First, I want to clarify something. Those of you who know me know that I am married to Ken, Oliver's father. Because this blog is about my own experiences, for the most part, Ken will not be included. This is not to exclude him, but to avoid speaking for him about his own relationship with and feelings towards Oliver. Occasionally, however, I will refer to "we" or "us" and I am referring to both Ken and I...such as in this post.
The first nickname we gave him was "Crappy Baby." It's not as bad as it sounds. Really. If you read the last post, you know that Oliver was an impossibly difficult infant, crying and fussing most of his waking hours. Needless to say, this left us frustrated, feeling helpless, and not really enjoying our early parenthood experience. Oliver had a pair of brown fleece polka-dotted footie pajamas with a monkey face on the butt and the embroidered words "Happy Baby" on the front. One evening as I was dressing him for bed, I saw the words and said to myself, "Yea, more like Crappy Baby." From then on it became a joke between Ken and I that we would take the 'H' off and re-embroider a 'CR.' It was always said lovingly, and I still have the pj's to prove we never did alter them.
The second nickname Oliver was given was also the title of an old children's book I happened to see at a tag sale. It's about a little bunny who doesn't like anything or anybody and is always fussing, so nobody likes him. His name: Fussbunny. In the book, Fussbunny eventually learns to enjoy things, and makes friends. I hope that someday my little fussbunny learns that things are ok too.
Oliver was very fortunate to spend his first year living with two of his cousins in the apartment above us. They were so excited to welcome Oliver and it has warmed my heart to see how much they love him. My niece Sophia, the ultimate picky eater, adored Oliver so much that if he ate something, she would it eat without question. If he forgot a toy upstairs in their apartment, she was frantic to get it back to him. And some days, my sister-in-law would knock on my door apologetically because Sophia just wanted to see Oliver, and wouldn't calm down until she could. I never minded and always loved how much he meant to her. My nephew Aiden was quite smitten with Oliver too. Aiden is an incredibly kind, sweet and loving boy. He was always gentle with Oliver, and very patient when I had to interrupt Candy Land to tend to Oliver. Giving nicknames comes naturally to Aiden. When he was very young, under two I think, he decided to start abbreviating names. Memere became 'Mem' and "Trittle" became 'Trit.' At one point, Aiden had a soft spot for robots and Oliver happened to have a pair of pants with robots on them. The nickname "Ollie Ba-bot" was born when Aiden announced that Oliver was a baby robot, or ba-bot. Now that he's more of a toddler, we call him Ollie Tod-bot. Aiden gave various other nicknames, such as "Cutie Cowboy" based on whatever outfit Oliver might have on. Despite now living 5 hours away, Oliver's cousins still talk about him and love to see his pictures on Facebook. I think that first year was enough to make them love him forever, and as Oliver gets older, it is my hope that he will enjoy visits and grow to love Aiden and Sophia just as much as they love him.
The final and most fitting nickname, and hence the title of this blog came about one night while watching TV. We saw a commercial for Allstate Insurance featuring Dean Winters as 'Mayhem.' At the time, Oliver's favorite activity was clearning every surface, emptying every drawer and tossing every toy into the kitchen. The disaster he could make in under a minute was unreal. Come to think of it, it still is. We decided that when Oliver entered our lives, so did mayhem. If you haven't seen any of the commercials, look them up on Youtube. They are great. And remember, Mayhem is everywhere. Protect yourself.
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