Middleaged Mormon Grampa. Sounds pretty good to me. (Yes, I see the conflict inherent in the name, so you don’t need to belabor it.)
Yes, it is true. FOML2 and his sweet wife are with child. I got to see the ultrasound image, and I must say, it is a beautiful baby. What? Oops – that was the bladder. Either way, I know it will be an adorable baby, because it has great genes – 25% of which I can personally vouch for.
We are excited, and it seems that anyone who is already a grandparent is disproportionately excited for us. The consensus is that most grandparents would have rather skipped parenthood and moved directly to grandparenthood. (Which would make for a convoluted family tree.)
Of course we will still have two teenagers in the house when the newbie is slated to arrive this summer, so we will get to be parents/grandparents at the same time. (Yeah, a common Mormon situation. At least my EC is not with child at the same time.)
Our kids are nobly letting us choose what we want to be called, which I do appreciate. My parents were Gramma and Grampa, my EC’s parents were Papa and Nana, and the distinction was fun and helpful. Fortunately, we have a few months to decide.
I know there are lots of variations on grandparents names. Some people are super vain and try to distance themselves from anything “traditional” for fear of being seen as old. (Which only makes the age issue more obvious.) Some like to use their first names, some their last names. I don’t really care what they call me, as long as they call me last when they need a diaper changed.
The gender and name of the baby are still unknown at this time. I’m hoping none of my five kids name their offspring anything stupid, (As has become the norm out there.) I hope they don’t selfishly saddle their poor kids with something weird that the kid will have to explain their entire life. I also hope they don’t spell it strangely – again consigning the child to a lifetime of name spelling. That’s not love.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what they choose to call their baby, because I am absolutely going to love it no matter what. I am also going to call it whatever I want, should the name they choose be bizarro.
Kids: “We chose to name our son “Champion.”
Me: “Sounds great! I’m gonna call him Scott.”
Kids: “But…but…you can’t call him Scott!”
Me: “Wanna bet?”
And then, I will call him Scott. And blame it on dementia. When Scott gets older, I’ll say things like, “Hey Scott, you wanna go to Disneyland with your Gramma and Grampa?” My guess is he’ll be just fine with it.
I didn’t have grandpas growing up. One passed away before I was born, and the other lived far enough away that I seldom saw him. Fortunately, I watched as my father and father-in-law modeled the role for me perfectly. That included feeding my children ice cream far earlier in life than we felt was right, and keeping the kids up too late at night. I think I can handle this.
Over the past years, we have said goodbye to the previous generation in our family. We welcome the next generation gladly.
It’s gonna be fun.
We had the first grandchild on both sides. He came into this world SCREAMING and proceeded to continue for the next year and a half. Every time my uncle called my mom to see if grandparenthood was as wonderful as everyone says, she’d reply with, “not yet”. Loooooong years of LOTS of early intervention needed for him, and work continues to this day 10 years later. Speech therapy was one service he received. He dubbed my mom Nanny and my dad Papa, once he was able to figure talking out a bit. Along came his cousin and modified it to Granny Nanny! HILARIOUS!! Kids will come up with their own special names for you all on their own.
We have a Klayton. I’m still on the fence about it. Like the name a lot, hubby says the spelling is fine even though it’s spelled wrong. We’ve got 6, the first two ended up with matching first initials, as did 3 and 4…not on purpose. Number 5 was a K and we figured we might as well keep the pattern…then discovered we didn’t like any K boy names. If he hates it I’ll pay to change it for him. Biggest problem with him is the dang ss office and vital records put MY female middle name instead of his male middle name (VERY common boy name and spelled normally) on his ss card and birth certificate. We’re not really boy named Sue types.
Have fun introducing ice cream too early!! 😀 Congrats!
We picked names from family history for all but our youngest son. When I was pregnant with him I had a sudden strong impression of a male presence that I identified as my unborn child. “My name is Sam” he said. We chose to name him Samuel, which was not on our list of names, and he is ‘Sam’ to this day. Fortunately my children have chosen to name my thirty grandchildren with traditional names names spelled normally, although this does include a few Polynesian names that are different but spelled like they sound. All but one of the grandparents go by the grandpa or grandma ( last name) formula with the kids using just grandma or grandpa when there is no occasion for confusion. I don’t love my grandchildren more, but let’ s just say, they are the dessert.
Congratulations! You’ll love it! And your younger kids will too. It expands the meaning of Family in a wonderful way.
How exciting!!!!! Congratulations to you and your children.
Don’t do the Scott thing. It’s pretty important that you don’t do that.
Pretty important? Based on….?
Second hand experience: A friend of mine didn’t officially name her child for six weeks because she wanted to call her daughter “Fawn” – to her, it was absolutely the child’s name – but her parents strenuously objected. Eventually she stuck with Fawn, but here she was, talking to me about it years later, still quite traumatized by the experience. A name is an important thing, and often has specific meaning to the parent. That’s all. =)
Sounds like had some smart parents. Too bad she didn’t listen. Or at least let it go.
