My Little Chili Pepper

Ok, while we're on the subject of my kids, I thought I'd share another story about my son. Since before he was born, he's had the nickname Chili Pepper (or Chili for short.) But a lot of people don't know why we call him that.

Someone even asked me one time, "You named your kid Chili?!" Like it was his real name. No, I didn't actually name my kid after a vegetable. But the nickname was cute, and it just stuck. He likes it, too. When he meets someone new he'll tell them his real name, then say "But everyone calls me Chili Pepper."

From very early in my pregnancy, I craved spicy food all the time. The spicier the better. And it was just about all I wanted. (Spicy Mexican food. Hot wings. Anything with jalapenos in it.) This, for those of you who are unfamiliar with pregnancy, is very unusual. Most of the time you don't want to bring spicy food around a pregnant woman.

We were talking one day about how unusual my cravings were, when I decided that it actually made since. Since I'm originally from Texas, and my husband is Hispanic, I explained that the baby was half jalapeno and half chili pepper, so of course it was making me crave more spicy food.

We didn't have a name yet, because we didn't know his gender yet. So since we didn't want to call him an "it" and were tired of "the baby," we just started calling him the chili pepper. Everybody thought it was cute, and it just seemed to fit, so eventually it became Chili Pepper.

What makes it all even funnier is how much he loves peppers now. (He still just eats the sweet ones - no chilis yet - but still. How many 5-year-olds love peppers?) So the nickname turned out to be even more perfect than I ever expected. :)