What's in a Name?

Mila has somewhere around 23,596 nicknames, give or take a few. I don't know why. It's just a thing we do. We give things real names and then we refer to them by everything except that name. The cats, the dogs, the kids ... everybody gets a bunch of names.

Mila is beginning to question this brand of crazy.

First she refused to be referred to as "Meee-la" by deciding her invisible friend is "Meee-la." She absolutely will not answer to it, though she will sometimes tell you that "Meee-la is like My-la except not as good." It's super fun for people who make the honest mistake of mispronouncing her name. They don't know why she's giving them so much grief. They just end up feeling like jerks.

The nicknames, though. She wants to know WHYYYYYYY.

"Why did you call me (insert name)?" "Why do you keep talking to (insert name)?" She ain't having it.

Her nicknames include: Mila Moose, Moose, Peanut, Tiny, Tiny Human, Littles, Nutter, My-my, My, Nutter, Mini, and a whole bunch of other things. She's cool with "Tiny" for reasons I don't understand (maybe because it's true?), but ZOMG, don't call her "Moose."

"Why do you keep calling me 'Moose?' I'm Mila," she will scold. If you say it in a public place, Mila is going to make you look like a jerk for calling her Moose because she will go all in on arguing about it. "I'm not fat like a moose. Why did you call me that?" or "I'm not furry like a moose. I'm Mila."

She yelled, "I'M MILA!" in the middle of Target the other day when she because super annoyed with the nickname thing. It sounded exactly like someone had kidnapped her and was calling her by the wrong name, so she waited until she was in public to yell out for help.

Oh, and now she spells it. "That's not my name. Mila is my name. EM-EYE-EL-AY. MILA." If you've never had a four-year old make you feel dumb, I highly recommend it. It's great for your self-esteem.

Comments

[Katie M]

> Mila is beginning to question this brand of crazy

...orrrr maybe she’s beginning to set boundaries and you’re accidentally teaching her that it’s okay for people she cares about to ignore them?