I have a general rule of thumb for myself with the blog. When I realize that I’ve been thinking about something for more than a few days, I conclude it is blogging material.

I mean – if I’m chewing on something for so long and it’s keeping my attention – then surely you will too, right? Right.

So here goes.

A few weeks ago, my nanny mentioned that her friend, who is also a nanny, was in trouble with her employer. Let’s call her Nanny X. She watches Baby J during the day.

Seems that Baby J has taken to referring to the Nanny as Mommy X. That’s right, calling the nanny “Mommy” followed by the Nanny’s name. Now I don’t know about you but that would set me OFF if I caught my daughter referring to our nanny as “Mommy X.”

I mean – it’s tough enough to leave the house on the mornings where it feels like she likes the nanny more than me – but that would put me over the deep end.

A friend of mine once joked that we all needed to back away from our HR Offices one morning – a few of us were having trouble juggling motherhood and working and were probably threatening to quit……and I can say with certainty that I would need to be told to back away from my HR dept if I heard my daughter referring to our Nanny as “Mommy X.”

Wouldn’t you?

So, my nanny and I discussed this situation. She went on to point out that her friend doesn’t tell the boy to call her Mommy X. In fact, apparently the nanny corrects him and reminds him just of her name when he does so, but he is just over 2 and well, he says what he wants.

Or how he feels, according to my nanny.

She then went on to just say that the nanny spends more time with Baby J than anyone else and like in other situations she has seen, Baby J has gotten so attached to the nanny that it feels natural for the child to refer to her as Mommy X.

See, KT over here, I’m not buying a ticket on that bus. I’m not replaceable, I am the only Mommy and I’m the one that brought the child into the world, nurses her to health at 3am and provides for her at every premier-pharmacy.com turn. I am the mommy and am not sharing that title with ANYONE.

I’m pretty sure the mother of this little boy felt the same way because this Nanny was in the DOG HOUSE.

I pushed my nanny on it a bit more, asking her if it would bother her if her kids referred to someone else as “Mommy,” to which she replied “No.”

Again, surprised. Was she just more comfortable in her role as a mother than me? Was she just more confident than me? I wondered.

So off I went, for a few days, and thought about it. I thought about how many hours my daughter spends with the nanny, I thought about how many hours she spends with me, I might have been spotted loitering outside the HR department of my office a few times, just sort of lurking in the shadows cast off by the cubicles.

But I also thought about something my nanny said and something my friends and I have said, mainly in regards to our in-laws.

First what KT’s friends say. We believe “you get what you give” – you give a lot, you get a lot. You don’t give much, well then, you don’t get much.

The nanny’s believe that as well because they also work in households where the parents just aren’t around as much, where the nanny is tending to the child from early morning until bed time. They might even be the one that is there when the child is sick. So for them, to be called “mommy” is just a natural extension of what they are doing. They don’t encourage it but they can see why it’s happening.

A few more days passed and then I went to a birthday party…..and noticed that there were NANNIES present at the birthday party.

Which was held on a Saturday.

Naturally I was busily judging those mothers and wondering why in the hell they needed to drag their nanny out on a Saturday to attend a child’s birthday party with them? I mean – for real?

That following Monday, I made a comment in passing to my Nanny about this and she looked at me, smiled, and said “Now you know why the little boy calls my friend Mommy.”

For once, I was pretty much speechless. Because – is she right?

I mean, you get what you give. Don’t you?

By now, we’re all quite familiar with the Manny. Most would argue that white trash Britney was the first to have a manny, what with last summer’s manny heart throb, fresh from the naval academy. Who knows, perhaps he inspired Vin Diesel’s character in “The Pacifier.”

But wasn’t Tony Danza really one of the first manny’s in this country? I think we all remember his classic role in “Who’s the Boss?” And if you don’t, then you’re probably not old enough to drink and you’re definitely not old enough to be reading this blog.

Ahh yes, lovable goofy Tony Danza, here’s the beginning of his role as the manny of the house, its TV writing and comedy at its best:

 Tony: I’m Tony Micelli. I’m here about the job.
Angela: Oh, I’m sorry. There must be a mistake. This job is for a housekeeper.
Tony: That’s me, Mr. Goodmop!
Angela: Well, my mother’s screening everyone. Did you meet her?
Tony: Yeah yesterday. She gave me the once over, kicked me in the tires, put me up on the rack…
Angela: Well, she should’ve checked under your hood, ’cause you’re the wrong sex.
Tony: Oh, wait a minute; she said that wouldn’t be any problem.
Angela: My mother didn’t think World War II was a problem.

Indeed kids. We probably thought that was really funny at the time. I mean, Mr. Goodmop! What the hell does that mean?

But now, apparently manny’s are such a phenomenon that, of course, someone’s written a book titled……wait for it……

“The Manny”: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=3293877&page=1

Brilliant, I know.

And so, while having Mary Poppins was so 1970s, Mr. Mom was so 1980s, regular old foreign nannies is so 2000, apparently having a MANNY is so 2007.

SO I got to thinking, what might be the pros of having a manny?

Well, there’s the obvious eye candy for the pro category. I mean, one dear KT friend suggested a while ago that the very attractive Casanova young Latin intern in my office this summer might make for good manny material.

And right she is. Mamacita! He’s easy on the eyes, sweet natured, charismatic, why wouldn’t I, and my darling daughter, of course, want him around the house? And the brilliant thing is, darling husband leaves in the morning before our current female nanny arrives and well, he’s never home in the evening when she leaves. SO darling husband could go months before even knowing that pleasant older female nanny has been replaced with doe-eyed 18 year old Latin Casanova….

But then there’s the other thing to consider. See, avid KT fans (and there are thousands of you) know by now that there are days when I despise my nanny.

Why? You ask.

Because my kid likes her, of course! Why else!

But seriously – the relationship between mom and nanny is fraught with issues. Jealousy, competitiveness, contention. It ain’t an easy path to navigate all the time, after-all, this woman is spending the entire day with your beautiful cherub…and if she’s worth her salt, your beautiful cherub grows to love her too.

And every woman wonders, is there enough love in beautiful cherub’s heart for the both of you?

Of course there is – so long as she loves mommy more and never shows any inclination otherwise. Which naturally all toddlers demonstrate very clearly on a regular basis.

But now – would this be the case if you had a MANNY? Would the same mother-nanny dynamics exist as what exists between two grown women?

I don’t think so. I think it would be a very different dynamic, as sad as that is to admit.

And we all know, when mama’s happy, everyone is happy.

So – was Britney really onto something, back for one brief second when she still had a brain cell? Is the Manny the way to go?