The 'M' word.

My name is not 'Mama'. But I'm thinking of getting it legally changed to 'Mama', since it's the name I go by these days in this house.

It is the very first thing I hear in the morning. 'Mamaaaaa!' my daughter will wail, followed by all the different variations: 'Mama!', 'Mama?' and 'Mamaa-aaaaa-aaa.' My son Bram prefers to use his own version: 'Ma-ma-ma-mah-huh-huh-huh'. I can't help but answer, since 'Mama' is my name, no matter how you pronounce it, which is my identity, which is a pretty important thing, especially if you're a kid.

I accept and embrace 'Mama' as my name, which is probably why I love the term: mamapreneur. It's a delightful combination of the two identities that I am trying to combine in real life. I am finding out, though, that running a business and being a mom are two really completely incompatible things that are extremely difficult to combine, even if you are Martha Stewart. If I were to make a list of thirty priorities, I might manage to get three of them done on a good day. On a not so good day, I can't even manage to make the list.

Even as I write this, my son Bram is using me as a jungle-gym, which I am utterly ok with, but since he's using my right arm for leverage, it makes typing without mistakes a little difficult. Now, he seems to have turned his attention to a marker on the bureau behind me, with which he could potentially scribble all over the walls of the house if I don't take action immediately. And yet I am still writing... sometimes it's just more important to get my thoughts down than cleaning scribbles. It's now suspiciously quiet, so I am going to look around to see what he's up to... It was not a marker he'd gotten his hands on, it was my digital camera. Accompanied by quite a few  'Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!''s, I have just managed to separate him from the camera and distract him with blocks. But for how long...?

My daughter Mia has a different tactic. She has her regular spot in the nook of the couch from where she uses as many varieties of the 'M' word as possible to get my attention. Mia's main goal is to move as little as possible once she's situated in her spot, so she needs her personnel to do her will, a.k.a, 'mama'.

As I write this, Mia is quiet. I am a little surprised, since a few minutes ago, during the camera incident with Bram, she was calling my name repeatedly, and even using a few new varieties I'd never heard before ('Maaaa-ma-ha-ha-ha' and 'Mammmmmaaaaaa'). I guess she was just crying wolf (who, incidently, might as well change his name to 'Mama' too if he lived here).

But after an entire day of being called 'Mama' in every frequency, decibel and volume level possible, bedtime comes around. 'Mama' is the last thing I hear when I kiss my little diva goodnight. 'Mama...' she whispers. Hmm. You know, it does have a nice ring to it...