I chose Ya Ya for my "Cute Grandmother Name" for just those reasons. And I believe that when Parker Ann was most likely only a day old, I began whispering it in her ear..."Ya Ya, Ya Ya, Ya Ya...telling her that I was going to be her "favorite" and I KNEW she was going to say my name first. Well, needless to say, she did NOT say MY name first; she even said Robby's "Cute Pa-Paw Name" (Poppi) before mine (sigh...). Maybe my name wasn't that easy to say after all.
One day several months back, I heard her finally say it! "Ya Ya, Ya Ya, Ya Ya"; YEP! she said it the same way I had been repeating it to her over and over. That was OK; she was at least saying it now. But I wasn't really sure that she knew who went with that name...until just recently. It seemed like all of a sudden words just came flooding out of our Baby Girl's mouth. She was putting names with faces and pointing people out. It is truly unbelievable how quickly a child can learn to talk.
I KNEW that she knew Ya Ya went with my face whenever she started saying my name when she saw me and OH, the thrill the sound of that coming out of her mouth gave me. Robby and I were in a store the other day and he took her off in her stroller while I lingered behind looking at something. Then suddenly I heard this little voice somewhere saying, "Ya Ya...Ya Ya". She was looking for me; wondering where I was (BIG smile on my face here...).
Recently, Parker has begun to put words together. She runs over to where I'm standing and holds onto my legs and as she tugs she says, "Hold, Ya Ya, Hold". OK now, how could anyone NOT pick her up?! She know this too... I can tell. So, of course, I pick up her and tell her to give me a kiss and a hug and she does (smiling BIG again here...).
Whether it is Mam-Maw, Mimi, Granny or Ya Ya, just know this one thing...Those words sound better than anything else in the world when it finally comes out of THEIR mouth!
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