Tuco Is Not The Only Nickname Tuco Has Had

The other day, my husband and I were  reminiscing about the many nicknames Tuco has had in the short time he’s been with us. I am documenting them here, so we can remember these silly things forever. In the future, my husband and I will read this post and chuckle about a very special time in our lives.  When Tuco reads this post, it will give him an idea about what kind of people his parents really are.

The First Nickname: Sleeslack

It’s not a reference to the Sleestaks from The Land of the Lost; it’s a reference to the sleep sack Tuco wore when he first came home. For some reason, my husband came up with this name after wrapping Tuco in his sleep sack, and we started using it. At one point, I walked a days-old Tuco around the house, cradling him in my arms and pretending to know what I was doing. Eventually, we ended up by the piano where I played him a song that went “Sleeslack, slee-ee-ee slack, I love my little sleeslack.” I sang it to the tune of the Yankee Bean song Elaine sang on Seinfeld. I think this name lasted about a month.

Fartin’ Gary

This is the nickname I am a little embarrassed about using for Tuco. Mostly because we are supposed to be adult parents by now. It’s a reference from a Mr. Show skit that adults really shouldn’t find funny, but we laugh anyway when we watch it. I’m sure you can guess why we came up with this one. It still gets used from time to time. Sorry, Tuco.

Skeeter

Here we are again with another nickname we probably shouldn’t have bestowed upon a newborn baby. Here’s the story behind it: In Tuco’s first few weeks of life, his top lip would peel every 4-5 days. When it did, it peeled in big pieces from the bottom of his lip up, which left loose pieces of skin attached at the top of his lip. When this happened, it looked to us as if he had a bunch of crooked front teeth (See picture). This was another short-lived nickname since it didn’t work once Tuco’s lip stopped peeling.

Tuco

We all know how this name started, right? This is the nickname that stuck, but sometimes we make adjustments and invent other versions including Tookey (pronounced Two-key), Tooksberry Farms, Rookey Tookey Tembo (this evolved into just Tembo, which evolved into Tembie, a personal favorite of mine currently).

There you have it, the many nicknames of Tuco. Absurd as they are, these are our terms of endearment for our son. I’m not sure how we came to create so many–the only reason I can think of is a combination of our brains being exhausted and the fact that we love this kid so much. We can’t help but utter little pet names for him when we  look at his sweet face. I wonder if other parents over-nickname their child like this.

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