Friday, April 8, 2022

Baby Names

'The Beanster'.
And a friend.
We had a good friend, Peter.
Whose parents, when he was small, called him Petey-Pie.
He thought that was his name.
Petey-Pie.
On his first day of school, there was some heated discussion about what name he should respond to.
The teacher won.
And Peter, he became.
I thought Petey-Pie was a cute name.
I used it.
Often.
To the point where he regretted telling my husby and me the story.
Moving ahead . . .
We had given our first daughter a very nice name when she was born.
Caitlin Diane.
Very nice.
It suited her.
Until she started getting around.
Unlike most toddlers, who . . . toddle . . .
 . . . she hopped.
Everywhere she went.
My Husby began to call her ’Tigger-Pie’.
It suited her.
Thus, she became Caitlin ‘Tigger-Pie’ Tolley.
Until it was time to prepare her for her first day of school.
Remember Petey-Pie?
Those lessons would apply here.
We had been careful to make sure our little daughter knew her first name was ‘Caitlin’.
But we hadn’t realized that she now thought her middle name was ‘Tigger-Pie’.
Sigh.
For weeks, I tried to explain to her, “Caitlin Diane Tolley.”
To which she would respond.
Loudly.
“Not Diane! Tigger-Pie!”
Drat.
She finally figured it out.
Slowly.
Recently, I saw her little daughter, Erini (also know as ‘Rini-Bean’, or ‘Beanster’ for short) hopping across the room.
“Wow.” I said. “Beanster, you remind me of your mother!”
She laughed.
And then I realized what I had said.
Sigh.
Here we go again . . .

18 comments:

  1. If I ever have grandchildren, I'm not letting them get anywhere near you. Just sayin'....

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  2. My dad had a nickname for me, based on my initials. I loved it until someone used the name for dog food. :(

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  3. My middle brother spent the day in tears when his school convinced him that his name was Thomas and not the Tom he had always been called. To this day no-one calls him Thomas. Not if they expect an answer. And I don't use my full name because I associate it with being in trouble.

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    1. That's me! My full name was only used if the boom was about to be lowered...

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  4. So cute. We all have nicknames in my family. It gives children a sense of fun and belonging. I love the name Tigger-Pie!

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    1. Me, too! I love nicknames! Doesn't Tigger-Pie just conjure up a little, bouncing child?

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  5. Somehow the phrase "begin as you mean to go on" keeps coming to mind :D

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  6. Awww! We gave our children wear-well-in-the-wash-and-don't-fade names, and told them if they wanted crazy nicknames, to get them from their friends. All of them have thanked us.

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    1. Perfect description for good, solid names! Did their friends comply?

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  7. My dad called me Flossie from age three, but I always knew it wasn't my real name.

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  8. Oh what a lovely story. We always gave out kids nickmnames - a whole bunch actually - but from very young they were taught to tell their real name and address when asked, so it never was a problem.

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