Mama mia, here I go again...

For the record, Sofia's first word was "dadda."
Really, it was.
But "mama" has made up for being second. And how.
She's been using "mama" a lot lately, and not by accident. It's adorable. She has a soft little voice, very cute, though she also has a good set of pipes -- gee, where'd she get those?
She knows it means a person. She also knows it means food.
And she has learned how to use it as a weapon. When it's bed time and she doesn't want to go down, she fires off a mama volley. Plaintive, emotional, "get back here and pick me up and hug me" mamas.
The other day, while visiting our friends Kate and Carl in NH, Sofia wanted to play with the computer mouse. When it was taken from her, she cried out "maaaaaaaaaa!" It was funny. Loving your baby means that even when she is disagreeable, even outraged, it's cute. Even adorable. At least for now.
Back on the mama train: This morning, before breakfast, she kept saying it to me. Which tells me she equates the word with food.
"Daddy," I repeat. "Daddy."
"Mama," she replies.
Daddy.
"Mama."
Daddy.
"Mama mama mama."
Yes, Sofia. Mama.

Mama?

The little manipulator strikes again. She has learned a very powerful word.

"Mama!"

She said it last night when I took something away from her she wanted and she said it this morning as I was leaving for work. Way to make me feel like the worst mommy on the planet, Sofia!

I must learn to toughen my heart to that pitiful "mama" cry. She rules me already, she doesn't need to know that she can crumble me with one word.

And so it begins...