Call me daDadada

I find myself using nicknames quite a bit. "Dude" and "man" get a fair amount of play, as does "brother." "Bro" is usually reserved for my actual brother, though exceptions have been made. Wifey gets called a good amount of pet names ("honey," "muffin," "sweetie" - oddly food-related) and I call my dog "bud" or "buddy" constantly. Pardon to those actually named "Buddy," my dog is really nice.

I've always had a nickname. While I have been called "Clay" for as long as I can remember, my full name is actually "Clayton." It was my grandfather's middle name. Sounds good as a two-syllable middle name but I guess my parents and friend were anxious to shorten it down. Hey, I didn't mind the nearly 0.43% speed increase it proved during writing class either. Perhaps the downside of a perma-nickname is that I have never had a cool nickname, like "T-Bone" or "Gammy." I had to invent "coolguyclay" back in 10th grade, though it never became the self-fulfilling prophecy it could have been!

At some point in the near future I'll likely need a parental nickname. I wouldn't feel real comfortable being called "Clay" from my son, and "father" is a little too formal. "Dad," "Daddy" or "papai" (for his Brazilian side) would all be pretty good. Recently Hugh has started babbling, which of course sounds adorable, and I think he's already choosing one. My favorite is when he calls me "Dada," or, as most often is the case, "daDadadada." I'm pretty sure it is just whatever syllables he can come up with, but I like to respond after each one with, "I'm right here, Hugh." He thinks it's funny. I guess a good name never gets old : )