My kids have always had a few nicknames, none of them have been too horrible so they have stuck throughout the years. However, with the arrival of Devon and his grasp, or lack of it, on language. we have all acquired a new set of names. In honor of Teletubbies, Devon began calling his older brother Lo-Lo when he first began to string words together. It is such a catchy name that it has stuck with a vengeance; I now rarely call Loren by anything other than Lo-Lo.

For the most part Loren does not mind this name, his little brother gave it to him and I think he treasures it. But there are times when he puts his foot down. For instance, last week we picked up some members of the Canadian snowskate team from the airport. These boys are older by Loren by about five years and he looks up to them. Before we entered the airport, Loren stopped me and asked, "Mom, you don't usually do anything embarrassing, but would you please be sure to not call me Lo-Lo in front of these guys?" For a moment my heart hurt as I realized he is getting older and growing up just a little bit more each day. But then I understood that he needed feel confident in front of these young men, and so I replied, "Sure, honey. No worries. Not a Lo-Lo or cheek squeeze from me. " Loren breathed a sigh of relief and we went off to pick up his new friends.

On the way home, Devon finally tired of the long car ride and was demanding attention. When he didn't get it, he began to yell, "Lo-Lo! LO-LO! LOOOOO-LOOOOOO!" When Loren explained the name to them, the older boys began to laugh and then shared their nicknames with us, it wasn't so bad after all.