Friday, May 18, 2012

What's My Name?

I'm just wondering if other parents had an experience similar to mine.  When my parents were helping to take care of the twins my mom would refer to me as "dad" for things like, "Don't cry, daddy is making a bottle."  Then she would call my dad "grandpa" as in "Do you want grandpa to change your diaper?"  (Clearly I got the fun part of taking care of the babies.)

It takes some time to get used to the fact that I'm dad and my dad is grandpa and my brother is an uncle and my mom is a grandma.  Don't get me wrong.  I like my new title.  It's just that my dad has always been "dad" and now it's me.  That's a big adjustment.

Meanwhile, on the baby front, we have seen a few smiles.  I'm waiting for more, but it's nice to see a few here and there.  It makes the crying more bearable (I've been told crying peaks around 6-8 weeks so we're in the thick of it now) and it also makes me know that I am someone they are starting to recognize and love.  Guess there's no denying I really am Dad. 

6 comments:

  1. Will you both be called Dad? That's what we always assumed for us but so many people seem to think we should have different titles. We both want Dad so I'm thinking he may have to go Dad 1 and Dad 2 or figure out some other nicknames to add to it...
    K

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    1. We never had an official conversation but we both seem to want to be "dad" too. I'm not into Papa. People do think we need different titles and it probably would be easier if we did, but we'll probably both be "dad" and just constantly be confused who the kids are talking to.

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  2. For some reason this post made me tear up... I'm turning into a sap. Oh wait, I've been a sap all my life, nevermind.

    Really, I think it's incredibly sweet that you just came to this realization. ((HUGS)) Daddy!

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  3. ↑↑↑↑ Yes, I agree with Melissa, some tears over here too, very sweet post.. I remember when I had this realization, it's quite profound.. Aww, I love you TONS! I so enjoy updates from you!

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  4. Yes! I definitely felt a big change when I began thinking of myself as "Mom". For me it was weird to still have so many of MY grandparents and a few great grandparents living when my older 2 were first born, and they automatically started calling people by the same names I used. (Why, oh WHY didn't we take a better 5 generation picture than just randomly sitting together right in front of my grandma's TV?) Now 6.5 years since becoming parents, DH and I accidentally refer to each other as 'mom' or 'dad' sometimes, even when the kids aren't in the room. :)
    Side note - I asked my IP's back when I was still pregnant what they would be calling themselves... as I was curious about the whole "dad, daddy, papa, etc" thing. They said they don't like the whole thing, and are going to go by their real names, well, nick names, but actual nicknames (such as Mike, Rich, Chuck, etc)

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  5. Yes, the adjusting to names is difficult. I am Papa (hey, don't knock it, JOKE) and Bill is Dad or Daddy. I have a whole different story about last names, of which involves my father. But for another post.

    Keep up the good work, DAD! :-)

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