My boys have gotten used to the idea that they are cherubs. In fact, lately when I refer to them as boys or children, they pipe up, "You mean 'cherubs.'

I'm not sure how long I've been calling them that. Possibly at the same time that I worked for Cecily. Cecily and I had codewords for any number of things because one of our coworkers was able to, as Cecily put it, hear a rat piss on cotton at midnight. In addition to the codewords, we had nicknames, hence calling my two little boys (who were not at their best behaviors back then) 'cherubs.' Then there were our boyfriends, "Mr. Wrong" and "Mr. Wrong's Cousin." No, they weren't related; they were both just wrong. I miss having nicknames for everything. It's a stress reliever. :-)