Nicknames

I've never been much of a fan of nicknames, but lately they have been on my mind. And here's why. You see, I'm getting up there in years. In addition to getting older, all three of my children are grown and away from the house. One is in college, one is married, and one I'm guessing will be married by this time next year. As goes the proper sequencing of life, I can only assume that one day, hopefully not very soon, I will be a grandmother.

Am I ready? With fear of sounding too positive or anxious, because I definitely don't want it coming too soon, yes I think I am ready. Which brings me to my problem. What do I want to be called?

Like I've said, I'm really not crazy about nicknames. When I was pregnant with my first child, my father-in-law had already chosen the nickname "scooter" for this baby. Can I just say, for the record, I did NOT want my absolutely beautiful (because I knew he would be) brand new baby being referred to as a scooter! I was horrified! When he was born, guess what happened? That's right! I loved my father-in-law but he called my son scooter! Oh my gosh! I absolutely had to stop this in its tracks! I have no memory of how this happened but we must have been successful because my baby was no longer a scooter and the next two babies were not graced with such an experience. Or should I say, such nicknames!

I realize I'm way off track, but I wonder if you might think me crazy to learn that my husband and I had our own little nicknames for the kids. Something about them being yours must make this okay, right? He called our beautiful daughter; you guessed it, "beautiful." And she will always, always be my "bunny-boo," but I don't know why. My husband called the boys "tiger" and "buffalo" when they were young. I never nicknamed the boys. I must have been afraid of a scooter tumbling recklessly from my mouth.

Back to my dilemma. Doing child care for all these years, I've heard my share of nicknames for the grandparents. The men have been Grandaddy, Pops, PawPaw, and Grandpa. Of course I'll leave this choice up to my husband. For those of you that know me all-too-well, you also know he'll choose something I like, right! Yes indeed! He came from a line of "Papaws." Don't confuse this with PawPaw. PawPaw I can handle, but Papaw . . . I just don't know. Pronounced papaw (like pap) and all of us girls hate anything that comes remotely close to mentioning that dreadful word! But, yes honey! You can choose (carefully) what you want the grandkids to call you!

As women, I think we take this much more seriously. We want an endearing name. We want one that reflects our personality. We want our dear grandchildren to think fondly and only of us when they hear it. Why is there always so much more for us, as women, to think about? So I must come up with something perfect for me. In my child care and other places, I've heard Meemaw, Gran, Granny, Grandma, Granmommy, and Nana to name a few.

I can honestly say I've never wanted to be a Granny. Although a good friend is probably the best granny you'd ever want to have. And when a dear friend of mine had her first child, I fondly remember her very proper mother telling me that they were going to be called "grandmother" and "grandfather." I often wonder if that played out. We'll have to ask her. She's an artist who referred many of you to my blog so I'll bet she's reading and will give us an answer.

My favorite story, though, about names for grandmothers comes from a little girl at my child care home who had a Nana. She loved and adored her Nana. Each day at pick-up time she would run to the door, very glad to see her, and exclaim, "Hi Nana!" One day another little girl was involved in this interaction. This is how it went.

A* exclaimed, "Hi Nana!" which was evidently puzzling to the other little girl.

M* looked at me quite quizically and then looked at Nana, and finally at A*. Once they were out the door and on their way home, M* looked at me again with that ever-so-baffled look; and asked "Why does she call her grandma a banana?"

And, as you've heard me say before, this is the point I hide those rising chuckles. Yes, nicknames (specifically for grandmothers) have been on my mind. I hopefully have a minimum of five years to figure this out; and with optimism I consider closer to ten. I'll keep pondering. Give me your ideas and your favorites! I might just find one I like. In the meantime, I know I can eliminate Granny. And, I'm practically positive I DON'T want to be a Banana!