Naaathaaan?

Why is it that toddlers sometimes like to refer to their parents by their first names rather than Mommy or Daddy? James has gone through this phase a couple of times. It amazed me too, since he actually pronounced my name near perfectly, when other kids or foreigners (ha) usually butcher it.
I remember about a year ago (maybe?) I had James sitting on the naughty step for some reason or another. He was really upset and MAD that I was ignoring him, and then he melted and started crying. I went around the corner into the kitchen so he couldn't see me anymore, but he was still trying to get my attention and get me to look at him. "Mommy!" I heard. "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" ... and then, "MEREDITH!" I have to admit, even though my son was in tears and very upset, I was cracking up. Am I a bad mother? Ha.
Tonight we had our family photograph taken at our church for the directory, so the kids and I got dressed up and drove over to Saint Margaret Mary to meet up with Nathan. I'm not sure in the rush of things did I tell the kids that Daddy was going to meet us there. We pulled into the parking lot and parked the van... then James says, "Naaathaan?" in a whisper of disbelief. "Is that DADDY?" he said. "Ha HA ha ha ha HA!" He just laughed. Now why did he call him "Nathan" at first and not "Daddy". Silly, silly boy.
Kaitlyn has a new word, "stowie" for stories. Every night before bed Daddy or I will read her a few books. She has a glider chair in her room, and next to it is a TV tray that we have set up to hold her CD player and 5 books or so.
I've noticed that she favors some books over others, and to make sure of this I always try to add one that I know she's not as fond of into the mix. If she's interested, she'll sit there on my lap and be still. If she's NOT interested, and favors a different book, she'll lean over me to the table and say, "bear" or pick up another book instead. Right now I think her favorite book is "Put Me in the Zoo" and it's the one she refers to as 'bear'. She also really likes "The Little Train" by Lois Lenski (thanks Auntie Ana, you gave this to James). Story time is great with her!
James is throwing us for a loop recently with a later bedtime. We get him into bed at a decent time, but by the time he actually falls asleep, it's almost 10 pm. He always yells out, "Help" for some reason, which makes Nathan or I go up there to check on him. His reasons? Anything from having to go potty to, "my teeth are cold" or "I want socks so I can sleep with the covers off because the covers get bumps". Confused? Me too!