Are you a sweet pea or a tater tot?

When it came time to pick a name for our baby, Yuki and I had a pretty lengthy set of requirements. The first name had to be Japanese and start with the letter "M." From there, Yuki ruled out any name that reminded her of someone she didn't like from her childhood. Then we tossed out any name that would prove problematic later in her life ("Midori" was one of my favorites, except for the fact that everyone associated it Midori Sour. There was no way I was going to name my daughter after a drink). It took a while to find the right name for her, but we were committed to our naming requirements.

By contrast, our quest to find the perfect nickname for Mika hasn't been subject to such a staunch set of criteria. On the one hand, the sky is limit. On the other hand, the sky is the limit. So we just started test driving some nicknames to see what fit. Our initial attempts ranged from the conventional ("cutie") to the absurd ("tater tot," which was inspired by one of the breakfast options in Mount Auburn's room service menu).

We haven't settled on a final selection just yet, but we've been tossing around the following options:

"Baboon" I thought this had potential, but it sounds ridiculous when I use it in context. I can't keep a straight face when I say to her "Settle down little baboon, and give daddy a burp."

"Monkey" I tried this one out when I saw Mika sleeping on Yuki the other night. She looked just like a little chimp baby perched on Yuki's shoulder. It's cute and it makes me smile... just like Mika.

"Munchkin" Who doesn't love a munchkin?

"Sweet Pea" My parents called my sister sweet pea, and I always liked it. Because of its sentimental value, this one has potential.

In effort to broaden our list, I did some internet research on baby nicknames. I found an online nickname generator, which suggested "cutey chin." I'm not so sure about that one. But at least it's better than "Littles McGhee," which, as one new dad/blogger discovered, didn't have the universal appeal he was hoping for. At least it was memorable.