Button Up Buddy

Our children have many nicknames.
And, generally, Bill is the one who creates them.

When Lexy arrived on the scene, he started calling her "My Only Daughter!" in a very exasperated voice with a hint of a Spanish accent. Really, it was a movie quote. Which, if you know Bill, should come as no surprise. (It's from "Fools Rush In")

Lexy was also dubbed "Lexy Lou" from early on.... And sometimes just "Lou".... and sometimes just 'L'. And sometimes L-Dawg.

You get the picture.

Tori was born and immediately became "My Second Daughter!" as Lexy morphed into "My First Daughter!" said with the same flare. And then came a flurry of other nicknames for Tori-- "T Bone", "Tori Toops", "Toops", "T" and "LB" (for Little Bill, or the abbreviation for pound, which she was a lot of :) ) just to name a few.

So, it did not surprise me in the least when I started hearing Bill call Liam "Button Up Buddy." I had no idea what the origin of that nickname was, but I went with it, never questioning its meaning. I thought perhaps it had something to do with his little sleepers that had to be buttoned up from his toes to his neck every time we changed his diapers (read: a lot).

I carried on calling him Button Up Buddy for probably a good month or two until one afternoon when Bill overheard me and began a little internet search. Next thing I knew, I had an iTouch in my hands that displayed the following:

Apparently, "Button Up Buddy" was really "Bud, not Buddy."
Who knew?

Bill had that title stored somewhere back in the deep dark corners of his brain from his time as a middle school teacher in south central Los Angeles.

I had been referring to Liam as "Buddy" quite a bit, so (naturally?) Bill had made the progression to "Bud, not Buddy".

I guess I should get my ears checked.


Since then, I have actually read the book--and it is really good!
(Turns out those Newbery Medal & Honors people know what they're doing.)
We now own a copy for our own little Bud, Not Buddy's personal library.