Thoughts on Sweet Potato Muffins

If you haven't noticed by our blog title, our family has a thing for nicknames.  Pet names.  Terms of endearment.  Whatever you want to call it.  Our van is named "Miss Nancy" after our sweet little adopted grandma in Georgia.  (Makes the wild beast seem a little tamer.)  We affectionately refer to my dad as "Grandpa Bear."  And Miss Choobs just OWNS the place at our house.  

Our friend Amanda commented this past weekend that our nicknames have nothing to do with the person's name- no rhyming, nothing.  Just general randomness.  Well that got me thinking.  Where did we get all of this?

Let's start with Raleigh.  She was just the cutest little "Turtle" when she was born - that cute little neck she would s-t-r-e-t-c-h out with her GIANT cheeks on top.  SO CUTE.  So for awhile she was my little turtle.  And "Little Miss" and things like that.  One morning we were kneeling down for a family prayer (Dallas was voice), and he asked the Lord to bless "Crawley."  Now who the heck is Crawley??  Dallas explained that she was learning how to crawl at the time, and he was thinking about that in conjunction with her name, and it just came out that way.  "Crawley."  Poor girl, that name sort of stuck and evolved into all kinds of things, namely, "Krogs."  I think it started out as "Raleigh Kroggies" (sounds like a cereal) and took on others, such as "Krogzilla" and "Mrs. Krogsworth," depending on little Raleigh's temperament.  But as extinction follows evolution, so was the way with Raleigh's season of Krogginess.  Now she prefers to be called "Raleigh."  And we respect that, by golly, we do.

Then there's "The Critter."  Now, if you know Madeline, she is absolute sunshine and sweetness when she is well-rested.  But if you catch her on an off-day (as I would like to call it here), she is as stubborn and beastly as a . . . an . . . um . . . Critter.  A super cute one.  A little charmer, that one, especially when she was little.  Knows how to work a crowd.  Dallas also dubbed her "Miss Middle" when she was little, and it fits so well, she being the middle child and all.  Then there was that whole year when she was called "Miss Murfle" by our next door neighbor "Uncle Chris."  He still calls her that.  Because that's how nicknames are.  They just stick.

Like, I will never call "Pookie" her real name, Elizabeth, because she is NOT Elizabeth - she is Pookie!  Or as the girls used to call her: Pookchop.  And my cousin Jessica (who I think goes by "Jess" now, will always be "Jessi" to me.)  That's why when Madeline called her sister "Kensington" today, I looked around to see who she was talking about.  I mean, who's Kensington?  Usually it's just plain old Choobs.  WHAT IS A CHOOBS?  I don't know!  When she was little, Kensington sounded like a train: "choo-choo," right?  Weird noises coming out of a newborn must be repeated back to them.  And if your kid makes weird noises a lot, I guess you can just start calling them that, like I did.  It started out as "Choo Choo."  It really did.  And thus, the evolution began.  And that's why she doesn't know her own name - because anyone who is her TRUE friend addresses her in some variation of Chooberliciousness.

Speaking of true friends, do you call Dallas "Dallas" or "Dal"?  If you call him Dal, you are tight.  If you call him Dallas, he DOES still like you, but you need to spend more time together.  If you call him Dal, but you're not that tight, it's endearing - but a little awkward.  I call him "Dal" to his face and "Dallas" when I am referring to him.  Confusing, I know.  Imagine what it was like when we were dating and decided to take it to the next level- "Dal" was a little intimidating for me, ya know??

You may (or may not) find it interesting that Dallas and I LOVE pet names for our kids (and such), but NOT for each other.  A BIG no no.  I pretty much gag when I hear couples call each other "honey" or "babe."  It's like some sickeningly grotesque right of passage that couples go through, like, "Now everyone knows that we really have the hots for each other so I can publicly call you sappy names."  I remember when we were first married, Dallas tried to pull off a little bit of "sweetheart" business, and I had to call it off.  It was just too gross for me.  I remember explaining it something like, "You could call any girl 'Sweetheart', but I'm your wife, so just call me my NAME!"  That's the most endearing to me anyway.  So now "Sweetheart" and "Dear" are reserved exclusively for the moments when we are slightly perturbed with each other.  I think it works out rather nicely. 

Okay, I take that back a little.  We do call each other "Love."  But we call the girls that, too.  It is a generally nice thing to say to everyone.  Inside the family circle, of course.  

I know my brother Jess and his wife Dannii have had a thing going where they address each other in a new name every time they are together.  How about, "Little Pumpkin Knuckle," or something like that?  Isn't that fun?  I actually did that with a former boyfriend-alcaba of mine, and it was pretty entertaining.  More thought invested - that's what I like.  

Well,  that's enough about nicknames from me, my little dearies.  This little "Der Winsker Bean/Deaner Wiener Hot Dog/Rik-I-Mean-Dean" better head off to dreamland.  It is getting far too late to ramble much longer.

** This post is dedicated to Mr. Potato Head, Jester Bester, Davey Boy, and Dean-I-Mean-Rik.

XOXO  And of course, to you, Dal.  My sweet potato muffin.