The Little Nicknamer (Updated)

Upon meeting our family, I don't think it takes anyone very long to realize that Brielle is very special to us.

Of course, right?

We're like most parents:

we LOVE, love, love our kiddos so much it hurts.

But Brielle has a way of drawing us in....of working her magic so that we just can't help but find her delightful. It's really crazy. She doesn't have to say or do much to impress us, It's like... we're under some kind of spell.

Maybe it's because we almost lost her to seizures a couple of times.

The fact that she is still with us is such a gift.

Maybe it's because we've poured so much time and energy into her to get her 'caught up'.

The fact that she's coming along slowly but surely is so rewarding to us.

Maybe it's because she's such a happy little girl who loves life.

The fact that she exclaims with delight over just about anything is so endearing to us.

Maybe.

BUT, what's really cool is that we're not the only ones under the spell. Her big brother Isaiah is also spellbound and has been since she was a toddler. He doesn't seem to hold it against her that Mom and Dad go gaga over her either. I might be wrong, but I think he gets it (this would be the kind of thing that makes my brother refer to Isaiah as The Old Soul).

I'm sure my friend Becky remembers the days when Isaiah would gently pull Brielle's hair ringlets and press his cheek against hers as they sat side by side during our preschool co-op.
When he was about four, we started calling him The Sniffer because we would often catch him leaning over Brielle while sniffing her hair. He took a liking to the nickname and started chasing her around the house, threatening to Sniff-Her.
He still does that kind of thing. Not as often...but I still catch him loving on his sister like that once in a while. What he does do very regularly still is come up with little nicknames for her. He's given her so many nicknames over her lifetime, I'm actually having a hard time remembering them all. But I do remember my favorite ones, so here they are:

1. Sino (As in, "Jesus loves me, thi s-I- know"...He nicknamed her that when he realized early on that 'sino' was not a word...but rather a term he had coined...so he figured he might as well use it! =)
2. Feathers (Because he loved her 'feathery' hair)
3. Baby-Crocket-Drop-It (Birthed out of her annoying tendency as a baby to grab things from his hand)
4. Touchy-uchy-wuchy (Recent one...because she still has a tendency to want to touch/grab things out of his hand, especially his Pokemon cards =)
5. Sarscophagus or Scarscophagus (Because it's close to sarcophagus???? He hasn't yet been able to explain himself on that one...but he's got a special way of singing this nickname...and she often joins in. Don't ask me. I don't know. It's their 'thing'. )
6. Sacky (Because she 'sacks' him when they play football)
7. Sackidoodle (He added 'doodle' to Sacky one time and it stuck. Now he sings, "Sackidoodle went to town, riding on a pony..." or sometimes "Spankidoodle" gets slipped in instead)
8. Mouss (He says this when he squeezes her cheeks in). 
9. Moossatoossa (He likes to sing jibberish to the tune "Mickey Mouse". He says he honestly thought it said "Moossatoossa la mi fi petit petit petit, M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E". Right.....)
10. Mrs. Pants (Because she started losing her pants after she grew out of diapers)
11. Miss Whiny Pants (I think that one's self-explanatory) 
12. Yawny (He says he started saying that because she tires easily)
13. Wabugilla (Instead of "Cinderella")
14. Flopsy (Because her hair flops when she walks)

The little nicknamer is not so little anymore...but he still loves to shower his sister with his own unique 'terms of endearment'.

So yes, Brielle is special to us....but so is her little nicknamer.