Blog

   

Offspring: Baby and the Beast

Do you think it’s confusing to babies who are just learning their names when parents call them by pretty much anything other than their real names? I ask because we are totally guilty of this, and I’m thinking we can’t be the only ones. Last night I had a random moment of questioning how this poor kid is ever going to figure out her real name.

We have several ‘pet names’ for Vera. Usually it’s ‘V’ or ‘Squeak’ (short for pip-squeak), and occasionally random ones like ‘Pumpkin-butt’. We also sometimes call her ‘Deara’ because of a run-in my brother and I had with a stranger at Goodwill. It went something like this:

[quote]”Oh she’s so cute! What’s her name?” -Stranger
“Thank you. Her name is Vera.” – Me
“Oh hello, Deara!” -Stranger[/quote]

Then my brother and I tried really hard not to laugh until Stranger was out of earshot.

Probably the best/worst name we call her though is ‘Beast’ which we use a lot. Admittedly it may not be the most flattering name for a baby girl, and as soon as she’s old enough she’ll most likely demand we stop.

I think it got started one day when I was on maternity leave and told Brett that she’d been kind of a beast that particular day. Then it became a daily question, as in “is she being a beast today?” and somehow transformed to “how was Beast today?” and now we often just call her Beast in general conversation. I like to think of it as one of those humorous nicknames along the lines of calling a 300 lb linebacker “Tiny”. Maybe she’ll let me keep calling her that if I explain the concept of irony?

Anyway, that’s our usual vocab. Hopefully it doesn’t screw her up too much.

What do you call your kids? Nicknames are fun.

-Dawn

7 Comments

  • Linds Thomas

    We call Payton – monkey, chunky monkey, monkey butt, honey bunny, sweetie pie, sugar, sweet P of course and a million more. Deara? Goodness gracious!!

    Reply
    • Dawn Sailors

      Lindsay, I have to admit your FB post on Payton’s nicknames a few weeks ago actually inspired this post! Got me thinking about all the things we call V. Haha. I love the name Sweet P. Too cute.

      Reply
  • Jen

    I have a zillion names for my girls.  It’s never the same for long…  Toots, Tootie Pants, Bootie, Ev, Lamby, Rachie- I could go on and on.  I’m not sure what I’ll call Vera, I’ll be sure to let you know!

    Reply
  • Lindsey

    My son had lots of pet names…one that has stuck is Goose and I dont know where it came from.  Now he is 3 and he has decided that he doesnt like his given name (Ryder) so he wants us to call him Firefighter Spiderman or Pirate Captain Awesome.  Its quite annoying and I can’t wait til he decides to be Ryder again.

    Reply
    • Dawn Sailors

      Oh my. Pirate Captain Awesome is quite the nickname. You should totally go with that one! Lol

      Reply
  • stephanieharrand

    Also guilty of this! I call my girl Little Bean, Baby Bean, Buger Butt, and sometimes Hey You

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Lindsey Cancel reply