Posted by mommyfranklin at November 21st, 2006

When Timothy gets his mind on something, we hear about it for a long time. Last month, all he talked about was that he is going to be four. This month, he is focused on his name. He has decided that he does not want to be called Tim or Timo. He has pretty much decided that all nicknames are just not appropriate. If we call him Tim or Timo, he informs us that his name is Timothy. If we call Zachary Zach or Z-bob, Timothy tells us that his baby’s name is Zachary. We’ve told him that we gave him his name and can call him whatever we want.

On Sunday, he took this to a new level. He tolerated being called Timothy, but made it clear that he would much rather be called Timothy Reagan Franklin.

As we walked in to the Sunday School building, he was greeted with a “How’s Master Timothy today?” His response? “I’m Timothy Reagan Franklin.”

When we got to his class, his teacher wasn’t there yet. Scott went on to our class, and I waited with Timothy. Timothy told the other child and parent there that his name is Timothy Reagan Franklin. Any time a child would arrive, he would make sure to tell them his name and the names of all the other children in the class.

Timothy’s extended session workers that day were a couple of my Acteens. When I picked him up after worship, they told me about a conversation they had with Timothy.
Hi Timo, how are you today?
I’m Timothy Reagan Franklin.
Do you want us to call you Timothy?
I’m Timothy Reagan Franklin.
Is that what you want us to call you?
Yes. T-I-M-O-T-H-Y Reagan Franklin.
Okay, Timothy Reagan Franklin.

It seems that Timothy is bit confused with the phrase, “how are you?” He tells people “who” he is when they ask “how” he is.

Sunday afternoon, he told me that he wanted us to call Zachary, “Zachary Reagan Franklin.” I told him how much was wrong with that, since Zachary’s middle name is Douglas, and that we generally don’t call people by their full name unless they’re in trouble. He hasn’t asked us to call him Timothy Reagan Franklin as many times since then.

I am confident that those we will be seeing during the holiday season will get instructions on how to address Timothy.

Nicknames are funny. Expectant parents struggle for months to come up with just the right name, and then invariably call the child by another name. Why is that?

I wonder what nicknames my nephew will have….

:)