Friday, June 15, 2007

And introducing .... (Ms.) Munchkin!

Well, it was the big birthday weekend last week, and I guess I've just been too pooped to blog! Doesn't help that we've all come down with daycaritis. Again. I've lost my voice and my will to live.

So to those of you awaiting the new nom de blogue and the photos ... whoops. And here they are:


Ms. Munchkin gets her game face on, awaiting the arrival of cake, her first official taste of Sugary Junk with 'icing' of uncertain but definitely transfat laden provenance. And arrive it does, to general applause:


Yes, there is a little candle shaped like a one. Munchkin totally held her own in what was likely a stressful situation: a room full of stranger grownups interspersed with caregivers, and a sampling of wild and noisy children and toddlers, with everyone staring at her and singing, while bearing a large flaming pink and white slab ever closer to her little face.

She smiled.

And then she sampled:


Cake! She ate a little, but was, surprisingly, not too impressed. Huh.

So that's the birthday photos: our baby is now a toddler, our formula-chugger now on whole milk, the wee squalling, squirming, red-faced alien we brought home for the hospital a year ago is now twenty-four pounds big, crawling, pulling herself up to stand, telling us 'done' and 'up' and generally charming us with her emerging little personality.

She's no longer our Miss Baby--she seems to have become Munchkin, or more formally, Ms. Munchkin. I've been calling her that a lot lately, now that she's so mobile and silly and hungry and sweet. My dictionary tells me (although Sage, I'm happy for corrections or more backstory ...) that 'munchkin' is an informal noun designating a child, and that the word comes to us from The Wizard of Oz. That seems apposite, for now. It is kind of a magical stage we're going through, fairly short on temper, and mostly long on discovery and fun. I'll let you know when I start to tap my ruby slippers together, wishing for home.

Her Bad Mother was soliciting nicknames the other day--apparently, Wonderbaby in real life is referred to as The Budge.

Here for the first time, I reveal to you some of the things (not all of them flattering) we have called our Munchkin, chronologically:

There were, first, the medical terms:
- Baby Zygote
- Baby Embryo
- Baby Fetus
- Baby [lastname]

There were, and continued to be, the generic names, as well:
- Baby Daughter
- Miss Baby
- Baby Doll (my own mom used to call me this, so it figures in a lot of songs
- Baby [firstname]
- and, from Pynchon, and adorably, Milkdud

But there is one nickname unique to us. Maybe not cute like Budgie or The Budge or Budgerigar, but heartfelt:

Baby Dink.

As in, "Your baby daughter is being a baby dink." So 'dink' in this case is a pejorative marking bad behaviour. Yes, yes, there are no bad babies, and really no bad behaviours in, say, three-month old infants. But sometimes, they can be dinks, non? The nickname led to a series of derivatives, quite useful not least for their absurdity, which could often defuse a frustrating situation: Your baby (I might say) has been engaging in some dinkish behaviours today. Or, There was dinkishness aplenty at naptime!

The nickname even spawned further nicknames, rendering the original in ever more absurd, and comical terms:
- Dinkish MacBaby
- Baby McDinksalot
- Dinky Poopington

Come to think of it, potty-humour abounds in some of our other nicknames as well:
- Stinky McBottom
- Pooper
- Smelly Smellerino

Dinkish or not, poopy or not, we always picked her up and we always cared. Can we help it if we wanted to have a little fun with it while she's still preverbal? Will we ever, someday, be able to convince her that 'Baby Dink' was a term, in its way, of affection? Or should we just wait until she has children to tell her.

In any case, our Miss Baby is now--at the ripe old age of one--a far less dinkish (if more poopy) little girl. She's graduated to Munchkinhood.

19 comments:

S said...

Aww. She's so sweet and squeezable!

Munchkin suits, it really does.

And Jack cried buckets of tears when the cake and candle came his way on his first birthday.

Ms. Munchkin handled the same situation with aplomb.

kittenpie said...

Munchkin is such a great word, isn't it? It really can only mean one thing, outside of the Lollipop Guild, so it is nicely descriptive, yet affectionate.

Beck said...

I still remember my husband calling twelve-day-old Baby "a little creep" after she pooped on him energetically for the tenth time that day. He said it WITH LOVE. And whilst covered in poop.
Look how cute Miss Munchkin is! She melts my ornery old heart.

Her Bad Mother said...

Is it weird that the Dink nickname makes me love you even more?

Mimi said...

HBM -- I thought you might be able to appreciate that one!

Beck -- I think the Dink nickname arose in similar circumstances. Ah, the breast-milk poopie. So plentiful. Such distance

N. said...

Yeah for the newly unveiled name! She looks like a toddler in those photos. A very very cute toddler.

Jenifer said...

Oh my she looks all big and "growed" up as my girls would say. The photos are lovely as is Ms. Munchkin since they really are little munchable Munchkins. Who doesn't want to take a bite now and then?

Christine said...

Munchkin is perfect! So cute!

And i am glad to hear that someone else gives their kids a serious of nicknames like we do. Out son is often referred to as The Mad Pooper, among a million others!

Christine said...

I so didn't spell check here--serious should be series and out should be our. duh.

OhTheJoys said...

Have fallen over from a cuteness overload!! She's adorable!

cinnamon gurl said...

Swee'pea is also known as Soggy Bottom Boy, Poopy Diaper Man, and MR. Poopy Diaper Man (when you're this big they call you Mr.)

I never thought before that bloggy names must change with time... wow. Happy Munchkinness!

Bon said...

i think Ms. Munchkin is perfect. and her cake looks perfect too, and makes me wish i had one.

we have a Soggy Bottom Boy at our house too...but he is most often known as Boober.

Melanie D. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melanie D. said...

Those pictures are great! Our little guy ate cake as if though it were a piece of cheese or something equally exciting. No true glee involved either. Thanks for sharing those pictures - somehow she does look more grown up!

I laughed thinking of all the things we call our babies. I told my hubs early on that I was sure Mason would grow up thinking his name was Buddy. I was always calling him my little buddy (after spending 10 weeks of nights sleeping on the couch together, I felt as if I'd grown another limb). My little buddy isn't so little anymore and now I often call him bud or bub. Weird.

Run ANC said...

Lovely nickname! Have I mentioned I'm a big fan of Wizard of Oz? Also, one of my favourite baby-calming songs is from Wicked. But I digress.

How cute is she??

ewe are here said...

Ms Munchkin is lovely!

And I love the nicknames, especially Dink. ;-)

I really must do a nickname post...

Belle said...

Happy Birthday Ms. Munchkin! Our little ones have almost the same birthday...The Baby (AKA Munchy Man, Pooper, and somethimes Jerk) was born on June 7th...he just barely missed the 666 birthday last year...boy that was a close one, he could have had MANY bad nick names!

NotSoSage said...

Ooh, Ms. Munchkin is lovely. I love the names that are slightly pejorative but said with love. My mother gasped when I called Mme L "monkeybaby" because she thought it was mean. She WAS a little monkey baby, though...with little, grasping, monkey toes.

We also called her "The Spawn" when she was in utero. A little dark and disturbing, but fitting our sense of humour.

Em said...

Oh she is gorgeous - stinky or not!