The Name Game

When we were picking out names for Mac we went though all the possible embarassing nicknames that kids might come up with one day. Technically "Mac" is a nickname anyway...We quickly figured out that no matter what name you select for your child, someone can find a way to make fun of it or pick another name for them. We had planned to keep the name a secret but someone (Eric) got a little too excited and spilled the beans at a wedding when I was about 7 months along. It took less than 5 minutes for one of our friends to call him "Big Mac." Since then he has also been dubbed "Mac-aroni" and "Mac and cheese." I actually find these names cute, but you see where I'm coming from.
This kind of leads into something interesting I found out about my Grandmama today. Grandmama goes by the name Mell, but that is not the name she was given at birth. I have always known that when she was born her name was Lula Vermell...yes, that was her name. I also knew that her parents did not name her. The doctor took it upon himself to disregard the parents wishes to name their daugther Mell, and throw in a "Lula" and a "Ver" in front of it. When she married my granddaddy she legally changed her name to Mell Gantt (her maiden name) Robinson. I thought that was the end of the story, but it wasn't. Apparently, Lula Vermell was not her birth name. The doctor that delivered her named her May because he didn't like the name Mell. Somewhere along the line it was changed to Lula Vermell (by who I don't know) until she eventually changed it. Can you imagine giving birth to a child, telling the doctor the name you had chosen, only to have him pick another one for you??? Who does that? I didn't say this was an interesting story...just something I discovered =).
And since we are on the topic of names...the big story is that Mac said his name last night! I have been working with him for a few weeks now to say his name. I usually get a blank stare and he runs off to play with the dog. Last night he finally did it. As you can tell he gets very distracted, very easily, and it took me about 30 minutes to get it on tape, but he did it!


I am trying to get all his new words on tape so here's another one: