Introducing Nicky Miles Johnson

Just like we wondered how long it would take Nicky to begin saying "yes" instead of "da", (about 7 months) we have also wondered how long it would be before he would begin referring to himself as "Nicky" instead of "Nikita". He's all about speaking in the 3rd person: "Nikita want it"; "Nikita do it"; "Nikita fire truck"; and so on. No matter how hard we try to get him to say "I" instead, he still says his name. And, it doesn't make it any easier for us to stop doing the same - I constantly find myself saying: "Momma will get it for you"; or "Momma is going to fix dinner"; etc. No wonder he still does it! Anyway - we've been home 9 months now, and "Nicky" has emerged! His "official" name is Nikita Miles Alexander Johnson - his given name was "Nikita Alexandrovich" - you can see why we changed it up a bit. We figured he was old enough that he knew his name "Nikita", so changing that too much was out of the question. We were already confusing him enough by taking him out of the orphanage and bringing him to America for goodness sakes! We also wanted him to keep a bit of his former life, and it was important that his heritage was remembered. However, we figured "Nicky" was not only more "Americanized", but it was more fitting for a little tyke than the big name "Nikita". His teachers at school have all been calling him "Nicky", however, due to his speaking in the 3rd person, all the kids call him "Nikita"! I've gotten quite a few questions about that from the kids, especially when they hear us calling him "Nicky" instead of "Nikita"...try explaining all this to a 2 or 3 year old! Not only does he know that his name is "Nicky", but he gets so excited to say the whole thing "Nicky Miles Johnson", and does so with a big smile! He can learn the Alexander part as he gets older...baby steps and all that - we have many other words he needs to learn before that! Not to mention - as he gets older he'll probably want to just be "Nick" or maybe "Bob" - or not, but Bob's just a fun name to say! :) Whatever he decides, for now it's nice to know that he's feeling more and more comfortable with us, and more of a part of our family every day!