Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

I made a little picture album for my DD so she learns who is who, and we go over names of family and friends

Anyways, when she gets to my mom, she'll call her "mama", my DH "dada" and me either: mom-o, dada, sometimes mommy, and many times nothing or a jibberish name

My mom always refers to herself as "Ammama" which is hard for even me to say! (It's what you call grandma in our culture in Indian). Anyways, I was like, can she call you grandma? Which she got REALLY annoyed (and said grandma sounds foreign to her) about and finally said fine. She is American-ized, but its like she wants to fight me on this. But of course, she saw DD yesterday and still referred to herself as "Ammama".

Should I just let it go? I figure DD will figure out what to call us all in her own way, but it is SLIGHTLY annoying that she refers to my mom as mama and dh as dada....and me, who is with her the MOST, I'm like this nameless person!

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

I don't think you are being petty- I would want mama reserved for me too- but maybe its more important to your mom that she call her something from your culture?

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

Yes that would annoy me, its way too close to mama and is gonna be confusing to you DD.

I think she should let her call her grandma, then maybe once your DD gets older (like 5 or 6) you can tell her grandma in indian means "amamma". When she is older she'll be able to say "mama" and "amamma" differently, but for now you mom should be fine w/grandma.

My mom is almost the same way which is really annoying. Grandma in my language is "taeta". Everytime I visit I tell me DD (6 months) "say hit to teata" and my mom gets so pis*ed. She said taeta means she is an old lady. OK fine then, grandma... she i slike no no, that makes me old... GUESS WHAT you are old. LOL. My kid is gonna grow up calling her teata and grandma whether she likes it or not.

Guess what she would rather my DD call her? Mimi, its her "nickname" I said absolutely not.

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

I'd find it annoying but yeah, she'll figure it out later.

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

it IS annoying, but I think you are being a little...sensitive, if not petty.

I called my grandma mommyna for the longest time. I got over it.

but as you may have read, I am dada.

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

I would totally think it is annoying. However, your DD will eventually get it.

Both my mom and MIL want DS to call them grandma in another language. DS pronounces it wrong but tries. He'll eventually get it, too.

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

She might be Americanized but maybe this is just really important to her? I call my DD mama, MIL calls DH mama, DS and DD call me mama... I'm cool with everyone being mama, because my kids know who tucks them in at night

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

I think you're being petty but it could be just that I've had a longer way to look back on it.

I could see how even with being Americanized, she'd want to be called a name that - to her - invokes the same warm feeling she has over her Ammama.

You will always be the mom. No name trumps that feeling. Ever.

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

Thanks for the responses everyone, I will bite my tongue and try not to let it get under my skin. I'm sure I'll look back in a few years and think "small potatoes"

Thank you

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

I think in time it will all work out ok and your DD will definitly develop her own names for everyone.

I had a similar issue with my DDs trying to call their Indian grandma Amache, which was shortened to Amma, which then sounded like ma- ma. And then I found out Amma means mom and was even more annoyed! LOL It all bothered me for a bit but DDs learned to say amma and they def know who is mama/mommy now!

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

we always referred to my mom as 'grandma'. When Ella started talking, she named her 'moma'.

Moma and Mama are VERY close, and it confuses some people, but I don't mind. I think its cute that Ella came up with her own nickname for my mom.

I would focus on getting her to call you mama/mommy, and let your mom have her name. She's not doing it to be mean/difficult - its something she's taken from her culture/history.

Re: Am I being petty or would this annoy you too?

I think it is nice that she has that piece of her culture. She probably doesn't have a name for you because she is with you all the time...she hears you refer to them by a name and learns the names. Consider it a compliment, you are her best teacher! Plus, once they learn to call you a name they say it over and over while whining!