Mimi

I partially chose the name Melina for the fourth baby because there is no nickname for it. I like giving the kids names that don't shorten (for the most part). But leave it up to people to shorten names or give nicknames, right? Zoe became Zo-zo bean, or just Zo-zo. Talia has morphed through Tallulah bean to Tats (rhymes with lots). And Aaron, well, the girls just call him Dude. Melina has taken it upon herself to rename herself Mimi. Personally, I like cousin Elli's moniker for her better -- Mina -- but you can't tell a 2 year old to stop calling herself Mimi when everyone else (meaning her siblings) call her that.

Melina is, of course, adorable when she refers to herself as Mimi. Just today, we had this conversation:

Me: Are you ready for bed, buddy?
Melina: No buddy, Mommy. I'm Mimi.
Me: You aren't my buddy, Melina?
No: Zoe, Talia, Aaron my buddy. I'm Mimi.

Well all right then. I should mention that Melina has just now acquired the ability to say Aaron instead of Ion, and Talia instead of just calling both girls Zoe.

And because this is a post about Melina (too bad I don't have a new good picture of her) I'll mention one last goody. Tim took her to the church farmer's market today to drop off some of our chili peppers. While there, they saw the infant son of the man that runs the whole thing. I think the conversation went something like this:

Tim: Do you see the baby, Melina? Do you see the cute baby?
Melina: No, Daddy, I'm the cute baby.
Tim: Yep, you are the cute baby, but he's a cute baby, too.

Don't want the kid's head to get too big, now, do we?