The Benevolent Dictator

Honestly, their beastly names evolved very independently of each other. And, although I refer to them as “beasts”, its done with the greatest love and affection.

The Bear came about after she received an animal puzzle from her aunt and uncle when she was two. It was a chunky wooden puzzle with 6-8 animal pieces. Anyway, in her two year old mind, her daddy was the giraffe, her aunt a monkey, her Pop Pop an elephant. She, herself, was the Bear piece. So, as time passed when I would tease her about being a silly monkey, she would correct me and remind me that she was a “Bear.” We do not call her Bear in the real, non blog world.

The Llama’s nickname is difficult to explain as we really call him “lama.” As in ram-a-lama-ding-dong. It rhymes with his given name. He is regularly called “lama” in everyday life.

Lastly, Bee is the one whose beastly name we use much more than her very lovely given name. Simply, she became Bee because the Llama could not say “baby” when she was born so he just called her “Bee.” Very easy explanation. We call her “Bee” almost always despite the fact that I normally do not like nicknames.