Bobby Boy - What's in a Name

I will be honest, I'm not quite a baby person. I don't see babies and melt inside, want to hold them, coo at them or make baby sounds or faces at them. None of the above. In 99.99% cases, I'm the person who, compliments the parents on how cute/sweet the baby is, says some form of baby hello, and then moves on to other topics of conversation.

The first time I found a baby heart-meltingly cute and breath-takingly beautiful was when i saw, for the very first time, little miss Haana. She was (and  is) so perfect, I felt scared if I take my eyes off of her, something might happen; like I might get woken up from a beautiful dream. I kept her in my arms and could not sleep the first night at the hospital. Over the years there were a few babies I found cute.. two who would become little miss Haana's best friends - Rushil and Anya. Then, several years later little miss Haana's cousin and my nephew Varam. Some friends' children.

But then there was Umber, and suddenly i'm hit by the same wonder. How perfect and how amazing is this little baby boy. Is he really real. Just watching him, holding him, caressing him is so special.

Another side effect of this cute-ness is that calling just 1 name just doesn't seem enough. Little miss Haana has had several nicknames, they sprout whenever, wherever. Whichever word I fancy and find befitting with cuteness. Sweetles, sweetledo, baby thing, cutely, pyaara (hindi for lovely), sweeta.. The list is long and endless. Over time the names ranged from how she appeared as a baby to how she was as a person, as I learnt more about her. Over time the nicknames would be ways in which I would laugh at her and with her; almost as much as I am in love with her. Gugu has been the mainstay nickname for her; ga-ga-gu-gu were the first syllables the spoke, and hence the name!

Now with the baby boy Umber, history is set to repeat itself. Apart from the list of names little miss Haana and I came you with a while back, new names pop up every other day. He routinely goes by The boy, Bobby boy, Bumblebee, baby bells, inky dink, dinky ink, billa (hindi for male cat)...
The list is open ended but the mainstay seems to be Bobby boy. For now anyway!