We Are Collective Pie

Our daughter has re-Christened my husband and me, no longer "Mama" and "Daddy," but both "Pie." I suppose we should have seen it coming, as I call him "Pookie Pie" and he calls me "Sweetie Pie."

I admire her syllabic economy, and note that she uses the interchangeable term for her collective parental units when she is being most rational and un-emotional: "Pie, what is that noise?" "Pie, where are we going?" "Pie, when are you going to turn off the computer and take me to the park?"

Of course, in the morning, after she wakes up alone in bed, she comes running into the living room to throw herself into my arms with a "Mama" sigh. And she hits her father's arms with torpedo speed after he comes home from work, screaming "Daddy home! Daddy home!" No gender-neutral term for the Biscuit when it comes to lovin'.