The Name Game

Over Thanksgiving, Mia had taken to calling her paternal grandparents’ “Boppa.” (We referred to them as Grandma and Grandpa. Mia is not able to pronounce G yet.) She invented her own ASL sign, which was the sign for father except her thumb was on the side of her head instead of her forehead. It took us a while to realize that “Boppa” was not gender-specific, meaning either Grandma or Grandma.
We wondered what Mia would do when confronted with the question of what to call Donna’s parents. Again, we referred to them as Grandma and Grandpa. She called them both “Boppa,” though at times I thought I heard a slight variation, with grandma called “Bappa” and Grandpa called “Boppa.” We encouraged her to try “Nana” and “Papa”. Mia wasn’t having any of that, but after 5 days she suddenly called my mom “Gammy” just once. We were all delighted, but then when she said it again, it came out “Dammy.” I think my mom was just happy to be called something other than Boppa.
We noticed Mia made a lot of progress with her language during our visit. New people, places, things, and routines mean she hears new words, which she tries to emulate. She perfected (Aunts) Paula and Lisa, and later (cousin) Emily and (Uncle) Scott. She can approximate “baby Jesus” fairly well. She also has been saying a lot more 3-word phrases, many of them referring to herself in the 3rd person, like, “All done, Mia.” (Fans of Project Runway will remember a designer by the name of Suede who did the same. It is way cuter coming from her.)
And this last part I can't explain. A couple of days ago, Mia started using the sign for "Don't Like" while saying "Don't bite" and grinning devilishly.