Nicknames

The other day I had raised my voice a bit to communicate something to Jeff and Sam.  I wasn't yelling or upset with them.  Nope, not one bit.  Jeff and Sam were in the other room and I had something quick to tell them.

I don't even remember what I was trying to say.  I guess I wasn't very clear and they couldn't hear me well.  Jeff replies back with; "What did you just call us?  Speedy and Cueball?"

As soon as he said this, we all busted out laughing.  Jeff and Sam sincerely thought I had just called them "Speedy" and "Cueball".   We must've laughed for a good solid 15 minutes.  Actually, as I am writing this now, almost 6 days later, I am still laughing hysterically.

The irony is, this would be the most PERFECT nickname for Jeff.  Not only does he have no hair on his head; he loves to play pool!  And the name "Cueball" gives him a bit of a bad boy edge to him.  Which as we all know, Jeff could use a little toughening up on his image.  He is anything but a bad boy. 

As for Sam, I can think of many nicknames better suited for her.  "Speedy" is ok, but my preference would be "The Loud One" or "Firecracker".

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

For some time now, Ian has taken it upon himself to give everyone in our house a nickname. There is "Sammers" (Sam), "Bails" (Bailey), and "Pooh-Bear" (Jeff).

I am most impressed with the consistency and frequency at which he uses these names. Ian refers to himself as "Tigger" and pretty much got most teachers and other kids to call him this too. It's always a trip when you take him to school and other activities and the leader has to call him Tigger to get him to respond. Or when we go through airport security and the agent from TSA will ask him what his name is to make sure it matches to the boarding pass. The agent gets a good chuckle out of it when Ian answers matter-of-factly, "Tigger". So far we haven't been told we can't proceed through the security screening. Thank God!

So if Ian is Tigger, then Jeff must be Pooh. For close to a year now he started calling Jeff "pooh-bear". At first Jeff resisted and would keep saying, "Ian, my name is daddy." But Ian was persistent and now Jeff doesn't even correct him anymore and will answer to any version of "pooh-bear". There is "Pooh-beary", "Pooh-daddy" and "Big Pooh-bear".

Before you knew it, Ian gave everyone else in the house a nickname too. Everyone that is but me. The closest thing I get to being called something other than "mommy" or "mama" is "Robyn". Ian will threw in references to me when talking to Jeff or Aunt Lori and say, "Is Robyn coming with us?" Or, "Where did Robyn go?" It is always a little shocking at first to hear your four year old ask for you by your real, grown-up name.

Ian's new names for us must be catching. I heard Jeff call for the dog the other day and yell "Bails". "Bails" came running.