Nicknames, sayings and made up words

My mom has new nicknames for the twins. It's *hold onto your hats* metal mouth and gap face in honor of their recent dental work. I can't see those sticking but yesterday it was funny and heaven knows we both needed the chuckle.

I tend to call the littles odd things like mookie, sweetpea and munchkin. I can't help it, they tend to slip out. I also have the usual repertoire of honey and sweetie pie.

My husband hates nicknames, so much so that he insisted our kids couldn't have names that could be shortened. So we have girls named Jane and Kate yet nicknames happen even with the shortest of names. Janie just slips out of my lips, an affectionate term for my eldest when she's having a bad day and she needs to hear a little extra love in my voice. Kate is cursed with a name that people assume is a nickname so she's doomed to a lifetime of people questioning what Kate actually stands for.

Everyone assumes that Greg is short for Gregory and I'm forever correcting medical records. Really, the child's name is Greg Walter ****. Gregory isn't his name! I find it vastly amusing that more confusion was caused by my hubs trying to simplify his son's name.

During my exchange people called me Elisabeth (the Swedish version of Elizabeth) because Lisa is a nickname reserved for only close family and friends. People didn't want to be presumptuous and call me such a familiar name after just meeting me. Actually I have a certificate for my study of the Old Testament made out to Elisabeth Rush. That's pretty funny since that person doesn't exist.

Speaking of not existing, Jane's birth certificate had several typo's in it saying her mom was a Lisa Bush from Utah. I know that UT and VT are close but is it that hard to get the state abbreviations right? Really, it's rather funny. We have since corrected that info but we kept the certificate with the wrong information in it so we have proof it happened.

Now David, obviously can be shortened. You see since we were pregnant with twins we each picked a name and David was my choice and I cheerfully call him whatever I feel like calling him be it Dave, Davey or David. When he's old enough to express an opinion then I'll respectfully call him what he prefers. Until then *evil laugh* it's whatever the mood hits.

My newest name for Kate is actually Katie P. I don't have a reason why other then it sounds kinda cool. P is Kate's middle initial so really there's nothing there will embarrass her when she's dating. It's not like when she was a twenty pound six month old baby with rolls everywhere and my dad called her Katie the hutt. That's one that should be saved for prom night, but really I don't want it to haunt her entire life. Another fitting title for Miss Kate is The Queen of Protest. This came from a dear friend of mine and it still fits Katie P. to a T.

Kent's been calling Ean Ean the Wean and that one is just kinda weird, not to mention Ean hates it.

My dad was a champ at nicknames and nonsense words. I vividly remember hear my dad answering the phone with "How is my mommy nini noo noo." The pitch of his voice would change when he said it too, something special he only used on my grandma. He had a saying he used only for his sister too but what I really remember is the nonsense words. Made up words that only the family could understand. Anyone in my family utters the word guish and we all understand that to mean the squishy belly fat that jiggles when you poke it. It's a great word, just rolls off the tongue. There were other words too, stuff he said to refer to the pets, people, nature. It was a talent.

I believe he would have approved of mom calling the twins metal mouth and gap face. I did.