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Kids/Parenting

Pretty girl

I have a habit of referring to my children by nicknames. A lot of nicknames. I used over 50 nicknames for Hayden in his first year. When Hayden first started saying his name, he said it “Haydie.” He’s only recently begun calling himself “Hayden.”

(Break here: he has a friend named Sadie. They were playing last week. When Sadie left, Hayden looked around and asked “Werse (where’s) Sayden?” Nice analogous learning, boy!)

There’s one nickname for Rebecca that I feel a twinge of guilt for using: “pretty girl.” Aside from the fact that this sounds like a form of address for a pet, calling my daughter pretty girl incites all kinds of crazy fears in me.

What if she becomes stuck up or haughty about her appearance?
What if she has no self-esteem about her appearance?
What if she infers that she has nothing else to offer?
What if she never hears her mother call her pretty?
What if none of this really matters?

I’m probably reading too much into a nickname that comes pretty much naturally to me.

Do you have any nicknames that you keep calling your kids, but you don’t really want to?

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Kids/Parenting

The hunt for the perfect name

When we were expecting Hayden, Ryan wanted to wait until Hayden was born before we fully decided on a name to make sure it fit him. But since we didn’t have any other boy names we’d chosen (we’re saving Benjamin for our next son), nothing else seemed more appropriate than Hayden.

We also have girls’ names picked out: Rebecca and Rachel. Ryan has apparently recovered from his earlier reservation, since he’s already okay with calling this baby Rebecca. Meanwhile, I’m still getting used to calling her ‘her.’

But with Hayden we had a pretty obvious middle name choice. With Rebecca, we’re a little stuck on her middle name. Any thoughts?

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Kids/Parenting

Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina… or Hayden?

A few weeks ago, Ryan and I became concerned that Hayden doesn’t know his name. It could be that he doesn’t respond because he’s far more interested in whatever he’s playing with. Or it could be that we often call him by pet and nicknames.

The giant list of things we call Hayden other than his name (I came up with 51. Obviously some of them are circumstantial. (Note a young Hayden’s blank stare.)

  • baby
  • big boy
  • boo
  • booka
  • booky
  • bug
  • bugga
  • buggle
  • crawlin’ guy
  • grump pot
  • Hayden Rossy
  • Haydie
  • Haydie baby
  • little bug
  • little guy
  • little man
  • little mister
  • little one
  • love bug
  • misser
  • mister
  • mister boo
  • nakers
  • nakey
  • nakey boy
  • nursey boy
  • pee
  • peeka
  • poo
  • pooka
  • pookely
  • pookelypookelypoo
  • pooker
  • pookiepookiepoo
  • pooky
  • pooper
  • poopie
  • punkin
  • punkin head
  • punky
  • small one
  • standin’ up guy
  • stink pot
  • stinker
  • stinker bug
  • stinker pot
  • stinky
  • super duper pooper
  • sweet baby
  • sweetie
  • sweetie pea

No wonder the kid’s confused!

(“Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina” is a line from the Monkees song, “Zilch.”)