DEAR ABBY: After nine years of marriage, my husband, "Brett," and I welcomed our first child 10 months ago. We are happy except for a problem with Brett's mother, "Carol."
Carol and I have had a rocky relationship, although in recent years things seem to have gotten better. My complaint (and Brett's as well) with Carol is that she is intrusive. She always wants to be in the middle of everything and won't ease up on "mothering" Brett. Furthermore, Carol has decided our child should call her "Grandmommy" or "Mommy Smith."
I object to that name because I feel "Mommy" is the one name reserved for me. I don't mind "Grandma," "Grandmother" or "Granny." But Carol won't back down. We tried coming up with another name, but she has ignored our suggestions.
Am I being unreasonable? Please advise. -- THE ONLY MOMMY HERE
DEAR ONLY MOMMY: You and Brett need to calm down. Your child won't be doing a lot of talking for a while. And when your baby does, he or she isn't going to be calling Carol by any multisyllabic appellations. Your child will probably call her a name that's easy to pronounce and entirely original.