Isaiah's World: Speech Therapy and Beyond

My name is Boogydaboo!

June 8, 2006

Over the past few several months, Isaiah has made many pronouncements about how he wants us to refer to him and how he wants to write his name. At one time he decided that he did not want to write "Isaiah Montgomery" because it is too long. He shortened it to "Isaiah Ma." When I remind him that his middle name is "Jack", he rejects the idea: "My name is Isaiah M-A!"

From birth, Harold and I have called Isaiah "Little Sweetie." He was so tiny when he was born—1 pound, 14 ounces, and, of course, he was a sweetie. A couple of years ago, for some reason I gave Isaiah the nickname of Boogydaboo. So at home at home we refer to him as Isaiah, Sweetie, or Boogydaboo.

Recently, he decided that he no longer wishes to be called "Sweetie." So everytime we slip and call him Sweetie, he has a fit and says, my name is "Boogydaboo! I am not Sweetie!." My usual response: "OK, Boogydaboo." Sometimes when I call him "Isaiah" or "Sweetie" when I am trying to get him to clean his room, or eat his dinner, or cooperate in some other way and he corrects me, he gets my impatient response: "Whoever you are… just…."

This morning Harold took Isaiah with him to Harold's chiropractic appointment. The chiropractor said, "Hi Isaiah." Isaiah's response, "My name is "Boogydaboo!"

We have now become less accommodating about calling him "Boogydaboo." He has started to insist that people outside our home, such as his speech therapist and teachers call him Boogydaboo. While it is nice that he is trying to define his identify for himself, we are also trying to make sure he understands that there are times when he must let people know what his real name is. What if he gets lost and when ask his name, he insists it is "Boogydaboo"?

Stacey
editor@celebratingchildren.com