Baby Namer's Regret

I have a confession to make. The wisdom of saying something of this magnitude on the internet is questionable but for the sake of brutal honesty here I go... I wish I had named my daughter Madeline. I know what you're thinking. Who says this, who thinks this, and for heaven's sake who would ever admit to others that they suffer from Baby Namer's Regret?!? It's not that I don't like the name Sophia, I do, I'm the one who came up with it, but my mom planted the seed of discontent in my head this last week while we were at Starbucks and I can't get past it.

My mother, trying to either spoil or kill my 7 week old, offered her Madeline cookies. First problem: my daughter had, only that week, learned how to swallow and digest thickened breast milk (see my first post for the gory details)... there's no way she was going to get down a cookie. Second problem: Madelines are those peaked cookies that aren't good enough to make it into the actual bakery case with all the other pastries and instead have to reside in the plastic bin by the register with the broken biscotti and instant coffee packets... doesn't her granddaughter even rank a chocolate chip? But I was going to say when Truth broke in with all her matter-of-fact about the cookies (see Frost's Birches) that I heard the name and thought it would be perfect. My daughter has redish hair just like the girl from the books, and if that's not a sign I don't know what is! I finally mustered up the courage to ask my husband about a name change and, while we were at it, changing her last name to Valentine as Madeline Valentine had a nice ring to it. He said no.

As I look over at my daughter I'm reminded that we named her Sophia because it means wisdom, something I pray she has that will guide her through life. Sophia will stay Sophia. I like that. Hmm... I wonder what he'd think about a new dog... Madeline the Mastiff?