The Girl With the Unfortunate Nicknames

I give weird nicknames. It's just what I do. In the past, my weird-nickname-giving had pretty much been reserved for the dogs. For example: My parents' dog, Jasmine, now goes by the name Fizzywigs. How did that come to be? Let's see if I can remember.

Jasmine became Jazzy.
Jazzy became Jazzy-Fizzle (I heard this in a rap song or something, I think.)
Jazzy-Fizzle became Fizzle.
Fizzle became Fizzy.
I also used to call her Wiggles, because she wiggles around all the time. So...
Wiggles became Wigs.
Put the two together and what do you get? Fizzywigs!

Flying Fizzywigs!

My big ol' former foster dog, Brax, earned himself the nickname "Mouse." How did that work out?

Brax became Braxy.
Braxy became Braximus (he was really big, so it fit).
Braximus became Braxy-mouse.
Braxy-mouse became Mouse.

Whenever we'd come home and Brax would run up to greet us, I would say, "There's a Mouse in my house!" and Brian would usually look at me like I was crazy and call me a nerd.

Weird, right? Well, poor little Charlotte has become the most recent victim of my nicknaming. Pretty much since she was born, we have called her "Charlie Bug" and "Peanut." Fine nicknames for a sweet baby girl. But unfortunately for Charlotte, the nicknames have, um, evolved. Charlie Bug became Bug. Bug became Buggers. Not too terrible, except isn't "bugger" British slang for something bad? I am pretty sure it is.

But Peanut has evolved into something even weirder.

Started out normal: Peanut.
Peanut became Peanutter-Butter.
Peanutter-Butter became just plain Peanutter.
Peanutter became Nutters.
And then...wait for it...Nutters became Nuts.

So we have been calling our sweet Charlotte by the name of "Nuts."

"I mean, really? Really? What is wrong with you people?"

I realize that "Nuts" is no kind of nickname for anyone, let alone a sweet little baby girl named Charlotte. (Well, I guess it might be a pretty good nickname for a really successful squirrel. But that's pretty much it.) And it's not just me who calls Charlotte "Nuts"...Brian does it and even my mom has done it a few times (although she usually manages to stick to the less-offensive "Nutters"). It sounds pretty darn funny when Brian enters a room and says, "Where's my little Nuts?" It sounds even funnier when I say it. We've recently realized that it has to stop. We can't call her "Nuts" forever. I can see it now: our little Charlotte on the first day of kindergarten. The teacher asks her her name. She answers, "Nuts." It just won't do.

"Do I look like a 'Nuts' to you??"

We've decided that we have to force ourselves to stick to calling her (out of the nicknames above) either "Peanut" or "Bug." No more "Nutters" or "Nuts." It's a tough habit to break and we keep having to correct ourselves and each other. Every time one of us calls her "Nuts" the other will firmly say "BUG." I tell you, the conversations we have around here these days are nothing short of...um...nutty! Ha!