Nicknames

Nicknames seem to be a big deal at our house.  They are constantly changing and I find it so endearing when my little ones have a preference.  So here is what we sometimes call the kids!

Anna Elise - she gets called Anna at school and by anyone that doesn't really know her, like the Dr.  At home Madeline calls her Ant Elise, she thinks that's how it should be said.  Her dad calls her cupcake.

Calvin - he gets called Calvin at school.  His uncle Sean used to call him bulldozer, and his Dad calls him hotdog.  At the dinner table he is known as Badger 5, it's the brand of our garbage disposal - Calvin will eat anything! When he was little Mike called him 'nana man, because he could eat big bites of bananas without chewing - he could down a whole banana in less then a minute and he loved them.

Madeline - she has the most nicknames of anyone and is constantly giving herself new ones.  Her official nickname is 'mato.  It comes from sad tomato because when she cries she has huge tears that run down her face and it's the saddest thing you've ever seen.  She used to go by either bozo or goofball, whichever one you called her, she was the other one.  At one point she insisted that everyone call her Merva, that came from her aunt Jenny and aunt Raeleen I think.  I call her Maddy Paddy and I can get away with it, but she doesn't love that one.  She has at times called herself sparkle, cinnamon girl,  and Cheeze It (like the cracker).  She is occasionally called Maddie - but that isn't a nickname we use very often.  She is definitely the silliest little mato we have!

Lilah - she is the one that cracks me up right now!  Her official nickname is Lilah Bean.  It was shortened to just bean and is sometimes lengthened to bean bean.  It got to the point that she thought her name was bean.  She and I had many conversations explaining that her name was Lilah Claire Russell and that for fun we call her Lilah Bean or just bean.  So to differentiate from the nickname Lilah bean and her real name Lilah - we called her Lilah Claire.  So now, she insists on not just Lilah, but Lilah Claire and then several variations of her name.  She came up with pickle.  Sometimes she is Lilah Claire Pickle Russell (she introduced herself that way to a stranger today), Lilah Claire Bean Bean, and other variations using those nicknames.  It's always fun to see what name she goes by on any particular day.  

Celeste - she doesn't have an official nickname yet.  We are working on it.  Since all the kids have food nicknames, we know it's got to be a food - we just aren't sure which one yet.  Some options we've tried out (mostly it's the kids that come up with them) are Cheerio, strawberry, tator tot, fish stick, and many others that I can't remember.  Mike came up with Heavenly Hash - it's an ice cream flavor and Celeste means heavenly.  Anna Elise discovered that there is a My Little Pony princess named Celestia so she calls her Princess Celestia.  Calvin came up with Celesty, which I am NOT a fan of.  Lilah calls her Celesty Pooh.  We'll see what sticks.