A Rose by any other name . . .

So today I've been thinking a lot about baby names. I made Forrest stay up a good ten minutes past his bedtime last night and fired away with my name ideas--and very few of my name ideas actually hit the target. Both Forrest and I aren't very good at picking names before the baby comes. It all seems like so much speculation until you actually see the kid and can put a name to the face, so to speak.

It's also funny to think of what our children could have been named. Ethan could have been Noah. Elise could have been Emma. Jonas almost was Zachary, but they brought us the birth certificate to sign the second day we were in the hospital and by then we'd chaged our mind. So instead of signing our Christmas cards Forrest, Angie, Ethan, Elise and Jonas it could have been Forrest, Angie, Noah, Emma and Zach.

Now, whose family is that?


(Speaking of "whose family is that," I've included more soccer shots--that my mom actually took--because I know pictures are more fun on blogs than the actual blathering. Unfortunately, I still haven't taken any new pictures lately, but I PROMISE I will on Halloween. I'm at least good for major holidays, especially ones that take some preparation on my part. I want hard evidence that I actually did something. Which, I think, is part of the reasons moms take pictures. For proof.)

Which reminds me--I went and picked up Elise from Lauren's birthday party today, and I hope that Cindy and Tony took pictures for proof because it was SO CUTE. They'd set up a whole spook alley in the basement with (I'm sure) every blanket and sheet they own hung from the ceiling to make a scary maze. They had spooky music, a freaky pumpkin headed scarecrow guy, and even a STROBE LIGHT. So hopefully when Laruen is a teenager she'll remember that her mom cared enough about her to go to Pary City and buy a strobe light and spend all day hanging sheets from the ceiling in the basement.

So--back to names. I want to invite any and all of you to suggest names that you might like. Anything. Go crazy. Because, as of right now, I'm completely clueless. I was liking Owen for a while, but Ethan absolutely hates it (there's a mean teacher at his school named Mrs. Owen, and that can ruin it for anybody.) When he says it, he even has this certain disdainful inflection "Ow-uuun." So for now he's kind of rained on my Owen parade. I was thinking about posting a lits of all the names I DO like, but then they might be Owenized--you'll tell me why you don't like them and I'll be outta luck. It's best sometimes to keep your names to yourself, because once the baby's got the name, all people can do is sigh and roll their eyes behind your back.

So, final random thought of the day: SATs, cheerleader handwriting, and soccer. (See, I'm bringing the soccer pictures full circle.) I've been grading the essay portion of the SAT online (yes, I'm crazy, and I don't know when enough is enough. I realize this.) At any rate, for those of you who have children who have yet to take the SAT, or any other standardized writing test, a few helpful hints:

-If you have a daughter, encourage her to stay away from cheerleader handwriting. It's the puffy, captial-letters-are-the-same-size-as-lowercase, and (more rarely, but still surprisingly often for the SAT) i's dotted with stars variety that I'm sure we've all come across. As much as we are told as essay graders not to be influenced by handwriting, and I try very hard not to be, cheerleader handwriting is surprisingly ubiquitous and very rarely is it associated with what we in SAT grading land call "outstanding critical thinking."

-Teach your children one or two vocabulary words like "ubiquitous." Yeah, I know you thought I was just being presumtuous when I used it before, but really it was calculated. But a word of caution: if your child doesn't know exactly what ubiquitous means, then he/she should avoid shooting himself/herself in the proverbial foot by using it incorrectly. But, I'm telling you, two or three impressive vocabulary words go a looooong way.

-This isn't a suggestion, more like an observation. Due to the oath of secrecy I signed before agreeing to sell my soul for $17 an hour, I can't discuss the actual prompt I've been scoring. (As a matter of fact, I could very well get in trouble for this very post. But I doubt the SAT people know about my blog. Or do they . . . .?????). Anyway, sports comes up a lot, and in the context of sports, soccer comes up a TON. I mean, every other prompt mentions playing soccer, I swear. You'd think with what seems like a solid majority of American children participating in competitive soccer, it would be a more popular spectator sport, like in the rest of the world. See, Drew, this part of the post is for you (if you've been able to hang with me this long, that is.) So, what are your theories as to the lack of support for professional soccer in the USA? I've also read three essays so far that mention competitive rowing. Who knew there were so many rowers out there?

Now I'd really better go. Forrest has gone to Target and come back in the amount of time it has take me to write this . . . time that I should have spent grading essays and earning my $17 an hour.

I'm sorry, baby no name! That's one less outfit for you!!