Shortly before the twins were born, our son and daughter-in-law asked me and my husband what grandparent names we wanted to use. Apparently that’s a thing now (asking what name to use), but it was new to me. When I was a kid, the grandparents that I knew of were simply Grandma and Grandpa, with the exception of my close friend Amy who called her grandmother MeeMaw. 

Anyway, going with the familiar, I said, “I’ll be Grandma,” and my husband wanted to be Grandpa, although we didn’t really care. Whatever the girls wanted to call us was fine, we said.

Once the girls were born, we all referred to myself and hubby as Grandma and Grandpa. Then the twins started to talk. First was “Mama,” then “Dada.” Then one day, out popped “Mimi”…or more like Meee-Meee! And surprise…they were referring to me! 

How cute! I thought! I never thought of Mimi as a grandma name. I liked it and still do. It’s fun and cool and younger. It doesn’t immediately engender images of a silver-haired woman wearing muumuus and house slippers (although my reality isn’t far from that!). 

Not long after, they were calling hubby Bapa. Not Pop-Pop. Not PaPa. Bapa.

So for several months it’s been Mimi and Bapa. We started referring to ourselves as Mimi and Bapa, too, although we’d occasionally slip back to Grandma and Grandpa out of habit.

Meanwhile, the twins’ language skills continued to develop. They’re now forming whole sentences…most of which we can even understand! Then the unexpected happen. Out of the blue, they called me Grandma, and they called hubby Grandpa. 

While part of me recognized this change as learning to form new sounds and words (a happy occurrence!), part of me wondered: Was it the beginning of the end of Mimi and Bapa? Would they eventually phase those names out altogether?

Either way, it’s their choice. Whatever they want to call us is fine…Sigh….

Unless…

Our younger granddaughter, Lacey up in New Jersey, just turned one this week. She hasn’t yet started to talk! There’s still time to resurrect Mimi and Bapa! 

Of course, whatever she wants to call us is fine.