terms of endearment...

Funny how families create nicknames for each other. I remember wishing I had one when I was little because everyone on my mom's side had one (I guess it was southern thing!). Of course my brother gave me one...one I'd prefer to forget! Ultimately, I never really had one.
Now I have my own kids. My husband, who I would've never pegged as the nicknaming type, has bestowed upon our kids terms of endearment. It started with The Boy. He would refer to him as "the rugrat"...this eventually shorten to just "rat". Now my son (6.5 yrs) is signing notes to his Dad as "Ratt". I think it is WAY cute. My daughter, is developing a less-cute nickname (per her Dad). He's been calling her "crabby" (it rhymes with her name). Not that she's always in a foul mood - but she has her moments. I told him, you've got to come up w/ something cuter. Poor kid will probably get that kind of name-calling at school, the least her Dad can do is come up w/ something cute!