a Toot by any other name...

Look at these sweet girls.

Rudy is such a little lady, but because she's a baby, and she doesn't have much hair yet, she's often mistaken for a boy. And mostly, whatever. But also, I haven't made it any easier for her. When I feel as though whoever's commented on how cute he is will be someone I'll see again (like the children's librarian, or, let's face it, any cashier at Target), I'll just say, "she," as politely as I can. And then this happens:

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"That's okay. Don't worry about it."

"What's her name?"

"Um. Rudy."

(Then there's a pause, during which I wonder whether I should elaborate, and the other person judges me.)

Today, at the grocery store, Rudy was giddily flailing in the carriage and Marley was pressing Rudy's feet into her cheeks while I was checking expiration dates on gallons of milk. An elderly gentleman witnessing the adorable big and little sister spectacle said hello, then looked into Rudy's baby blue eyes and said, "Hey, Big Guy! Look at you! Gonna be playing football one day, aren't you?" I didn't correct him, and it could've been a confusing conversation anyway, what with Dan Reuttiger and all. I also don't correct my mom when she uses male pronouns to refer to her granddaughter. Because I'd be doing it all the time.

Rudy and Marley are both going to have to repeat their names for people, a lot, when they're in introductory situations:

Bean: "Hi, I'm Marley."

other person, especially in Massachusetts: "Molly?"

Bean: "No, MAR-ley. As in Bob."

Toot: "Hi, I'm Rudy."

other person: "Ruby?"

Toot: "No, RUDE-y." (sigh) "It's a long story."

I knew that would be the case. But I wanted my girls to have spunky names that mean something. And I was born in the 1970s and my name is Jennifer. So I guess I also want a spunky name that means something. Jenny P., on occasion, works. Especially when prefaced by DJ. (I was the Urban Music Director of WOZQ once, you know. Represent.) Sometimes Todd calls me Fla-Fla-Flooey, which is amusing, but anyone who knows us knows that he's the Gary Dell'Abate to my Howard Stern. Right? And speaking of Todd, he's told me before that he thinks his name is boring, as in Thud. So for a while, it was really funny when I started conversations with him like this:

"Hey, [my hand hitting a hard surface], how was school today?"