So here is a little tidbit about me, I am not a big name user. If we are out in public and I need to get your attention, I will say your name. But if we are at home or already near each other, I will either just look at you and talk to you or use a “pet” name to get your attention. For example, I call MJ sweetheart. My dad calls me “darling” unless he is upset with me then I get my proper name. Because of this, when people use my name when we are already in each other’s company, I feel like I am in trouble or they are mad at me. It always puts me on edge when MJ says my name from the kitchen when I am at the kitchen table. I immediately think “oh oh, something’s wrong”. Proper names just seem so …. I don’t know … formal.
So when it comes to Maggie, I realize I never use her name when I talk to her. Instead, out of who knows where, I have concocted a barrage of nicknames for her. First it was Pooh Bear which I shortened to just Pooh – which when spoken sounds like I am calling my daughter feces. At night, Maggie gets really crabby so I started calling her crab cake in the evenings. Then appeared Captain Pants??? Yes you read that right – Captain Pants. We even do the “pants dance” when she gets a diaper change. I have no idea where I got this name nor does it make any sense. What is worse is I am now just calling her captain. So last night the nicknames degraded even further – I started calling her snoodle. Snoodle isn’t even a word!?!
I realized that I have a history of this. For example, my bunny’s name was J.J. which stood for jumping jillikers. (Pronounced jill-a-kers). Then I called J.J. Jeeger Peeger. Then it became just Peeger. And finally is was just Peeg (like peach only with a J at the end.) Zia has become pocket rocket or just pocket for short. Odin Ranger – now just Oat. And Marley we call Jonesy. Apparently no person or animal is safe.
I am starting to fear for my daughter’s development. How will she ever recognize her name when I am calling her Captain and Crab Cake? I mean sure it’s cute and the Pants Dance could qualify for being on some kids show, but I don’t want my kid unable to respond to her own name or some teacher saying “Magdalynn – I will not call you Captain in my class.”
‘sigh’ I guess I will just have to do it and start calling Maggie …. well …. Maggie.
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LOL I was the opposite with my boys... I named them Samuel and Andrew. It drove me crazy when Samuel wanted to be called Sam, and Andrew wanted to be called Andy. Still today it is extremly hard for me even to type their own nick names. BUTTTTTT for my Taylor, hehehehe, I call her Tater Tot. My mom cant stand it but I just love it. Have fun with her, but do use her real name once in a while.
ReplyDeleteOur family can totally relate-the only person in my house called by hi name is my son. The dogs name is Cooper, which turned into Coop, then Coop a loop, then a lovely dovely, then a dove, dover, lover from heaven, etc. My cat's name is Oscar but somewhere along the was we started calling him Tuna, then Tuna fish, now its just fish, and our other cat is Fergie, and we call her Bebe...DW and I call each other Love, and I only hear my name in public if she is screaming for me through Target or if we have family over and she needs to get my attention-I THINK ITS TOTALLY NORMAL, but what do I know!
ReplyDeleteSame here! Lots of different names for all of us...keep the chronicle going; its fun to watch the names evolve, or regress, I guess! :-)
ReplyDeleteNo worries :) Ally has a million nicknames (including Ally, since her name is actually Allyson). And she knows who she is. She even says it now which is so fun. Though half the time we still call her green bean, munchkin, sweetie, bug, pumpkin, etc.
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