At two years old my son, Dwight Glenn, decided his name was Zach. And that is the name my forty-five year old son still uses. Even on his college degree and medical diploma. Go figure
What a joyous occasion. Congrats! My parents just spent a week with my children and many marshmallows and hot chocolate were consumed.
Also, my fingers are crossed that they give the kid a sensible name. There are so many delightful ones to pick from. No need to make it cre8tive.
Congratulations! Nanny and Grandad are popular in England. Just saying 🙂
The grandparent thing – pretty much the greatest thing ever. Congratulations, my friend.
This reminds me of my grandpa,who is long gone,whom we called “Hankpa”. His name was Henry,but my Grandma Lue called him “Hank”.
My oldest cousin who couldn’t say “Grandpa” combined his name Hank with Grandpa..and “Hankpa” was born.All of us kids called him that .
When I’d talk to others about my “Hankpa” no one knew who or what a Hankpa was…but we all did.He really liked it too,and referred to himself as Hankpa.
Good memories.
My youngest daughter called my Dad “Poppi” when she was young as she couldn’t say grandpa.
Congratulations! What wonderful news! You’ll be a wonderful Grandpa!
And for the record, when I asked my kids how they were gonna do this with four sets of grandparents, they are like….”um, I dunno, we’ll just wait and see how it ends up.” Obviously not as much forethought there, lol.
My grandparents were Grandma and Grandpa and Grammie and Bill. Apparently Dad’s father was not excited about the grandparent prospect, lol. He was a good man, but never a “warm and fuzzy” kind of grandfather like my other grandpa. However, I think he was very amused watching us give my dad the same grief Dad gave them, lol.
My niece, when she was expecting her first, was looking for a name. She has a Germanic last name, so her Dad, always a tease, started suggesting names like Wolfgang, Helmut, etc, as a joke. She decided she loved Wolfgang and so she ran with it…and he spent the next six months trying to talk her out of it, lol. The day the baby was born, my sister in law was speculating about an appropriate nickname for Wolfgang and my bro in law said, “Dunno about you, I’m calling him Fred!”. They live on the other side of the country, so I’m not sure if that stuck, but your story reminded me of that.
As far as grandparenthood, it’s the best gig in the world. We’re new to it, our only granddaughter just turned 9 months. But we have the privilege of having them live with us while my son establishes his career a bit. We have 3 other sets of grandparents to compete with, so we feel extra blessed. And we have a teenager left at home, too. There will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth when it’s time for our son and his little family to move on, but for now, we are enjoying the heck out of it.
Happy news Indeed! Congratulations to your family?
Is that a question? Thanks?
So far all our kids have given their children mainstream names. We joke about Michael and Gabriel, our two archangels. (If they have a girl, I’m voting for Angela.) Our granddaughter Ellie christened us Meemaw and Beebaw, all on her own. I know Meemaw is popular in Texas, but as far as I know, there aren’t a lot of other Beebaws around.
Hooray!!! Congratulations!
Sometimes having grandparents of a different nationality is quite nice. My Mexican grandparents we called Guelito and Guelita and my other set of grandparents we called Avi and Yaya – grandfather and grandmother in Catalan.
On another note, my oldest is getting married in April. I am 37. I made my parents grandparents when they were 40 and I will most likely become a grandma before I’m 40……and our youngest is not even two. Large family problems!
How exciting and Congratulations! We are also going to be Grandparents soon, in May actually, no word on gender yet for ours either but just like what you said we are certain either way it will be a beautiful little person! Kris has decided he will be called “Grand Dude” and I shall be called “Maymi”…Maymi for me is because when my daughter was a baby for a spell she just decided to call me Maymi along with Mama, I decided way back then that was what my Grandkids would call me…I have a Grammy and my Mother is Nana so it all works. I hope that you have fun deciding what z bebe will call you, special time as all of the other grandkids to come will also call you by whatever you choose. Funny story my Father didn’t want to be called Grandpa because it made him feel too old. His name was Chuck and that was what he wanted the Grandkids to call him, fine no big deal…Well when they all arrived they just started calling him Duck it just worked out that way. My Mother was thrilled with this as she was worried that one or all might learn the letter F before D and that would have been a royal MESS! Fortunately for us D came first and CH much later so my Dad was their Duck! I live in Colorado the land of the weird names for kids, maybe you’ll be blessed with a Grandson and they name him Bradley after you! That would be awesome no…or your kids could go all hipster on you and you could have a grandchild named Banjo, or Gray Rabbit, or Lyrical Poetry…these are all real names…ok Congratulations Again!
Welcome to the joys of grandparenthood! One of our grandaughters is named Moiraine Sierra Valentine Worden. My husband calls her Bug because her last 2 initials are VW. I call our grandaughter Emily “the divine Miss Em” But in the end, they are all the loves of our lives – all 10 of them and 2 on the way.
Congrats. I am far from being a grandparent. My oldest is just 15, but I am still envious. The child will pick the name he wants to call you and it may be stupid, but just like the parents can’t control what you call the child. You will have a hard time controlling what they call you, or want to call you.
