Not Dandy

Babies are a wonderful thing to anticipate. Months, weeks, days and finally hours to prepare for them and somehow their arrival is still a bit of surprise. Who is this lovely creature you will be meeting? What will he be called?

My son and his wife are champions at keeping their chosen names a secret until after the little one has arrived. The name they chose for their firstborn was Nolan Christopher, which came totally out of the blue for us grandparents. It's not a family name, or a name that came up in conversations of suggestions (a conciliatory ploy I think, but fun to participate in even so). It's turned out to be a wonderful name for an energetic soon-to-be four year old.

We knew their second born would be a boy from months ago. The question was how do we refer to him until he arrives? His big brother has always been referred to as The Wee One, does that make this one Wee Two? Or, should we provide him with a longshot name that will work in the interim? Could we go with Heathcliff,  Jorge, Sebastian, or Wolfgang knowing we wouldn't become too attached and whatever they chose would be a relief? (No offense to all those carrying those names, by the way.) Nothing seemed to set with everyone so we went with Dandy since his last name also started with a D. Dandy D------. Yes, it was a good working title for a work in progress. Until yesterday.

Yesterday, this little guy arrived. All 8lbs, 9ozs of him.  His name is Ethan Miles. Again, a name from out of the blue but now a new favorite.

He is a dandy of a boy, but no longer Dandy.