Say My Name!...or don't.

I never thought I would have to make a conscious effort to call my child by her name but around the time Hayden was learning her name I realized I rarely actually used it. I never called her Hayden. I started worrying that she was going to think her name was Monkey since that is what everyone called her for the first few months of her life (because through no fault of her own she fully looked like a monkey.) 

 side bar: I first noticed this resemblance when I was feeding her, looked over to my right and saw this toy hamper......then looked down as saw this face.

I now make the conscious effort to use her name more but as her personality grows many ridiculous nicknames have sprouted.

I'm not the only mom with this many nonsensical nicknames for her child..right?

Monkey, Monks, Noodle, Bugs, Buggy, Bubie, Bubs, Nu-Nu, Monkey Nu-Nu, Monkey Noodle, Mama, Stinky Stinks and the ever cliche: Baby

(on top of those our family members came up with their own: Mushy, Moncheechee,  Pickle, Pickle-Juice, Mushkie and so on.)

I never intentionally try to come up with a nickname, these are just the things that fly out of my mouth when I talk to her. I have a decent amount of nicknames myself but there are only a few people that use them. The ever obvious "Cal" is the most common because people are lazy and don't want to say the "e" sound at the end..and I'm cool with that. I have such a connection between being called Cal and people I love that if someone I barely know decides to call me that I automatically have a fondness towards them. Since I was a baby my nickname was Mushy..which then turned to Mush. Naturally.

My grandmother calls me Calina. My non-bio dad has always called me Pumps and/or Pumpkin and Anthony and I, unfortunately, got into the habit long ago of using "babe." I know...vomit.

Anthony is not cool fortunate enough to have as many super fun nicknames as Hayden or myself. He gets the obvious Ant and he hates being called Tony so he screwed himself out of an extra nickname. He also was dubbed "Peach" when he was younger by a certain group of friends because he's always had a shaved head. That's really all he has in the nickname department..although whenever I'm feeling sassy I like to throw in an Antwan every now and again. 

I don't know that he cares for it.