Say my name, Say my name*

Here's a story of how I tried to get this little girl -

to say my name. Long ago I had given up on any child saying "Jessica", it's just too much for them, so I have come to accept "Ca" as an acceptable form of my name. In fact, my niece, Lauryn, is the one who started it. She couldn't say my name but she was eager to let me know I was her favorite so she called me "Ca"...but then she got confused and started to call Martha "Ca"...my own nickname was usurped!

Back on the east coast though, I'm 'Ca'. So I had been trying to get Ava to say my name for the longest time. She had a pretty good vocabulary on her too but "Ca" just didn't seem to be something she wanted to say. Her Uncle Matt (in VA) and I even had a little competition to see whose name she would say first. Despite the fact that I was over there more often - Matt won out. Matt....MA-AT. Of course he won!

Then one day I was telling her to say "Ca" like I had grown accustomed to do and she said, "Papa" (which is my dad...go figure). So I told her I would take it. The next day I said it again and I was expecting to hear "Papa" again but this time she said "Ca"! And people heard it! I almost dropped her I was so excited (no, I didn't actually almost drop her...but she could tell how excited I got and she thought it was great - positive reinforcement). I was so excited that after literal months of trying she had finally said my name.

...and then when she met Ryan, she said his name almost immediately...still trying to let that one go.

Anyway - I had a video where she says my name right at the end - but it doesn't seem to want to load. I will play around with it and post it later if I can, but no promises.