Becoming Mary Poppins: Meet Mary Poppins's People

It's time. After a few weeks of blogging, I'm officially tired of writing out the phrases "my oldest daughter," "my 4 year-old," "my youngest daughter," "my 18 month-old," "my angel," "my headache," etc. OK, so I'm pretty sure I never used the last two descriptions, although sometimes both are adorable angels and at other times they are definitely headache-inducing creatures. I'm in need of some consistent pseudonyms for my girls.

In keeping with the Mary Poppins theme the obvious choice is, of course, to go with the names of the Banks children (Jane and Michael). I see two problems with that suggestion, however. 1. I have 2 girls, not one child of each sex. I could overcome that issue by turning Michael into Michelle or Mikel, but that still wouldn't be enough to get me over hurdle number two. 2. Bert's mother's name is Jane. Don't get too excited. This isn't going to be some mother-in-law bashing harangue. I just can't see myself calling either of my girls by their grandma's name. There's a reason I didn't name them after my mother-in-law to begin with. If Jane wasn't right for them then, it's certainly not right for them now. So, I'm breaking tradition and moving on with some non-Mary Poppins themed names for my kids. Allow me to introduce Una (my first daughter) and Duet (my second).

I thought of several other names for her before deciding on the less-clever Una. I could have called her something that suited her personality such as "Little Miss Inquisitive" (she asks questions constantly. Once I tried to keep track of the number of questions she asks in a day. I lost count around 50 and it was well before noon). But Little Miss Inquisitive is too lengthy to write. So she shall simply be known as Una. Some of Una's favorite things include:
singing (she has the entire ABBA Gold CD memorized),
reading (she's especially fond of poems),
designing objects out of household items (such as a high-heeled shoe made out of a block taped onto a piece of paper).
helping out with Duet.

My father calls Duet "Sir Edmund Hillary" after the first known climber (along with his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay) to successfully scale Mt. Everest. She is indeed a climber. But I didn't want to promote gender confusion by calling her Sir, and Hillary is fine, but as you know I'm an Obama supporter. Besides, do I always want her to be defined by her climbing tendencies as a toddler? Her interests could change, after all. So as a play on the number 2 I've chosen Duet. I thought about dos or deux, but I don't like how either of those sound. Although Duet technically isn't the number 2, it sounds feminine and I like it. Duet's interests include:
following Una around,
incessantly begging for cake (she takes after me, I guess)
dancing (she can shimmy like nobody's business),
requesting music each time she sees an iPod or a stereo (this usually sounds like "A song" meaning she wants to listen to Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk").

Bert, who you've already met, likes to write, travel, bake, watch 30 Rock and (this is a direct quote from him said in an Isaac Hayes-esque voice) "make sweet love to his lady."

And for a little more about Mary: In addition to my previously declared love for Bert, Una, Duet, sweets, and politics, I love all things from the 1970s--music, fashion, TV shows (it doesn't get better than the Brady Bunch or the Partridge Family. Don't even get me started on the original Charlie's Angels. I love them all!).