Beam Me Up, Scotty

Did you know that I named Scotty?  It's a fact that I had no say in Tommy's name. We were told, after a detailed ultrasound during the sixth month of my pregnancy, that we were having a girl.  We stopped discussing boy names at all, at that point, which was a total blessing because it reduced name-related-quarreling-and-eye-rolling by 50%.  (It's almost impossible to name a child if you're a teacher...just about every name, after 12 years or so, is less than six degrees of separation from some fool who ruined the name for you.  Ruined it, I say!)

So when Tommy was born, we were in total shock...for, like, 15 seconds. In those 15 seconds, Erik was all, "His name is Thomas!" and I was all, "Can I have a popsicle?" and then we took him home.  I had no idea that Erik had a card up his sleeve with a boy name on it, but it's worked out.  So far.

So it was that I was laid in charge of Scotty's name.  Amends needed to be made.  Because of the timing and circumstances of his birth (before noon, speedy, nearly violent delivery with not even an aspirin to keep me company),  I ended up with TWO WHOLE NIGHTS in a hospital, with just me and My Monster.  I was really getting to know him and I tried on dozens of names during that spell.  Names that almost stuck?  Waylon (after Waylon Jennings) and Zero (after my favorite number).  I stand by "Waylon" to this day.  That's just a good name.  Zero was a longshot.

We were needing to (wanting to) (dying to) check out, and Erik did not want to take him home without a name.  He swore to me that he didn't care what the name was, just name him and let's go, I'll pull the car around...that was his attitude.  So, I took a nap, I woke up, and I said, "His name is going to be Scott.  Scotty."  I expected a bit of resistance but he cheerily said, "I'll get your bag; we're out of here!"

I found out much later that Erik was totally fine with the name because in his mind, Scotty is named after Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer and Second Officer of the Starship Enterprise.  Erik is a HUGE Star Trek fan. He's not flashy about it...you'll never catch him speaking a Klingon dialect or wielding a Romulan disruptor in full headdress at a convention.  He's a subtle fan; a ring tone set to mimic a communicator, oblique references to living room recliner being the captain's chair on the bridge, constant references to a particular episode (by title and season/episode number) to something that just happened in every day life, you know...nerdsville.  

Scotty is also a huge fan.  I wrote about it way back here (2009!?).  When Scotty was two, he would yell "Khhhhaaaaaannnn!!!!!" and wave his fists over his head, a tribute to the ending of Star Trek II.  His very first theater movie?  Star Trek (2009).  He saw it three times...in the theater.  He's watched the entire original series, with Erik, cuddled up on the couch.  He can quote it!

So, man, that's just about the longest way I can think of to say this:  how cute was it when he and I "played" the popular family game, Blokus? It involves a lot of strategy, and some rule-following, so actually playing the game with Scotty is out of the question.  (He's too young to get 'strategy' and too stubborn to follow 'rules'.)  But he LOVES when he and I sit at the table, and we play it kind of like a puzzle, fitting all the pieces of one color together as closely as we can, before moving on to a new color.

He gets so excited when it's all put together!  And now I understand why:

He scurried into Erik's music room, and immediately started punching the board and making 'boop" noises...he thinks it's the computer on the bridge!