An Ari by any other name...

Build a Bear Employee: "Can you tell me your name, Sweetie?"

Ari: "Ariella Joan Centoni. It means I'm a lion. I'm three."

Ariella is a Hebrew name that means "Lioness of God." I LOVE that meaning and after 39 hours of labor filled with scary stuff for our baby girl, we knew it was her name. She was a ferocious little fighter, even then. We wanted her name to not only communicate her strength, but also her identity as a child of God.

So it's true. Ari's name means she's a lion. And she knows it. She told me when she was 2 years old that she loves me with the strength of a lion. She does. In fact, she does everything with the strength of lion... a really big, really strong lion. And she's three.