8 Things I Do Since I Became a Mother

I had intended to keep everything the same once I had children. And I tried, but it has miserably failed.

1. Calling yourself mama
My parents became father and mother in the free seventies, so they preferred their own name over papa or mama. My brother and I would then ask my father half crying: ‘But you are our papa, right?’ ‘And that's exactly why you call me by my first name,’ said my father. Because I feel that if my daughters call me by my first name, it seems like I am the second wife of their father, I really prefer ‘mama’.

2. Talking about yourself in the third person
Like: ‘Mama is going grocery shopping now and then cooking. Or drinking wine.’ Okay, I have thankfully passed that station again (not the one with the wine, but the one with ‘mama this’ and ‘mama that’), because this is really off the charts annoying.

3. Referring to your partner as ‘papa’
But yes, point 2 applies here as well. When I say: ‘Just give it to Ewart’, it feels like he doesn't really belong to our family. So I plead guilty: I call him papa. But not directly, mind you. Jamais, mai, never.

4. Saying this sentence
‘If they are happy, I am too.’ Red spots, rising acid, everything. But I do say it. Because it is true.

5. Cooking extra and then freezing it
Convenience serves humanity and I can also enjoy finding small portions of fresh bolognese sauce. Okay, I must say that usually it is not me, but the father (or my guide) who does this, while I sit next to him for a chat with wine. Thank goodness for a little rock ’n roll.

6. The trampoline in the front yard
Blessed are the days when your children outgrow that trampoline. I have finally checked this box. Adieu trampoline and bye bye inflatable pool.

7. Diminutives all over the place
Broodje, bedje, stoeltje, pakje… I understand it all quite well from myself, but I also understand that people without children look at it in wonder.

8. Humming children's songs
Nijntje, the tune of Pippi Longstocking, the theme music of Zappelin… Forgive us mothers, but it is ultimately all just a phase.