Chicken Blog

Monkeys and names. I have been awake since very early. Even earlier than it is now. Papaya has escalated her activity level to an eye popping level.
Really. My stomach is tender. I can feel the soles of her "dainty" feet pushing up and across my belly. It feels like there is a being swimming in my abdomen, with dive gear, and a surf board. So, I gave up on sleeping, and I certainly wasn't able to "just relax." I came downstairs and found an email from aunt Carol, and has she got some news: It's year of the Monkey. We're talking Chinese horoscopes here, and I have to say Papaya is making a monkey believer of me. She is a vine swinging, squirrely, squirmy, leaping Monkey Girl. Our cousins in Wisconsin, Betsy and Gabe, are expecting a girl in November, and Betsy is having the same experience; their daughter is far more active than their son Griffy was.

Aunt Carol's insight is quite timely, and very funny, and I am taking it in to serious consideration. She has always had a gift for understanding and describing our children's personalities and traits. So, what does one name a monkey? We have grown rather attached to the nickname Papaya, but we are still considering other names. And believe me, we have received many suggestions:

Noelle, Noel
Holly
Faith
Hope
Mandy
Katrina
Kona
Mia
Max (can you guess who made this suggestion?)
Miranda
Zoe
Victoria
Velveeta (honest)
Olivia
Jane
Grace
Elizabeth
Kristen
Antonia
Elena... and others...

I don't want to confuse my monkeys and primates. Tarzan's sidekick, Cheeta, was a chimp, not a monkey, right? So that rules out the name Cheeta. And Koko is a gorilla. Maybe monkey inspiration is the wrong path to travel when trying to decide on a daughter's name. We aren't likely to decide until we see her, and even then it will probably will be a difficult choice. There are a lot of girls with beautiful names in our family, and many of our friends have nicely named daughters as well. We tend to think that Papaya should have her very own name, and besides it would be tough choosing who to name her after, since we know and admire so many women. Wish I could just sleep on it.