom, ball, balloon, swing, and Grandpa to name a few. I will admit that her pronunciation of these words is less than stellar, but I know that with time more then a few people will be able to understand what she is saying. She will not always pronounce ball as baba and grandpa as pompa. This is where our dilemma begins.
The problem is not that pompa sounds a lot like pompous, although that should be a consideration in this debate.
I think we can all agree that Pompa is a very cute way of pronouncing grandpa, right? I shouldn’t be one of those moms who automatically thinks that you agree that my precious little one is just so cute in every way, but since my little one is just so cute in every way I am sure that you won’t mind the assumption. Anyway, back to pompa. Pompa is cute and it has the potential to be a very cute nickname for Monkey’s Grandpa’s.
BUT, just because Monkey currently pronounces grandpa as pompa should we all jump on the bandwagon and start calling her Grandpa’s Pompa’s instead of Grandpa? We don’t say baba instead of ball when we speak to her, but people seem to have a deep down desire to be nicknamed by those they love. Somehow by having a nickname, the named and the namer are somehow obviously closer, right? Well, I do not believe that my child is intentionally referring to her Grandfather’s as Pompa’s. I believe that she truly thinks she is pronouncing it grandpa so I don’t think that Pompa is a true nickname, so there!
Am I wrong for denying my father and my father-in-law the nickname they so desperately want? Probably.
Am I bent on getting my way because I think I am right? Usually.
Am I correctly interpreting my daughter in assuming (there I go assuming again) that she thinks she is saying Grandpa? Hopefully.
