Just Call Me Teddy

I waited a LONG time for a daughter-in-love. But there was absolutely no post-wedding waiting for my first grandchild . That special gift was included in the form of a darling six-year-old boy with wavy black hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a puckish sense of humor, when J.R. met and married Jeni.

Elijah is blessed to have three sets of grandparents plus several great-grandparents. Lots of people with the singular name of Grandma and Grandpa, or with the addition of a surname to keep track of who's who.

What would he call us?

Now I've been mulling over grandma names for quite a while. I called my beloved paternal grandparents Mamaw and Papaw, and my mom's parents, Vovo and Vovoo, Portuguese for grandmother and grandfather. I hoped Elijah would have his own nickname for me. I landed on Winnie for several reasons. One, it's a variation of my nickname, Lynnie. Two, L is a difficult letter for little kids to say and tends to come out sounding like a W. Plus, it's friendly and inviting. Yes, Winnie, it is.

Not so fast.

When I asked Elijah if he wanted to call me Winnie, he just looked at me like the stranger I was. After all, his mom and our son met and married within the span of 28 days! The first time Doug and I met Elijah was the night before the wedding -- and here I am, at our first get together after the wedding...his third time being around me -- asking if he wanted to call me Winnie! While he didn't reply, "No!" he DID continue referring to us as J.R.'s Mom and J.R.'s Dad. Too funny.

But about nine months after J.R., Jeni, and Elijah had settled in as a family, E (one of his nicknames) informed me that he knew what he wanted to call me: "I think I shall call you Teddy," were his exact words. Huh? What? When I asked why, he answered, "I just like it."

Last Friday was Grandparents' Day at E's school. After a morning of shopping at the Christmas Boutique, hanging out in his classroom, and watching his class's exuberant rendition of "Hats," we spent the afternoon together. As he sat on our living room floor playing with a newly purchased toy, E looked up for a moment and said, "Do you know why I call you Teddy?" Because you're like a teddy bear."

That's a good enough reason for me.

Winnie who? My name is Teddy.

Elijah and Teddy
Grandparents' Day 2013