Nicknames

I was prompted to think about Nicknames after reading a blog about the concerns of using them .....how should we spell the nickname?.....what name will/should the child use in school?.....with which name will the child be introduced?, etc, etc.

So, first of all, thanks Melanie, I mean fellow-blogger, for your forgiveness. I am one of those parents who intentionally used nicknames. So after reading about "Nickname" concerns, I talked with my daughters about their nicknames.

We chose unique names for our daughters - and yes, I too, was the majority rule for naming all but one of my daughters. And I LOVE all of my kids' names.

My eldest is Shalyse. I'd heard the name only once while pregnant and didn't have the opportunity to see how it was spelled so I had the dilemna of choosing how it should be written.....thus Shalyse. How do you shorten 'Shalyse'? Some of you reading this may not even know how to pronounce it; that seems to be the downfall for having the name, well, that's what Shalyse tells me. Anyways, I tried to think of different ways to nickname her but could never find a variation that I liked. I asked her what she thought about NOT having a nickname and she said she always felt left out because the other girls had nicknames...and I mean nickNAMES.

You see....I never had a nickname either. When I was Yvette Lopez, friends called me Y-Lo...but it was more of a joke than a nickname. I've used nicknames as sort of an endearment. Growing up, my parents didn't have endearments for each other nor for the kids - they didn't use 'hon' or 'babe' or 'love'. And when I became an adult, I liked it when I was 'hon' or 'babe' or 'love'. So I always wanted my kids to feel the warmth, love, and affection of a nickname. I thought that if I'd called Shalyse these endearments, enough, that she wouldn't miss having a nickname but I guess I was wrong.

Then came Leticia. Again, she tells me people often mispronounce her name. This one was named sorta by her dad. He wanted a spanish name and I just couldn't see using Maria, or Carmelita, or Lolita......... & Shalyse. Her dad mentioned he liked the name Tisha...which happened to be the Playboy bunny of the month but he still preferred naming her a spanish name. I liked Tisha too but didn't tell him that and I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of naming our daughter after his Playboy bunny of the month. So when I ran across the spanish name Leticia (which is pronounced La-Tisha), there was no persuasion necessary. We, of course, called her Tisha. But she's also called Tish, Tishie, and finally Tish-a-roo. As a "grown up", she doesn't go by Leticia much. She introduces herself as Tish. And she hates it when I introduce her as Tishie - which I don't even realize ISN'T her name, anymore. Excuse me!

So when Madison was on her way, I'd heard her name in the movie, Splash. I named Madison to call her Maddie. She also goes by Madz and Mada-boo. Her name-tag for her workplace is labeled 'Maddie'. And her best friends call her Madz.

Tayshaun. First of all, he's named from seeing the name during a Piston basketball game. And if I'd had it my way, he'd have been named Tayshaun Prince Tramel. I love the combination - and it doesn't have anything to do with the basketball player...(he's NOT cute). As a baby, we've called him Tay-Tay. At 3 yrs old, Tay-Tay just sounded too babyish for a boy so he and I played with some variations and he decided he liked 'Tayshaun-ee-mon" - as you see it in my Blog Profile Title. He's also responding to 'T' which the big boys call him. But I usually call him 'my love', 'babe', 'papa', and sometimes 'Kooper' (when I'm forgetful). Kooper is our shihtzu!

My girls say having a nickname wasn't confusing in school. Most of the time, the teachers asked for name preference anyways....they probably see a lot of "Juniors". I think the girls liked having their nicknames, obviously, since they still use them. And poor Shalyse has adopted a nickname from friends as she's grown up - sooooooo.

To end this looooonnngggggg explanation, I love nicknames! I vote you keep Olivia -"Livi"!!!!!

A Day at the Zoo

"Mom, let's go to that place where we can see the monkeys!"...that comment prompted a visit to the zoo. Ok....it's taken me about a month to actually get him there. But the upgrade at work is almost complete, (YIPPEE!) so I decided to splurge and take a half day off and take Tayshaun to the zoo. And WOW! I was amazed at the changes that's been done at Hogle Zoo.


We went to the zoo last summer and noticed some construction but I didn't realize there'd be such an improvement. It looks like a new zoo. Same ole animals....but sparkly buidings, cages, carousel, signs, shops, etc. Of couse, there was a souvenir shop as we walked in with cool "this and thats" so Tay picked out a Tiger hat and Penguin sunglasses, which he kept on for just about 10 minutes and then I held them the rest of the visit. Oh yeah, I didn't bring in my purse so while I was holding momentos, trying to keep Tayshaun underfoot, taking candid snapshots, observing the new surroundings, eating cotton candy, etc, I LOST my keys!


Nice thing is Tayshaun's attention span is short so we pretty much rushed through most of the exhibits which wasn't a complaint for me. We were still there for three hours.


We saw lots of zoo employees who now take on a more interactive role and talk about the animals and present exhibits with birds and other zoo animals. We were even educated by a spectator who told us that the mandrill will smile at you. So Tayshaun yelled at Mr. Mandrill and tried to throw him some monkey talk but when it was obvious Mandrill didn't want to show us his pearly whites, he walked away talking monkey and walking on all fours.


We rode the train; and ate cotton candy, ice cream, and rope licorce.


Tayshaun was a gorilla on the monkey bars and he lost a wrestling match with a crocodile...Dundee!...NOT!


Tomorrow we're off to the circus. Tayshaun wants to wear a clown costume. I know he's going to be disappointed when he doesn't get to be in the show.

Snowbird Birthday Celebration!

