my gears are grinding

We're getting into the second week of Rio refusing to answer to anything but Mater. If you ask her to do anything and say "Rio" she'll promptly say, "I'm Mater. Call me Mater." This extends to play, the telephone, and most recently - the doctor's office. We had to have something checked out so:

nurse: Hi there! You're so pretty. What's your name?

rio: Rio. R.I.O. But call me 'Mater.'

me: Rio, c'mon.

rio: [looking back at nurse] Call me 'Mater' puleeeeease.

***

This directive is so consistent that Bear and I have actually started correcting ourselves when we let "Rio" slip ...

Yesterday I was on the phone trying to have an important conversation. I was sitting on the floor and desperately trying to keep her occupied by playing 'throw-guy-in-the-air-with-this-expensive-silk-scarf' and she wandered off. She climbed up on a big, puffy green chair. She was jumping around and all of the sudden she was 'whomp!' right on her face on the floor. Carpeted, but still.

me: Jeez Rio! Are you okay?

rio: [croaks] 'Mater.'

There is no doubting her dedication. I only hope this miraculously fades before we send her to the new school next week.....

9 comments:

Alice said...

HAAA. that made me laugh out loud. nicely done, rio. i mean mater :-)

Masked Mom said...

We went through this twice with Daughter-Only. And we never even knew where either name came from...the first was "Lisa" which is blessedly normal enough but we've never been sure where it came from because it wasn't from any book/movie she'd been exposed to or anyone in her group of friends. The second was weirder: Dr. Ashklomash Coco Peppermint--and you had to say the whole thing to get her to respond. Both episodes ended as mysteriously as they began. But Mater seems WAY more determined...;)

Cricket said...

Is she saying "Git 'er done," like Larry the Cable Guy?

karla said...

I had some crazy, wrong link for you til just a minute ago. I've been wondering where the hell you were, and I don't know why I had a bad link to you on my site. Glad to see you again! I corrected the link.

Tia*Pia said...

I think she corrected us about 6 times on the phone yesterday.. HILARIOUS. :)

Michael said...

Funny. I love how she was so Mater of fact about it.

Anonymous said...

Love it!!!Okay, when I was 4 for a full year I insisted that my entire family, and everyone I met call me "Rose Geronimo" in sympathy for the Indian Chief who I believed was treated unfairly. (I still dont know where the 'rose' came from). I was as fervent as your little miss Rio is about Mater, and I turned out okay. (I guess that's debatable).

:)(~~ said...

I have to admire Mater's perserverance. Does she also recite lines from the movie at random? My kids still do. :c)

My nephew informed his mom while riding in their car one day, as they drove past an old beat up Ford pickup, that he "JUST SAW MATER MOM!!!"

:)(~~ said...
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