"Rhino"

Sometime in the course of Ryan's life, he picked up the nickname, "Rhino".  I want to say it was started by Roger Shumway, but I could be lying.  And there are a lot of you out there that may know the truth.  But since Ryan isn't around to ask, we are just going with it....

For me, it started off as pure laziness.  Sydney has become "Syd", Lauren becomes "Lou" and Ryan became "Ry".  But that "O" sound fits perfectly...  It certainly doesn't qualify as a term of endearment in my book, but dang, it does flow off the tongue so nicely.  "Hey Rhino, pass the milk,"  "What are you up to Rhino?" "See ya Rhino!"  Well, maybe you have to be there.

Anyway...my story...

You may recall the autistic boy that I'm teaching this year.  We'll call him "J".  Ryan had the pleasure of meeting him last week.  He came right up to Ryan and said in his little robotic voice, "What's your last name Ry-an?"  (Ryan had on his workshirt with the nametag).  So they proceeded to have a short conversation on makes and models of various cars.  I thought that was the ended of it.

But the next day, during class, I hear "Rhino!  Rhino!" accompanied by maniacal laughter.  I think, "Huh, J. must be currently fascinated by rhinoceros."  For the next few days I would hear "Rhino!" burst out in random discussion.  Finally it all clicked for me.

"J, are you talking about the animal, or did I call my husband Rhino when he was here?"

Maniacal laughter.

"Rhino, Rhino!"  "Yes, Rhino, your husband!"

I have learned two lessons from this:
A:  Watch what you say, kids will pick it up.  Thank goodness I hadn't said, "Dammit Ryan, what the hell?"  Not that I would have said that ;-)
B:  "Rhino" doesn't sound so good 100 times a day.  I'm a little sick of it.  I wonder if Ryan would answer if I started calling him "Cupcake"?