Monday, July 24, 2006

What do you call yours?

We were in Michigan last weekend. Dave, Nora and Ryann went camping with Dave's dad. Georgia and I hung with my mom at my grandparents cottage. Very nice. I read. Did you see that? I R.E.A.D. A book - well, not the entire book, but words in a book. And I read the words in the book on the deck by the lake and I had nothing else to do. I didn't have laundry to fold. I didn't have dishes to wash (okay, so I did... but I did them when I wanted to), I didn't have anything else to do. It was very enjoyable - and so is my book.


The dog stayed with my grandparents for the weekend (they weren't at the cottage). Yes, I had one child and no dog for a full 24 hours. No barking. No woofing. No scratching. No dirty looks. It was blissful. H-anyway... when we were pulling out of my grandparents driveway to go home I told the girls to wave (because Gram and Gramp always stand on the doorstep and wave as we drive away) and said, "I love my Gram and Gramp." To which Nora responded, "Why do you call them Gram and Gramp?" We had a pretty lengthy "conversation" in which I tried to explain that that is just what I call my Grandma and Grandpa. She didn't quite understand. I told her that they are my Grandma and Grandpa and I just call them Gram and Gramp. She didn't get it. So I asked her, "Why do you call Grandpa and Grandma Dykstra Papa and Nana?" Response: "Because they're my Papa and Nana!" DUH! How stupid am I?

Our girls call Dave's parents Papa and Nana and they call my parents Grandpa and Grandma. My nephews call my parents Pa and Mimi (they used to - don't know if they still do). They call Gram and Gramp, Mimo and BoatPa. They call their other grandma, Grammy. They call my other grandma, Grandma Great. Did you follow that?? (you don't need to). I had a friend in high school who called one of his grandpa's Bumpa because there was a sign on the way to his house that said "Bump". Even at 18 he called him Bumpa. My best friend in high school called her grandparents Oma and Opa (the dutch words for grandma and grandpa). What do you call your grandparents - and why?

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Pocket inventory - 4:45pm:
4 ponytail holders - 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 purple
3 quarters, 1 penny
1 backgammon piece (white)
1 red button from Ryann's pants
11 barretts - 2 large (1 black & 1 pink polka dots), 1 medium (orange butterfly), 6 small (2aqua, 1 red, 1 orange, 1 pink sparkles, 1 purple), & 2 bug barettes (1 purple & 1 green)
1 bookshelf peg

15 comments:

one hot momma 7:17 PM  

I call my grandma's grandma. My kids call my mom and dad grandma and grandpa golf-golf because they are always golfing, and they call bob's parents grandma and grandpa ruff-ruff because, you guessed it, they have lots of dogs (they live on a farm) They call my mom's mom honey nana because she had a dog named honey and they call my dad's mom and dad great grandma and grandpa. My oldest made up their names to keep ALL of his grandparents and great-grandparents straight. When he was born he had 3 sets of great grandparents! I feel so blessed to still have both of my grandma's and also for the fact that my kids will all be able to remember my grandpa that just passed away in April. They each got a clock hand made by great grandpa. They will cherish it forever.

Cute post by the way!

Mommy Brain 8:10 PM  

Wow! 11 barretts, pretty impressive.

Grandma & Grandpa Pruim, Grandma Aardsma...not very original huh?

kkoois 9:02 AM  

we weren't very original either. we called ours grandma and grandpa. on both sides.

you have quite the collection of hair accessories in your pockets.

Kary 2:39 PM  

Gran Mary and Pake (with a long E). I thought Pake was dutch, but now I'm not sure because you said Opa was grandpa. Who knows? I'm Polish. . .actually, I only grew up THINKING I was Polish. Really I'm German and Romanian. Don't ask why I still call myself Polish. I don't know.

Lisa @ Heaven Sent 10:06 PM  

Glad you actually had some "me" time -- with three kids, you MORE than deserve it!

As far as names, we were boring too. We called them Grandma and Grandpa on both sides and just added last names to keep them straight. I'm hoping Emma is much more creative -- I think "pet" grandparent's names are so cute. I'll let you know in a few months!

i am not 6:59 AM  

Lisa - we were boring like that, too. I started calling Gram & Gramp those names when they got email...

