How Baby

???? don’t ???? call ???? me ???? mom ????
???? unless ???? I ???? can ???? claim ???? you ????
???? as ???? a ???? dependant ???? on ???? my ???? taxes ????

I have a visceral NOPE reaction to anyone but Momo calling me mom, and I have since being pregnant. Same goes double for ‘mama’. Just, nope! No, thank you! I’m not your mom! Just because I’ve had a kid doesn’t make me Mom – calling me that is reserved for the person who does make me a mom, every day.

I’m still lowkey miffed over how postpartum people are treated, I guess. I still resent the idea that everything a person is before giving birth gets condensed into this one thing, then that thing gets regularly ignored, belittled, and overworked – but it’s okay, they’re a mom, that’s what being a mom is.

I struggled with accepting the mantle of motherhood, and I came out the other side, and when Momo calls me mom, it feels like that’s a thing that I have earned. To her, I am just her mom, and the fullness of who I am as a person will come to her in time, and that’s okay. That’s how it should be.

…but everyone else? Ugh. Everyone else should know better! Call me a mom, sure, but just mom isn’t gonna work for me. I ain’t your mom!