Annabel was solidly onboard with the name we selected for Thing 2. She even sang it to me once in the sweetest dulcet tone, telling me between phrases it was the "greatest name ever."Oh sure, we still joke about calling him Sidewalk or Mailbox or Sharkbreath or other low-brow monikers such as Poopyhead ... but she knows the difference between a nickname and a given name. And she told me every day how much she loved her little brother, and she loved his name.
I don't know how you'd feel, but I'll tell you, for me it's a little bit of electrified magic when your first born loves the name of her soon-to-be brother. It's like an equation someone with my intellect shouldn't have been able to have figured out so elegantly.
For weeks, months even, I was a rockstar. Walking on clouds. Ready, willing and able to tackle the toughest problems -- our faltering economy, war in the Middle East, why the recycling NEVER gets put out on Thursdays. Nothing could stop me.
Then, yesterday, she pulled out my power cord ...
"Mommy, I want to call my baby Charlie. I don't want to call him that other name," a name, I might add, she will no longer say aloud.
"Honey. We're not naming him Charlie. Sorry."
My answer does not compute.
"BUT I WANT TO CALL HIM CHARLIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE."
Her sweet song has turned shrill.
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"BUT I WANNA!"
"WELL, IT'S NOT YOU'RE DECISION TO MAKE!"
"WELL, I'M CALLING HIM CHARLIE."
I think through all available responses, and the elegance of my equation evaporates: Three-year-old + tantrum - tolerance / earplugs * the desire to drink copious amounts beer + bang own head against wall = an uncontrollable urge to rename HER Poopyhead.
All I'm left with is ...
"FINE. GO AHEAD. YOU DO THAT!"
4 comments:
Annabel's stance on this issue sounds exactly like my mother's. She didn't like the name we picked for The Boss, so she said she'd call her something different.
So, the question is this: does Annabel have the maturity level of a 58 year old woman, or does my mother have the maturity level of a 4 year old?
I think we know the answer.
We realized about a month ago that it might be hard to explain to Shmoo that our new kid will have a name other than the fetus name we've been using (Polly). Which is part of the reason we may end up calling her Polly for good.
Maybe by the time "Charlie" arrives Annabel will have forgotten all about this power struggle. Although she doesn't seem like the forgettin' type . . .
Well, you can't win 'em all, I guess. Hopefully by the time the baby is around, she'll have forgotten all about calling her brother Charlie =)
Could be worse. She could want to call him Fredrick Gus.
Like my children are BEGGING me to name their new brother when we get one...
Whacked out kiddies. What did I do wrong?
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