EXCLUSIVE: Mindy Kaling’s nickname for 3-year-old son Spencer is not what you would expect

Mindy Kaling named her 3-year-old son, Spencer, after late Hollywood film legend Spencer Tracy. But lately, the preschooler is answering to something a little edgier.

“Spike is something we’re trying to get going,” Kaling, 44, tells TODAY.com. “People tend to call him Spence or Spencey, but I prefer Spike."

“The problem is…. He’s not a Spike,” she continues. “He’s one of the sweetest little boys and Spike has the connotations of kind of like a punky energy.”

Kaling’s 6-year-old daughter, Katherine, is known as Kit to family and friends.

“Kit has always been so easy, but Spencer is harder for a nickname,” the actor says, noting that it might suit him better when he’s a little older.

Kaling describes Kit as being “very interested in order and structure.”

“She’s Type A in that way, and I really like that about her,” Kaling says. She also loves stories about "dramatic situations" and “people fighting against injustice.”

As for Spencer — or rather, Spike — Kaling can’t get over how expressive he’s become.

“His language has really taken off,” Kaling says, proudly.

Spike is also developing a close bond with his big sister. Kaling recalls how he recently woke up from a nap feeling grumpy, and announced that the only person he wanted to see was Kit.

“She sat down next to him and he put his head in her lap and she kissed him,” Kaling says. “Literally, all you want as a parent are these glimmers of hope that your children will get along with each other unprompted.”

“When they’re (asked) ‘Who is your best friend?’ they say each other, and that is incredibly moving,” Kaling adds.

While Kit and Spike are best pals, they enjoy getting together after school with their peers. Kaling is happy to host. She says the key to a successful play date is keeping the ratio to 1:1.

“If you add a third kid, the volume goes up exponentially, it’s like 100 times louder, it’s 100 times more of a mess than when you have two kids,” she says.

Kaling opened up to TODAY while promoting her partnership with the “Let’s Get Creative” campaign, launched by writing brands Sharpie and Paper Mate at South by Southwest.

Kaling says she uses the Paper Mate InkJoy Gel Bright! Pens for writing thank you notes, and addresses the envelopes with a Sharpie Creative marker.

“I’m a stationery and pen nerd,” Kaling says “I follow a bunch of calligraphy people on Instagram. So this is a real passion of mine.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com