Saturday, September 8, 2007

A Rosemary by any other name…

When I was pregnant we told my parents and my in-laws that they could choose what they wanted to be called. Meara was the first grandchild on both sides of the family, so the names they chose would be what all the (eventual) grandkids would call them. My father-in-law picked “Papi” after his favorite Red Sox player. My mother-in-law chose “Grammy.”

Meara started calling my father-in-law “papa” very early on. She didn’t even attempt to say Grammy, so after many months we started discussing a name change. We settled on “RoRo,” which we thought would be easier to say (my MIL’s name is Rosemary). Meara was totally confused. She knew perfectly well that Grammy was Grammy, and she was not interested in this RoRo business. Not long after the failed name change Meara finally pointed at Grammy and said “gwanny.” She and Grammy both lit up with big smiles. Next time we’ll be more patient and trust that Meara’s timetable is the right one.

And in a fitting end to the story, Papi is still not called Papi. Meara has switched from “papa” to “peepaw” and everyone laughs so hard when she says it that I think it’s going to stick!

What do your kids call their grandparents? How did you choose the names?

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