Nicknames!

Lets talk about nicknames. I grew up with so many nicknames I'm surprised I know what my real name is!!! Lol! My mom calls me "punky", "pooh bear", and "babe". Let me say there isn't many people that can say they have lived through the embarrassment of their mother being in a department store loudly blurting out the term "pooh bear" to get the attention of her adult daughter. Geesh! As for the term, "babe" coming out of my mom's mouth it makes me feel like "Babe the pig" from the movies. Whereas, "babe" coming out of my boyfriend's mouth is welcomed.

My grandpa called me "skeeter" or "skeet" for short and "sugarfoot". He loved the term "sugarfoot". I found it to be slightly embarrassing. From time to time my cousin's on my dad's side love to remind me of grandpa's nicknames for me. My grandma called me "sweetie" no one said it the way she said it. I often think about the way she affectionately called me "sweetie". My uncle called me "sweetie" as well. Much like my grandma he had his own style of saying it. I occasionally miss hearing him call me "sweetie". He was a big man's man type of guy and that affectionate term "sweetie" coming out of his mouth was extra special!

One of my cousin's on my mom's side came up with the nickname "jabber jaws", because according to him....I talk too much. Maybe I did as a child and I'm sure I have my talkative moments now as an adult. But overall I'm not the "jabber jaws" chattering type.

Where am I going with all this nickname stuff? I have answered to so many nicknames/terms of endearment that at times when I hear someone close to me use my actual name it sounds so foreign. It's as if I'm looking around the room waiting for someone else to answer to it. My mom also uses a shortened version of my full first name when she isn't using a nickname. Sometimes when she does use my full first name I immediately question whether or not I'm in trouble before answering her. Something similar happened last night with my boyfriend, he uses so many terms of endearment with me that when he said my name last night it once again felt foreign. I guess I prefer being called "babe", "honey", or even "furrball" more than my actual name. Yes, he calls me "furrball" from time to time. Not sure why but I've gotten used to it. It's funny, makes me laugh.

When naming the boys I wanted shorter styled cute names for them. I only considered 2 syllable names when thinking about names for them. I never once thought about nicknames when choosing their names. I was not about to name one Sebastian with the intent of calling him Baz! Nope! But let me tell you the boys are not short of nicknames! And the funniest part is that they know all the nicknames they have too. Cody is Cody-man, no stretch there! He's also known as Coco, Cokey(long O sound), Code, Coshy(long O sound), and boo. I call him Code more than I think I call him Cody. Much like my mom does with my name. As for Simon. Wow, what nicknames I've pulled out of his name. A plethora! Sime is most frequently used even by my boyfriend. Others are: Sim(long I sound), Simo, Sisi(long I sound), Momo, boo-boo, and boobie. I hate to admit to boobie but one day I wanted to cutesy up boo-boo as if boo-boo isn't cute enough. Anyway the term boobie came out, I use it somewhat rarely. Both boys get called "sweet boy". And just the other day I called Simon, E.T., he has a bit of an extraterrestrial look too him. Think about it! He didn't seem too impressed by the new term and quickly backed away my boyfriend tried to tell him he should take it as a compliment because E.T. was popular at one time. I doubt that reasoning worked with a dog though! Lol!

Anyway I just had nicknames on my brain ever since last night. It is strange to me though how I have so many nicknames. The fact that they are used so frequently and to the point that my own name sounds odd coming out of certain peoples mouths is interesting too. Not sure what that says about me! LOL! I'll add it doesn't seem odd coming out of everyone's mouth just those closest to me!