It All Started with Donner...

This Valentine card to Isaac features the name he now likes to be called:  Isaac-Rudolph-Viking-Smallish Bear.

It is getting cumbersome, but it started out innocently enough.  He wanted to be called Rudolph, which made sense because he'd been calling his dad "Donner" for weeks.  (Just in case, some of you aren't aware, Donner is Rudolph's father in the classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie that they've shown on TV every year since I can remember.)

He began referring to Mat as Donner shortly after Christmas.  I could tell it was different than his run of the mill pretending game because he called him "Donner" at all times and when I'd call him "Dad" he would swiftly correct me.  Always.

I waited for Isaac to get bored of it, but instead he began calling himself "Rudolph" and me "Dancer."  Then, Josie was labeled "Prancer", Kimball "Comet" and Evan, much to his chagrin, was dubbed "Santa Claus."

He refers to us using these new names often, but he sticks to none as staunchly as "Donner."  I'm truly beginning to wonder if Mat will ever get to be called "Dad" by him again.

During this renaming period, I visited Isaac's classroom at school to talk to them about what Down syndrome is and what it is not.  Ever since Kimball was in first grade, I've visited the boys' classrooms at school and read the book We'll Paint the Octopus Red and answered questions about Isaac and Down syndrome.

This year, it got kind of rowdy because Isaac was insisting I call him Rudolph and when I told his classmates that he has been renaming everyone in the family, they all wanted reindeer names too.  Luckily, he is a connoisseur of reindeer books so we had more to chose from than just the Night Before Christmas variety.

Soon after this, we put his How to Train a Dragon comforter on his bed and he began playing with those toys and calling himself a Rudolph-Viking.  I was dubbed "Viking Princess" for reasons I'm unaware of, other than the fact that I do help layout the plans of where we will hide and where we will attack when the Monstrous Nightmare dragons come.  Oddly, Wilma, our miniature dachshund, is the only other family member involved in this batch of names.  She is, of course, a dragon.

The "Smallish Bear" part of his name he has taken from Disney's Brother Bear.  This older movie revived in our house when Mat and I went on a date a few weeks ago and left Kimball and Evan in charge.  (Can I just say that having a kid of legal babysitting age in the house is the coolest thing ever?  Although what "Donner" says is true--now that he can babysit, it seems that he's gone more than he is home.)

If you have persevered through this rambling blog I'd like to give you a reward:  Come to our house on any given Saturday morning and you will see Isaac tip-toeing around warning you not to wake up Donner.  You'll then know that Mat is trying to catch some sleep, and you can reply, "O.K., Isaac-Rudolph-Viking-Smallish Bear."

For your trouble, you will receive a wondrous gift:  a brilliant smile from a seven-year-old boy and a brand new friend.