Reason #1: My parents do not know how to delay gratification.
Once we found out we were having a boy, my sweet mom wanted to know what his name was going to be. I told her the name we were thinking about, but with the caveat that we weren't 100% sure it would stick, so don't rush out and start getting things monogrammed.
(Note: Boy names were really difficult for us. It's not that our tastes were dramatically different, with me wanting Fitzwilliam/Thornton/Wentworth and GH preferring Lennon/McFly/Anyone from LOST. We just had a hard time coming up with something that we both felt enthusiastic about.)
My sister Jenny had names picked out for her kids before they were born and she would use those names while talking about said in-utero babies. So my family got pretty comfortable referring to The Precii by name well before they were born. But for some reason, it has felt awkward for GH and me to do the same thing. Even though we found a name we feel pretty good about, we don't actually use it when discussing the child. He's just "the baby" or "the child" or "crazy alien creature that won't stop moving." And, in my super-sensitive-pregnantness, I just Could. Not. Let. It. Go. when other people tried to pin us down.
My mom: "So, is it for sure going to be Baby -----, then?"
Me: "MOM. I don't know. Maybe. GOSH. Stop pressuring me! And don't be telling your friends that we've picked a name because I could totally end up changing it. You're not the boss of my baby's name, you know!!"
(Aren't I a delightful conversation partner?)
Mom, pleading: "Oh, but I just want something to call him! What do you call him?"
Me: "We call him The Baby."
Mom: " . . . huh."
Me: [Snarling sounds.]
Later on into things I did tell her that she could go ahead and call him "Baby ----" if she wants, just not to be mad at me if I end up changing it to something else. But by then the damage was done, as evidenced by this phone conversation with my parents.
Mom: Your dad wants to know how little "He Who Must Not Be Named" is doing.
Me: Um, did Dad just call my baby Voldemort?
Mom: [gasp] What? NO! That's terrible!
Me: Pretty sure he did. And The Dark Lord is doing just fine, thanks.
Mom: Y'all are sick people. I don't know where you come up with this stuff.
Reason #2: It is karma.
It is karma for that one time (or maybe more than once) when I used the word of Smeagol in connection to a face that little baby Savannah made as a newborn. And then how maybe I called her "My Precious" before we meant it in a strictly adoring-of-her-very-real-preciousness sense.
Jenny has been waiting for payback, and now it is here. She did promise though that if the child is born with just slits instead of a real nose then she will refrain, because she is nice like that.
When I gave GH the heads-up about our child's probable nickname, he shrugged and pointed out that while it's a very rude, awful thing to call a baby girl Smeagol, we are having a boy. A boy who will likely grow up to be a nerd. So he will probably like that nickname.
We'll see.
Also, is it wrong that Ralph Fiennes still kind of does it for me as Lord Voldemort? Just wondering.
Update question: For those who have played the Naming Game, how many of you were 100% supersure about the name and how many gave themselves some wiggle room? Did anyone change their minds after meeting the actual baby? I am curious.
0 comments:
Post a Comment