State your Name & Age, Please

If you've seen Loic recently you've undoubtedly been asked the all-important question, "What your name?" He asks everyone he encounters, regardless of whether he knows their name or not. Strangers, friends, people on TV...they all get interrogated until they answer. And even then, he may ask again, just to be sure. In fact, though he knows BOTH of my names, Mommy & Jan, he asks me this very question at least 15 times a day. Life is all about names right now.

Last night as the boys were heading upstairs Bill says, "Goodnight Laurence. Goodnight Loic. Goodnight Cooper!" (My maiden name, by which he calls me frequently. Sometimes Cooper, sometimes Coop. No, I wasn't really going to bed, but this has become a cruel little joke between us since the baby was born and I have no true bedtime. Funny. Ha, ha.) Loic stops mid-stairway and says, "Mommy, Dad said, 'Goodnight Cooper.'" Though he's heard him call me this thousands of times, it was understandably puzzling him because of his recent obsession with names. Laurence chimes in before I have a chance, "Cooper was Mommy's last name before she married Daddy." "Oh!" was all Loic said. He was satisfied.

The conversation with Laurence took an unexpected turn, however. As he climbed into bed he said, "When I find someone I want to marry, how will I find out how old they are?" I told him this is something you usually discuss early on when you meet someone, but of course I had to ask him why this was on his mind. "Well," he said, "I DEFINITELY want to marry a girl younger than me. So, I will need to ask her how old she is first." Still not following, I said, "OK, but why?" Silly of me not to know...."BECAUSE I want her to have MY last name after we get married." What? But, I didn't pursue it any further. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation....nah, this is just life thru the eyes of a six-year-old.