It was summer in the late ’80s, and I was packed and ready for the big day: the birth of my first born. One important component in the get-to-the-hospital-asap overnight bag? A looong, handwritten list of potential baby names. I was all about “uniqueness” and representing at least one side of our child’s heritage: half Irish and . . . the other half, Dominican/English/German/???

We could figure it out at the hospital, right? Great plan. Our son was born, and for two whole days, the poor kid was “Baby Boy Cleary.” Catchy. He was destined to be an Irish rapper or an old-timey bank robber.

Titling a book is tough too. Except you have way more people making the decision. There’s an entire titling team. They’re all crammed into a conference room weighing the preferences of persnickety authors (you want to name my baby what?!) and sales and marketing and potential readers and the maintenance guy. And they’re really hoping Chiptole calls soon to say lunch has arrived.

OK, its far more thoughtful and strategic (and even divinely guided) than that.

All that to say . . . Baby Book 2 in the Tree Street Kids series now has an OFFICIAL TITLE!

In celebration, I visited with Mena [menna]. She’s a beautiful 10-week-old coyote pup, rescued after her parents were killed. Mena, and another pup (Met), are being cared for by the amazing team at the Wildlife Discovery Center. Also, thank you to my daughter whose studies of the suburban coyote population helped inform and inspire this story!

YOOOWWWLLL! (That’s coyote for HURRAY!)

So back to the true story about baby names . . . my son’s? Well, when pressured by the nurse and some legal document that needed filling out, we finally agreed on Keenan (yay!). For our second baby, we were far more prepared with name choices. That is, until Keenan, then 3, came to the hospital to visit his new baby sister.

“What do you think we should name her?” the nurse asked him, winking at me.

My son screwed up his face into something between a sneer and a bowel movement and replied: “I think, the Terminator.”

THANKS FOR FOLLOWING THIS BOOK JOURNEY!