@VaBluebird : How wonderful of your son to post that. You will continue to see her regularly – 45 mins to an hour away is hardly a barrier! And you’ve made an indelible bond with your GD that will never be erased.
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Me to Mr.: “In 12 years, we again will be dealing with some moody teenagers… are you ready for this?!” Mr. said, “Thank god we are not their parents.” 
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LOL! I hear you. My GD is scary smart.
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H and I never thought this would happen, but….our little 18 month old granddaughter and her parents are moving in with us - today!
Super excited! S starts a new job 10 minutes from here and their current home, which is an hour and a half away, goes on the market this week. S says before he pays 10% over an already inflated list price, he wants to be certain he actually likes the house they hope to buy. Life is about to really change!
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OMG, what fun!! This is going to be fascinating. Keep us posted!
Spent the weekend babysitting for 5-month-old granddaughter—who lives 900 miles from us. Kids flew from IN to MA to go to a good friend’s wedding in NH. Kids rented an AirB&B house not too far from the wedding, and we watched baby GD while they went to wedding events. We had a great time, but are now exhausted!!
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I get to join the club! Daughter and SIL expecting the end of December. Now what to name me. I am NOT a granny, grandma or anything that sounds like that. Any suggestions are welcome
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CottonTails, in my case, I let her name me. I am known as “Gom Gom.” I love it!
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My GD calls me GaGa, though as she gets older she also uses Grandma.
My friends are also Gran, Mimi, Nona, Nana, Grammy. An acquaintance demands to be called Lovey, I can’t imagine.
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Nana, Mimi, Gigi, Gran, Oma (German) a nickname from your name like if you are Barbara be Bibi. I couldn’t decide but ended up being the southern Mamaw as my mom had been. Did this after she passed last year. I am still Memere to my grandson, who is almost 5, trying to get him to change over. My husband’s family is Fr. Canadian so we had decided on Memere and Pepere but…I decided to honor my mother with this. Sheldon on BBT called his grandmother Memaw, similar. Each of my granddaughters call their other one Grandma.
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I am grandma. SIL’s mom is Nonna, which kind of surprised me, because I figured she would use the Arabic word for grandma instead. I think his dad uses the Arabic word for grandpa, and my H used grandpa (although I think he should use Granddude, which Lester Holt’s grandkids call Lester).
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I am Grandma Firstname as is other Grandma, though it can be shortened to Grandma. My H is Grandad.
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Had a nice day with D and her kids. Her H is back mostly working from his nearby office, so she’s trying to get used 8 week old and 2.5 old on her own, so I spent today being an extra set of hands and help with errands. I walked to the library with them and stayed in the next-door park with the kids while she got them new books (doesn’t want to take them inside). Then after we walked home, I did toddler’s nap routine while D breast fed the baby. I hung around, watched him while she got things done, and then got their grocery pickup so she didn’t have to pack up kids. Read with toddler for a while and then went home. Generally adding an adult makes a much more workable day, so I’m going to do this when I can, during the summer.
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@oldfort our grandson was in his crib for a nap - it turns out DD1 is able to usually just go in and lie him down and he settles down, but sometimes he starts crying again. So I went in and laid him down and then went to lie on the twin bed in the room. He ended up not getting up again and slept hard, and I had a nap too! DD1 (expecting her 3rd in early Sept) was lying on the couch and got her 3 YO to lie down with her and they both had a nap too. Much needed by the kids! Later grandpa and DD2 came, so lots of good evening family activity. DD1/SIL are moving to a bigger place this week and SIL was able to do some much needed packing.
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@CottonTales a lot of us have chosen Nana from people I know (including me), but also other language ‘sweet names’ for grandma, Oma, or even made up names. My mom was grossmutti. Mc is part of SIL’s last name so they are grandma and grandpa Mac.
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I wanted to be Nana because my mother is Nana to my kids . However, the other grandmother is also Nana. Too many Nanas. My family is Norwegian so I’ve become Mormor, which is Norwegian for grandmother. It literally means “mother’s mother”.
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When my stepdaughter adopted her first child, she asked the four grandparents (yes–there were four; both of stepD’s parents remarried) what they wanted to be called. I had a friend in high school whose grandmother didn’t want to be called grandmother, granny, etc. and the friend called her grandmother “MC” which were her initials. I thought that was a good solution and my stepD agreed. Turned out that it was easier for my grandD to say the same initial twice so I became JJ. Newest granddaughter is only 5 months, but my daughter likes JJ so that’s what it will be. My parents were immigrants from Croatia and I considered using the Croatian word for grandmother, but it is the same word as old lady, which I don’t like.
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I’ll be taking care of 2 1/2-year-old GD next week. It’s an airplane flight away for me, but my DIL’s father is dying of lung cancer and my GD’s other grandmother, who usually takes care of GD, is preoccupied with him in the hospital.
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Spending a few days with my two granddaughters (2 yrs/3 mos). 2yo GD’s vocabulary is exploding. 3mo GD is sweet and easy. I play the assistant role. Mostly I get to hold the sweet baby. DIL goes back to work July 1st. Her mom will watch the girls. When she travels I will step in. GD calls me Grandma first name. I have friends who are called Nana, Mimi, Gigi, Grammy, etc… when GD says Grandpa it sounds like Pops, so that might be what we end up calling DH.
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Just back from a 2 week visit with the twins. They’re now 7 months. They have changed and grown so much since I last saw at the very end of March.
Twin A will crawl any day now. She’s up on her hands and knees rocking, but hasn’t quite figured out how to move forward. And the last 5 days I was there she popped out her first 2 teeth. No fussing, no crying, no drooling, no diarrhea–she was absolutely calm, although in retrospect she was chewing on everything she could cram into her mouth.
Twin B said “mama” while I was there and used the sound to get D1’s attention. My daughter was so excited she started crying. But SIL and I discovered the next day, B wasn’t using “mama” to mean mother–it meant pick me up. She’ll say it anyone who’s close by and she also raises her arms in the universal baby pick up gesture.
Both twins eat solid foods and are on a vegetarian diet. They love their veggies. Spinach and lentils is a favorite, so is mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots).
RE: names. I’m grandma, though not by my choice. SIL’s parents claimed Nana and Pop-pop as soon as D & SIL announced the pregnancy. I wasn’t even consulted. Oh well.
RE: sharing information. My SIL is a theoretical physicist/mathematician so his approach to childcare is data-driven and methodical. Everyone who cares for the twins (parents, nanny, me) uses an cell phone app to record all the important stuff–bottles, diapers, naps–how much and at what time. The info is automatically shared with all the caretakers via the app. So it’s easy to tell who’s going to hungry soon or who needs a nap.
The big exciting news from my trip out to CA is that D and SIL signed a contract to buy a house. If all goes well, move in will be mid-July. Big house with a pool. And even more interesting–there’s a separate studio apartment on the property that’s for me. I’ll be moving into it once renovations are done. Although it will be hard leaving this city where I’ve lived for 40 years (and the last 29 in the same house), it’s probably time. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my knees this past year and it’s made me realize that this big house and half acre yard are simply too much for me to manage on my own. So I’m busy downsizing aggressively in preparation for the move.
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