The Daily Hailey

Growing up, I was peppered with nicknames from my loving siblings. I hated it at the time (if I’m being honest) and would only agree to “like” a nickname if a worse one came up in conversation. I was branded as “Hoagie” at about age 8, and it still lingers. I love it now. But it took time.

I’ve been interested to see what Dekker picks up for nicknames along the way. Before he was even born, we knew we’d call him Deks sometimes. Not “Dex,” because we knew people would then think his name was Dexter. And we were right! So, “Deks” was ne of the first. The very first nickname was obviously just “Baby,” since having a newborn is so surreal, it was amazing enough that we even had one! Much less one with a name! Then, like a lot of babies I know, he was branded “Baby Dekker,” or “Dekker Baby.” That morphed into “Dekker Boy,” which I use often, as does my mom.

His first nickname that wasn’t a give-in was Pooky. I remember how naturally it crossed my lips, and how I immediately wanted to take it back. I really don’t think any boy wants to be called Pooky. But I couldn’t help it. I was going to write it in his baby book s his first ever nickname, but this boy is sooo easy to nickname that Pooky was soon passed over for Baba. Not a Ukrainian Grandmother (right?) but Like, a chubby, tough boy. Its only gotten worse from there. I calls him Goosey, (originally derived from Silly Goose I think) Bubbles, Punkin Head, Chubby, Baby Son Boy Man Face, and then just general pet names, like Honey Bun, Munchkin, and Smiles. Brady most often calls him Little Monkey or Chunky Mustard. Don’t ask me about that last one, I don’t know. I’m going to try to find pictures to go along with some of these, so you can see which expression goes with which face.

These are just a few, but they’re the best ones. Great names for a fabulous boy!