I agree. We encouraged Grandma and Grandpa (as my kids only have one grandpa, it isn’t too confusing-the grandma is a little more confusing because they have 4 living). They started by calling my mom Grandma, then it morphed into Grammy, now it has morphed into Gram. She has no control over it and neither do we.
Our First grand baby shows up later this month and I still don’t know what names we will go by. Grandma just sounds so OLD. Especially since I still have all ages down to a 3 yr old at home. I’m hoping that grandparent-hood is as great as everyone says, because it’s a miracle that this kid about to become a dad lived thru his teen years.
It is. But the word grandma – to me – is truly the greatest compliment I have ever had yet.
My aunt’s grandkids all call her Honey, which I think is adorable. Every Friday she takes them for a while and they call it Honey Friday. I think my uncle goes by Papa. Honey and Papa…good combo.
I agree with you on the weird name thing, too. I had a girl in my ward got after me once for spelling her name wrong, as if it were my fault that her parents put an apostrophe in her name. Go yell at them!
Congrats on the next gen.
I don’t have any children, but I do have 31 awesome nephews and nieces. And they have given me 35 great-nephews and-nieces! The next generation (and the one after that) are a lot of fun! Congratulations!
We are Gramma Cindy and Grampa Rod to help the kids with the whole gramma/grampa who? confusion. And yes, my dad, fed all of his grandchildren a taste of ice cream around 2 to 3 months (bring on the allergies). I do have one twin granddaughter named after me and her mom, another after my mom and my husband’s mom and a couple of grandsons named after grear grandpas which makes for a little confusion at Thanksgiving but we love it! 10 grands here with one more on the way!
I think the love goes deeper with each succeeding generation. I don’t have great-grands yet. I’ll get back to you.
My husband’s mom wanted to be “Grandma Lynda”, which is great until you want to say both grandparents. It gets cumbersome to say “Grandpa Lauritz and Grandma Lynda”. My kids sometimes just say “Grandma and Grandpa Lynda”. My parents just do Grandpa and Grandma Howell, which is easier, but makes me think of MY Grandpa and Grandma Howell, so it can get confusing too. Why is it so hard?? I better start thinking about what I want to be called when I get there. My oldest is about to leave for her mission, so I’ve got a little while… hopefully it’s long enough to solve this dilemma of what to be called. 😉
Congrats, by the way!!
Our 7th grandchild arrived on Dec. 16. It has been a wonderful experience to have a grandchild in our life. grandma and grampa work for us.
Scott is good, lol….my niece and nephew have always called my brother “Hey Baby”. When my niece was just under a year my brother (her Uncle) realized she couldn’t pronounce his name. He said If you need me just say Hey Baby, and that’s what she had called him (she’s now nearly 20, but the name sticks). Enjoy, it’s a great thing…
That’s so exciting!
My husband and I like traditional names with traditional spellings.We have 3 boys and a daughter. We also didn’t name our kids with the intent to shorten the name either (Ex. Alexander vs. Alex) I have no problem if others want to, we just didn’t. My daughter, we named Katelyn (17, who BTDubs, is a huge MMM fan) My mom decided to call her Katie. I hate it. 17 years she has called her that. My daughter hates it. I don’t say anything since she’s my mom…maybe it’s part of honoring her. I don’t know.
On a side note, my maiden name is Rees. My daughter couldn’t day Grandpa Rees but said “poppy Peace” is was adorable. He passed when she was 3, but I assumed she’d have grown out of it.
I know this has no bearing on what you’ll be called, but thought I’d share. Good luck with that. Grandpa MMM sounds fine to me, it’s mouthful, at first, but kids adapt.
Happy grand parenting!!
Growing up we had Grandma & Grandpa and Grandma & Grandpa (lastname). there are some advantages to living 9 minutes away instead of 9 hours.
My kids have Grandma & Grandpa and Nona & Granddad.
I was asked what I would want (in 10-15 years). I requested “Most Wise and Reverend Grandfather”. I suspect I will end up with something more like “Old Coot”.
The name of the monkey on the post is “Cranky Kong.” I chose him for a prophetic reason.
I’ve heard it said that being a grandparent is the reward for not killing your children. And I agree wit the goofy name thing.
I can so testify to that sentence.
How about Lolly and Pops! Yeah, I got vetoed when I brought that up. My mom chose Bubbi because she thought it sounded more sophisticated (she saw herself as Auntie Mame) which, because we live in the south quickly became “Bubba” to her horror. We are Nana and Papa and our granddaughters other grands are Noni and Quack Quack isn’t that cute? Sometimes no matter what you choose the grands end up naming you something else.
Congrats! You will be an awesome gramps, because I am sure you and your EC are like many, you will never be old! Have fun!!
Wonderful news! I am now eagerly awaiting the imminent arrival of my twenty-first grandchild. May you have many wonderful grand-parenting moments ahead!!
I vote for “otherpa” and “otherma”. My first grandson christened me that when he was 2 yrs old.
More fun than you can even imagine! Congratulations!! – we are welcoming grandchild number six this July.
You will find that you will love those grandkids more than you ever did their parents.