Kid affects and other thoughts.
Today while at the jewelers my girls were playing rather loudly in the kid play room across the store from where I was. The middle aged woman helping me asked if those were my children and I said yes. (I had kept looking that way and had there been any other customers would have gone and hushed them a little.) She asked how old they were so I told her 3 and 5. She then commented on two years being a good age difference and her boys being two years apart. At one point she commented that she missed the young ages and that 5 and 3 are such fun ages.
I love the ages my girls are at, but lately I haven’t always enjoyed being a mom. I wish I could remember all the good rather then the bad some days, like those who no longer have young children.
Then at Old Navy an older woman held the door for me while I tried to have Lilah and Eden quickly follow behind as we left the store. They always seem so amazed when a stranger holds a door for us and they just stare at them as they slowly walk through the door. I urged the girls to go faster and the woman laughed as she joked “Oh, yeah right.” in a very kind way.
As we got ready to walk to the car she then told me how cute my girls were and asked how far apart they were. I told her two years and their ages and she told me her DIL was just expecting her second so her grandchildren would be two and a half years apart. I commented that I thought two to three years apart is perfect for playing and getting along. She agreed and then said she also wanted this new grand baby to be a girl, it would be their second girl. I replied how I love girls and agree that they are the best, in my opinion. She then asked for the names to my girls since they’re trying to get ideas on names. I told her Lilah and Eden and she went off thoughtfully repeating Eden’s name a few times, since they already had a London she informed me once I said Lilah.
Part of me would love to know the outcome of her developing grand baby’s name. If it was a girl would her DIL consider Eden, or would she think it too old fashion? My sister Carolyn thought Eden was a grandma’s name and that we should have named her Eden’s middle name, which I won’t post due to privacy. It didn’t flow to have the middle name first plus Jon and I really loved the name Eden, so she became Eden.
There’s been some discussion on names due the the last Stephanie Meyers book, which I just refuse to read because that’s all anyone can talk about and I just don’t like to read books when they’re so popular. I’m strange I know.
Back to the name topic, I’m also a bit of a name snob. I love unique names that aren’t crazy, but just not used, but still pretty. Of course I think Lilah and Eden are beautiful names, though some I’m sure do not.
I rarely care about other people’s children names unless it’s something really odd, strange, or the whole ‘lets give a crazy spelling to a popular name so they’re different’ thing. I like simple and unique for my own children, hence why we will never have an Aaliyah, even though Jon loves that name. It’s just too hard plus we have a Lilah and I find them to similar. (I’m considering Roxie for a girl name, Jon loves the name Roxie and it’s starting to grow on me with it’s unique strangeness, but I think it will still have to be a middle name, though he says he would call her Roxie even if it was a middle name.)
Lilah will probably have to say, Lilah with an ‘H”, but the h is there because it’s Hebrew, not because we ‘just felt like it’.
Eden I’m sure will have to repeat ” ‘E’ – Eden not Aidan” for part of her life, I’ve already had to do that. Of course I always have to say” Lacey with an ‘E’ “and “That’s B-lake, with a ‘B’, not Lake.”
I also find my name odd because I don’t think it’s a ageless name, ageless in the way that I think it fits younger people but not grandma’s. I don’t ever think of a middle aged women or elderly person when I hear Lacey.
Jonathan is ageless. Lilah I feel is also more of a young name, like through high school, and then it’s a grandma name. I had a few old ladies tell me that had never heard of the name Lilah except for one friend they had. Apparently they all knew the same Lilah. ๐
I think Eden is also ageless like Jonathan. Maybe it’s because she is young to me and I can see the name being for any age, but I feel it’s a name that fits all ages.
So what age is your name or your children’s? Do you think it fits every age, or iss it a good youth name, or is it a good grandma or grandpa name?
When people tell you they miss having young children do you wish you had selective memory like they obviously do? Because it couldn’t have been all good, all the time.
August 12th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I would spell it Aliyah which means “ascent” as in ascending to the temple or returning to the promised land.
Lilah means “protective shadow” or more specifically “night time”. This is meaningful to me as a lifelong desert dweller. Eden means “delight” or “pleasure”.
Also, I would spell it “Roxy”. “Roxy with a y” sounds cooler than “Roxie with an i e” to me. And no, I don’t think it sounds like a stripper name. ๐
August 12th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Have I said Roxy was a stripper name?
Maybe we should name our next daughter Q and our son Z.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:35 am
As a child, I hated my name (Shauntae). Nobody ever knew how to spell or pronounce it, I got the “Isn’t that a black girl’s name?”, and I never got to buy any personalized pencils. That’s why I wanted our kids to have relatively normal names.
When we named Ethan, we didn’t know any other Ethans. Then we moved to Utah…holy cow, there are Ethans everywhere here! To me Ethan seems like a pretty ageless name. If I could re-name him, I would name him Lincoln because he was born on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and you know how I love history!
Austin seems like a younger guy, although I can kinda see an Austin as an old cowboy-ish grandpa.
Matthew is of course ageless. He’s rare in that we still call him by his full first name, not Matty or Matt. I’m sure that will change when he’s older and his friends start calling him Matt…although I’ll probably always call him Matthew.
My SIL named her daughter Kandie. It’s a cute name for a little girl, but she’s going to get so teased! And can you imagine a doctor or lawyer named Kandie? It’s kinda like dooming your kid to be a stripper.
*By the way, I don’t think Roxy is a stripper name. But for the record, I like the Roxie spelling better. ๐
And I’m one of those people that has selective memory about the younger years. I miss having babies and toddlers!
August 14th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Growing up in Colorado and not knowing many people who weren’t of the same lineage as I am, I didn’t know of a lot of other people named Anna. In fact, I new exactly 1. There were a lot of people named Anne or Ann, though. And I could never find any personalized anything. Now, that’s not so true. Except, when my MIL was in Montana, she couldn’t find any personalized things with Anna on them, so maybe it’s a regional thing.
I used my name instead of my kid’s name to answer your question because…I don’t have any kids. Surprise! (Sorry, my sense of humor is interesting today).
My husband is very strict that we are going to name our kids normal kid names (whatever normal means). I like gaelic names personally, but they can be spelled with the “American” spelling to ease their lives. Like Kaylee (Ceili), Ashley (Aisling), etc. We won’t have a Ceili since that’s the cat’s name. (That would be like another Indiana Jones, Jr., who was named after the dog.)
August 17th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
My daughter’s name is a name I had never heard of until I met my husband. I think Britta is a unique name, but not weird (however, there will always be that question “Brita, like the water filter?”). It was my husband’s grandmother’s name. I think it is an ageless name because there are not a lot of Brittas out there, so I don’t think there is an age group associated with it like some names.
As for the toddler and preschool years, I actually like them better than babyhood, or some other age groups. When I talk to people they usually remember all the the nice, warm fuzzy feelings of babyhood, but complain about the toddler years. I had no idea what to do with a baby who was constantly crying. I know what to do with a screaming toddler (usually, but it’s not always something I like to deal with). I do think that people only remember the happy, fun things about having small children. They don’t have to deal with them day in and day out anymore, especially most grandparents. For instance, I’m sure my MIL didn’t let her kids do half the stuff she lets my kid do, and I’m sure she didn’t play with her kids like she plays with my kid.