Saturday, August 01, 2009

what's in a name?


so i like the name benjamin. i like both the long form and short. but it has taken me 6 weeks to get used to calling my baby by that name. i call him every nickname possible but rarely ben. in fact, when recently hanging out with kara, she pointed out that i always referred to ben as "the baby" when talking about him. then the other day i read somewhere (probably the site or the book) that when talking to your baby, you shouldn't use pronouns (i, you) but instead use their name and mommy. so instead of, "are you happy to see me?" - ask "is ben happy to see mommy?". well if i thought calling my son by his name was hard, referring to myself in third person is killer. oh come on! i can't stand when people talk in third person or when they say to me, "how's rebecca today?" though i usually resist a sarcastic reply. so i decided that if i start calling ben by his name more, maybe i don't have to call myself mommy. you know, do half of what's best? i'm working on it. but just so you know, ben and his mommy think pronouns are important to learn too.

5 comments:

theRachel said...

Hmm, I didn't know what to comment for this post, other than to say that I really like the name Ben. I realized that even when we talk, I often call him "the baby." I'll try to reform myself.

Ben S. said...

oh no, if rachel didn't know what to comment then i'm sure to not get any other comments from the lot of you. i'm going to try to blog everyday in august so that may mean some blogposts with little substance. comments are encouraging however...even from lurkers...

Cousin Sarah said...

Hey Rebecca!

did you know ben is actually the name i was going to have if i was a boy! i love the name! i feel your pain. i hate when people talk in the third person too. but i'm sure you'll get used to it! ;)

Margaret said...

Oh sweet. I can't wait to hang out with you guys so I can hear the pronoun-less language lessons in action!

dawn said...

I know Miss Vlieg would be very impressed with you, as she ALWAYS refers to herself in the third person when speaking to her class!