I tried really hard to get all of my nephews and Nora to call my dad, Pappy because I know how much he loves that (uh, not really), but it never really stuck;)

Carol 7:40 AM  

I called my grandparents Grandpa & Grandma. My nephews & neices called my Grandma on my mom's side "Beppe", which is Freesian (a different dialect of dutch) for grandmother. I believe that Pake is the Freesian-Dutch word for Grandpa. My children call Dave's dad Grandpa Pal and Grandma Donna because grandpa always says, "Hi, Pal!" I think it's because he can't always remember their names! And my parents to my kids are Grandpa & Grandma Hooker. On another note: I don't find too much in my pockets these days...maybe it's because I just don't care and leave it on the floor! (Actually, because my kids are older, I make them pick it up...I'm getting too old to keep bending over all the time.) :-o

Mommy Brain 7:40 AM  

Jana...
Please please please answer these burning questions that we fellow bloggers wonder day in and day out....
#1 Is that you in the picture or some random accordian player with bright red hair?

#2 What happened to the secret project...is it still a secret...can you give us a hint...

Throw us a bone...please...we can't take it anymore!

kkoois 12:49 PM  

i just clicked on the link to your book. jer is reading that book right now!

Anonymous 3:52 PM  

I called all my grandparents Grandpa and Grandma, followed by their first names. My kids call Jared's parents Grandma Sandi and Grandpa Sonny, and my parents Nana Karen and Papa Dave.
I agree with Mommy Brain...spill it sister!!!! :)

one hot momma 10:45 AM  

I've been asking for weeks for you to spill it! What's up girl? Inquiring minds want to know!!!

Anonymous 11:22 PM  

we have:
grammie
papa bear and goo goo (or grammie faye)
papa & nana
poppa-worm & mima
grandpa and grandma warnick
grandma millie

first is my grammie - have always called them "papa & grammmie" since childhood.

my dad always liked being the "papa bear" and it stuck for our little guy to call him that. his girlfriend was dubbed goo goo by her granddaughter - cute so it stuck or grammie faye for her real name.
poppa-worm is my stepdad - his name is warren, he's from new zealand.. we made fun of his accent (in playful love, of course) and in teasing about how he said his name we gradually shifted it to "worm" - he spells poppa that way so now we do for him too - also, the hyphen in the name is a kiwi (new zealander) way of doing it.

my little niece got confused when left to cry in her crib as a baby and was so upset she forgot how to say mama and said mimi instead. it was so cute i started calling my mom mimi and it's stuck for years - even my friends call her that. we wanted to differentiate it for seth to know her as his grandma without using that word and changed it to mima.

jas' folks are seth's papa & nana - other grandkids that preceded seth started it. she didn't want to be a "grandma" either.

other great grandparents of seth or "grandma ...." (insert name) to differentiate between them.

BUT MY FAVORITE OF ALL is Doni's mom's name as a grandma... "sweetie" - when grand-babies were on the way they asked what she wanted to be called. she didn't know but didn't want to be a typical "grandma" so jokingly said, "oh they can just call me sweetie" thinking of how they could be endearing at the same time. well, little did she know they'd fall in love with the name and it would stick. and she truly IIIIS a sweetie. :)

heidi jo

Jen 8:22 AM  

As Kim said, we're boring. Just Grandma and Grandpa here. Though my Grandma was only 48 when I was born and insisted she was too young to be a grandma. So she told my parents to have me call her Marilyn.

The only different one the girls have is they call my step-mom Nana. I didn't want them to call her Grandma~nothing bad I just wanted that reserved for my mom's memory. Caroline and Judy came up with Nana.

Anonymous 9:22 AM  

This is a very sore subject for me. We were NEVER allowed to call our grandparents anything but grandma & grandpa. B-O-R-I-N-G. Now that I have children, I wanted them to call my "parents" cute names! Let's spice it up & have some fun! :)

My "mother" refuses to be called anything but grandma. Good thing we don't see her. My "dad", who is grandpa (again, not my choice) hasn't seen my children in years because he is very, let's just say...ill. Now, his ex-wife (my stepmother) is Nana! Yippee! Love Nana!

Mitch's dad is either papaw or grandpa Gene. Not sure why there is not a definite choice there. Mitch's mom, who the other grandkids calls "mawmaw"; I knocked that choice out years ago (before I had children) when I heard her refer to herself to them as Mama (Momma, whatever - meaning she called herself MOM to her grandchildren). Nope. Ain't gonna happen. So for her, we call her Grandmother.

Now, when I'm a grandmother, I want to be called something fun! Something funky! The first person to call me grandma, I'm gonna smack. ;)

Anonymous 2:18 PM  

PS to all - I think that IS Jana with the red/pink hair. I think the other photo, with her wearing a turtleneck & glasses was just a hoax. The pink haired gal certainly fits Jana's feisty personality better. :)

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