It was Keenan Birthday weekend and we were still celebrating Tayshaun's too. We made our way up to Snowbird where the leaves were beginning to turn colors. We'll need to take a ride up again in another few weeks to take some fall color pictures. Anyways, that weekend at Snowbird the OctoberFest is also taking place. So the wait for rides was FOREVER long. Some of the older kids waited for the mechanical bull ride but Tay & Michael weren't 7 yrs old yet so we made our way to the trampoline bungy jumping. This ride was an 1 1/2 hr wait.


We also made it through the blow up trampoline and slide. And finally we took two rides down the bobsled ride. Yes, we were there for a total of 5 hours and that was the extend of it. We took breaks for food and ice cream later - but that was the birthday day for riding at Snowbird.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEENAN . . . AND TAYSHAUN!!!!!

Being on the Other End of the Stick

Having been divorced most of the time that my daughters were growing up, I’ve always lived in a household of girls (and then women)…….
• If I wanted to rent chick flicks, cool ~ everyone was on board.
• If I ran around the house in my undies, cool ~ ‘cause we all had ‘em.
• If I wanted to paint a room pink or yellow, cool ~ I could always talk one of the girls into a pink or yellow bedroom.
• If I lost my eyelash curler, there was always at least two others in the house.
• If I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night with the lights off, I never had to worry I’d fall in the toilet.
• If I wanted to go to the mall, everyone was down for shopping for a new outfit, pair of shoes, or just a book

Having a son is altogether different…….
• No more chick flicks- now we rent cartoons
• No more walking around in undies- let’s just say Tayshaun is a man in that department
• No more pink or yellow- BLUE BLUE BLUE
• No more borrowing eyelash curlers- I’m just out of luck borrowing anything
• Oh yeah- I’ve got up from the toilet with a wet butt in the middle of a dark night
• And shopping…..just isn’t the same- but I’ll leave that one for another blog

FIRST, IT WAS JUST ME AND HIM…….
Tisha and Madison were tom-boys so I was already acquainted with athletic participation, baseball caps, skateboards, hoodies, etc. But Tayshaun is DEFINITELY a BOY!!!! And I’m experiencing a whole new ballgame with this one….

With a giggle and a grin, Tayshaun will come snuggle up to me and plop his little behind on my leg or lap – and yes – stink up the room with a subtle FART (he’s only four, ok). But given his laughter afterwards, you’d have thought he really ripped a big one. No, I never had that experience with any of the girls.

Tayshaun received a $10 birthday gift so I asked him what he wanted to buy. To my surprise, he told me he wanted to take me out to dinner. He decided we’d go to Souper or Salad. Now, you might be thinking, why the heck would a kid wanna go to a salad bar place? Well, Tayshaun does love salad but my guess is he LOVES the pizza and ice cream, more. And of course, he can go back and forth for as many pieces and scoops that he wants. Anyways, we’re eating and I’m nagging him about not staying in his seat. He sits down and says loudly, ‘Hey, Mom, stop kicking me!’. I looked at him thinking maybe he kicked a table leg or something. He’s just eating his ice cream, licking the spoon clean, and not even looking at me. Then he says loudly, ‘Mom, stop hitting me; that hurts!’. No smile on his face; no eye contact. We’re on opposite sides of the table. I’m not even close enough to pinch him – as much as I wanted to at that very moment. I saw what he was up to. He’d played this little game before but it’s never been in public. Luckily for me, I wasn’t even close to him and no one was paying attention. But man ~ that boy will bring out the crazy in me!!!

NOW, IT'S ME AND HIM WITH MALE INFLUENCES……
So now I’m the minority, living amongst the male species…in a household of stinky, loud, prankster, teasing, creepy BOYS! Let’s just say, I'm out of my element. And in the process, my son is falling MORE into HIS!

So we’re walking to my car after leaving the spa, ok, he’s running a half a mile ahead of me so he can reach the car first,he makes it to the car long before me. Of course, I haven’t clicked the keys to unlock the doors yet. Tayshaun yanks the back door handle and isn’t able to open the door. He comes back around to the back of the car so I can see him now…and grumbles “WOMAN, you didn’t unlock the door, yet!”. Talk about embarrassed…when I watched the guy walking past us snicker. And I hate it when I have to laugh at him when I should be correcting his behavior. But darn it, this is one of those reasons I have this blog…because I can’t believe my kid!!!! He picks up everything!

So Tayshaun has a new song when he’s trying to talk above me…..”Men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men,”….annoying huh?.....“Men, men, men, men” and of course it gets louder and faster when I’m trying to speak above it. And it used to be that he was instigated into singing the lyrics to me. NOW, he kicks off the song. And worse yet, sometimes, he sings it ALONE at me!!!!

Now, Tayshaun has an ally. When he thinks I should be spanked, he’ll bring out the tennis racket and tell Andrew, “Ok, let’s whack mom on the butt. Come on, you first.”.

Life just isn’t the same ON THE OTHER END OF THE STICK.

Double Birthday Celebration

This year we decided to make it a double-birthday celebration - Tayshaun and Keenan. So for the weekend of Tayshaun's birthday, the family met up at Leatherby's for ice cream sundaes, banana splits, and other ice cream desserets. We took up four tables and were LOUD! Good thing there were lots of families with other loud kids at Leatherby's.


Tayshaun turned FOUR. And Keenan turned NINE. Geez, we'll be blogging graduations before you know it.


And how do you make birthday parties unique after you've arranged almost 50 different birthday parties for Shalyse, Madison, and Leticia? You can go to Fat Katz only so many times. I'm sure Tayshaun will come up with something interesting!


Next weekend, we're off to Snowbird for the extended birthday double celebration for Keenan's birthday weekend.