A Letter to My Daughter

My blessings: Jacob, Alana & Alex

Dearest Daughter,

Miss Alana.  My sweet, God-sent daughter.  You came into this world at 27 weeks.

Alana Celeste @ 6 days old. 

You overcame obstacles that come with being an early premie - and you've caught up in most ways.

Alana @ 20 months

Your first words were "Baba" (bottle), "Butt-ah" (belly button), "Butt" (yeah, the toosh), and you love saying "Tickle-Tickle-Tickle" (never to be broken down into a single "Tickle").  You have tried to say "brother" and "box".  Alex swears you've said his name once. (Though I think it was baby babble molded to his liking, but who's to argue?)

Alex (6 yrs) & Alana

You have been going up and down stairs, feeding yourself and battling your brothers over toys for months.

Jacob (3 yrs) & Alana

Heck, you even have used the potty a few times!  So please, sweet honey, please tell me one thing: Why won't you attempt to say "Mommy", "Mama" or anything resembling it?  You won't even attempt "Da-da".  Today we sat for some time - me repeating various forms of mommy for you, then stretching out your three-syllable name - hoping you would give me a simple "mm" or "ah" sound.  Nope. You giggled.  You played honk-honk and beep-beep with my poor nose.  Then you demanded I tickle you with "Tickle-Tickle-Tickle".  It was (as Jacob would say) SUPER fun.

But, alas, enough is enough toots!  I'm growing impatient... you need one more word in your limited vocabulary, and I'm giving you options:

1. Mom
2. Mommy
3. Ma
4. Mama

See, I'm being reasonable.  Choose one of those and lets move forward.  It's not picking your University.  It's not deciding between chocolate or salty snacks.  It's much more simple than that.  It's just... well, my name.

Miss Alana. My sweet, God-sent daughter.  I love you more than the moon, the stars and the sun in the sky.  If you could do this one simple thing for me, it would mean so much.  But if you need more time to decide, I understand.  Just know I'm waiting (im)patiently.  

Love Always,

Mom/Mommy/Ma/Mama