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September 16, 2008

Jade helps me to name The Nugget...

"Jade," I say, as we play with the magnetic letters on the fridge, "We need to come up with a name for your new little brother or sister. Do you have any ideas for a name?"

She pauses to seriously consider my question. After a few moments, she looks up and suggests, "Cat?"

"Cat?" I ask.

"Cat," she says, nodding in all seriousness.

I ask myself, Did our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter just suggest that we name our next child after an animal? I have misunderstood her in the past, so I decide to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Jade has an interesting form of articulation. It's lazy. Polysyllabic words and phrases are cleverly compressed into monosyllabic words and phrases. That's why I misinterpret what she says, sometimes. Word compression was something that I enjoyed when I was growing up.  Some people called it "mumbling".  I called it "speaking Saskatchewanian" (which came out as "speakn' Sktchwanyan").

Recognizing that her considerable word compression skills may be at work, I reflect that "Cat" could be one of several names. As I said, I've misunderstood her before.  Jade doesn't know a lot of names, so I start with the ones that she's been exposed to most recently. My friend Garrett is in town for some work and a visit, so I ask myself if she actually means "Garrett". Cat could also be short for her cousin "Caity" or even one of several "Cathy"s that she knows.

I decide to ask for more suggestions. Her second suggestion renders the meaning of the first quite clear.

She says, "Puppy?"

"Puppy?" I ask, incredulously, "We're not naming your little brother or sister 'Puppy'"!"

Without missing a beat, she suggests, "Airplane?"

"Airplane? I don't think so. Do you have any other suggestions?"

Once again, she pauses to consider.

A lightbulb goes on in her head. I can see it in her eyes. Does she finally understand what I'm asking? She turns to me, looks me deep in the eyes and suggests, "Dee?"

"Dee?" I ask, "Hmmm... That might be a good name..." Now we're on to something!

"M?" she proposes.

"Emm?" I ask, somewhat befuddled.

"Yeah," she says, nodding her head with conviction. Then she unveils her full plan for the unborn child's name.

Speaking slowly so her big, dumb dad understands, and nodding her head with certainty after each syllable, she suggests, "D. M. Two. D. M. Two. F. D."

Nodding once again, she jumps up and gives me a big hug around my neck.  I'm glad she does this, because then she can't see me rolling my eyes at her name suggestion.

The crazy thing is, after pondering it for a while, I'm seriously considering DM2DM2FD as a possible name for The Nugget.  It's gender neutral, so it would work for either a boy or a girl (which is what we're having - either a boy or a girl).  It's unique and, best of all, it's cool; it's like one of those awesome movie robot names!

Ok, in all seriousness, this kid is due in fifty-nine days and we haven't come close to choosing a name.  I'm so desperate that I actually, seriously, turned to Jade for suggestions.

HELP!

6 comments:

Matt, Kara, Hunter and Cavan said...

ahahahahahha that is awesome!!! I think you should go with her first suggestion of Cat. Great name.

Now perhaps the D.M is Dad, Mom. And the two means that there will soon be two kids! So then perhaps F. D will be the first and middle initial of your next born!

Felicity Dawn
Felix Denver
Fairy Dust- heheh a little hippyish
Finn Dustin

I am glad I have 31 weeks left because we have no boy name, but at least we have a girl name. Can't wait for that ultrasound!

Meandering Michael said...

Wow, you must read tarot cards or something...

dogsled_stacie said...

Looking at the quote at the bottom of your blog, and one of my favourite names - Jasper Friendly Bear!

Meandering Michael said...

You know, Stacie, that name had crossed my mind...

Jackie S. Quire said...

just so you know, it was this post that made me a loyal reader of your blog. it just cracked me up!

Meandering Michael said...

Aw, shucks!