I am not sure how the subject of names came up. I know we discussed it in the car on the way to the mall. I think it might have related to some children�s television show Day was forced to watch while she was babysitting this week. (She has done a LOT of babysitting this week as the daycare provider for one of my friends.) I know it was not �Roly Poly Oly� although I remember her extreme reaction to that show. But come up it did.

Wait! I remember. It came up in terms of the Berenstain Bears, that highly moralistic series that Day loved as a child and I never cared for. More than that, it did start with �Roly Poly Oly� and Day�s reaction to the blatant moral. Apparently she had watched a show in which the square (literally) was teased by the hexagon because he could not roll. All the square had to do was tell the hexagon his feelings and everything was fixed. Day could not see how any kids could not see through that story and I mentioned the Bears.

Anyway, we were talking about names. I was explaining why I had never cared for the Bears and I said that the authors could not even use enough imagination to give the characters proper names. Mama, Papa, Sister and Brother indeed! But the name thing never bothered Day. I would not have expected it too.

Day is highly imaginative in many areas but not about names. While Kat�s stuffed animals had wonderfully wild names, Day�s stuffed animals were Grey Doggie and White Kitty and Black Doggie. As the stuffed animals multiplied (those things were worse than rabbits around my house), she expanded and had Grey Doggie One and Black Doggies 1 through 139. Her Barbies were all Barbie. One family joke was that Day had named the first two storms on Jupiter, Spot One and Spot Two, while Kat had named the third which is known as Scooter.

Once, I lost my head and thought she had changed. One of the Barbies suddenly acquired the name �Hetty.� Or at least I thought it was �Hetty.� I was so surprised and pleased at this evidence of imaginative naming. But I was pleased and surprised too soon. It wasn�t �Hetty.� It was �Headie.� Day had re-named her �Headie� because her head had taken to falling off.

So today I was looking for evidence that Day�s naming imagination had grown with her increasing maturity and I got it. She soberly assured me that future grandchildren would not be known as �Child One� and �Child Two.� They will not be known as �Son� and �Daughter� either. No, she assures me, they will have better names than that�

I�m so sorry �Sonny� and �Daughtie.� As your future grandmother, I failed you. But I tried. I really tried.

(P.S. Day insists that I let you all know that she was joking about �Sonny� and �Daughtie.� I realize that all of you would figure that out but she wants to be sure.)

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