Mockingbirds and Armadillos

Every so often I post something about my girls.  I’m not big on splashing them across the internet and neither are they. (My teenager isn’t on Facebook–her choice, believe it or not.) I’ve been thinking about code names for them.

Some blogging genii (my daughter’s prefered spelling for the plural of genius) have great names for their kiddos:

• Kristen Lamb: The Spawn–Perfect for a son.
• Jenny Hansen: Baby Girl–Perfect for an only daughter.
• Debra Kristi: Gamer and Monkey–Perfect.
• Paige Kellerman: Butch, Sundance, and Doc Holiday–If you’ve never read her stuff, you should!

I know there are others. If you have code names for your kiddos, feel free to put a link to your blog in the comments.

What to do when you have two girls who are as different as mine? “The Anti-Teenager” is too limiting. “Daughter 1” and “Daughter 2” are too boring. Their real nicknames are off limits (so I’ve been told).

During a conversation with my older daughter, I realized that she is really The Mockingbird and her sister is The Armadillo.  We are from Texas, after all.  What better way to salute them in my blog?  I thought I’d share some awesome facts about two of my state’s favorite animals.

The Mockingbird

The Texas state bird is the Northern Mockingbird.  What’s not to love about these birds?

They’re smart and sassy and bold. They mimic the songs of other birds and other sounds they hear.  Really.  Some have been known to use the sounds car alarms and chain saws in their repertoires.

Photo by Captain-tucker, Wikimedia Creative Commons

My husband would sit on our front porch and whistle a sequence of notes, and our resident mockingbird would repeat it. I’d like to think that fellow passed along the song to others who mimic it now.

Have you ever seen a hawk fly for its life?  Most likely a mockingbird or two will be close behind.  If a mockingbird feels threatened, it doesn’t care how big the perceived enemy is.  One time, I was dive bombed while walking the dog.  I had no idea a nest was in the bush so close to the sidewalk, but the bird let me know about it.

My teenaged daughter is now The Mockingbird.

The Armadillo

The Texas state mammal is adorable, don’t you think?

Photo by Hans Stieglitz, Wikimedia Creative Commons

What is it? (I hear some of you asking that question.)

It’s the nine-banded armadillo.  These odd, nocturnal, and burrowing creatures aren’t smart or sassy or bold. Not much about them is remotely like my younger daughter. Although, she often curled up into a ball as a toddler if she got mad.

Despite their weirdness, she thinks they’re cute. So, my younger munchkin is now The Armadillo.

What nicknames do you use for your kiddos when you’re online?  Do you use nicknames for yourself?

Thor Isn’t a Native Texan…

But he got here as fast as he could.

If you’re a native Texan, you know what I mean.

When Debra Kristi said that Thor wanted to tour the world, I jumped at the chance to show him my little piece of Texas.

Thor thought it might be nice to have one of these steeds go home with him.

The first thing he asked about was whether we had cows or horses.  Uh, no.

But we have this lovely collection of model horses.  They were more his size than the real thing.  I lent him a hat to wear, too.  It wasn’t exactly a cowboy hat, but straw hats are nice.  He was afraid of messing up his hair though.

Real cowboys don’t worry about hat head.

Thor found himself in some trouble with the local law.  When he saw his “Wanted” poster, he knew it would be best to leave the horses at my house.

Horse rustling is nasty business.

One day, I took him to work so he could hang out with Spidey-Spud and Darth Tater in my office.  They showed him around my bookshelf and plants.  They took turns trying to convince Thor that they could hold his hammer.  They even offered up the light saber and web!

Thor wondered about the potato-shaped men….

Thor, being the responsible god that he is, chose to keep his hammer to himself.

“I said, ‘No!’ You may not hold my hammer, strange potato men.”

Even with those eyes flashing in anger, I think he was trying to keep the spuds from embarrassing themselves when the hammer wouldn’t let them lift it.  Only one has the humility and integrity to wield it.  Just saying.

Then he decided that he wanted potato salad for lunch.

In honor of his godliness, I took him to an NBA basketball game with two of my besties (the witch and the vampire). It was the Dallas Mavericks against none other than the OKC Thunder.

He took in the crowd and asked, “All these scantily-clad women and other mortals came here to see me?”

Uh, no.

The god of thunder cheered his team to victory.

I got worried when he complained about the OKC team’s uniforms.  “How can they not include a bolt on the jerseys?” he asked.  I told him that it was better than the other ones where “Thunder” was written on the back of their shorts. (Think about it.)  The god of thunder was appeased when he saw so many lightning bolt shirts in the stands.  He was even more pleased to hear those fans cheer when the Thunder played well.

He was a bit of a stinker during the game.  Everytime the home crowed chanted, “Let’s go, Mavs,” he countered with, “O – K – C!”  At one point, he was so thunderously loud with threats to strike the arena that I thought one of the ushers might ask us to leave.  After a nail-biting overtime, the Thunder managed to win by two points.  Thor claimed the victory as his own and hailed the Thunder players as the best in the NBA (they are pretty good).  He taunted us on the entire drive home.  No humility there.

As a gracious guest (or maybe he was still giddy from his team’s win), he thanked me profusely for the look at Texas, short that it was.  I hope he wasn’t too disappointed that some of his wacky assumptions about Texans weren’t true or that he didn’t get to steal a horse.  😉

What would you do if you hosted a god or superhero?  Who would it be?  Come on….share!