Call me nick

The Hatchling is going through what must be a developmental milestone of sorts: she finds it highly amusing to call me by my first name.  I remember when I was a kid I had one or two friends who would call their parents by their first names and to be honest, I found it creepy and a little bit frightening.  Somehow it breaks the child out of the "child" role and they become instead some kind of mutant evil genius in a child's body. 

So I always make a point of correcting the Hatchling - "No, Dada" - which of course is a trigger for her to turn it into a game.  Even stranger is when she copies my Smaller Half and calls me "Honey".  That's just wrong.

I realized the other day when the three of us were sitting in the cafeteria at work that I could turn the tables on her and see if she identifies with any of the nicknames I tend to give her.

So I asked her: "Where's sweetie-pie?" - she pointed to herself, pleased.

"Where's gorgeous?" - she pointed to herself.

"Where's beautiful?" - herself again.

Hmm, let's see what happens if I use something she hasn't heard before, I thought.
"Where's boombalada?" - being a generic nickname for a fat person that I remember from my childhood - and she turned around and pointed at the unfortunate person at the next table, causing me to almost bust an internal sphincter trying to not laugh.