Hi, Mom. You’re . . . a grandma.

But don’t worry–it becomes you!

I’ve never seen such an enthusiastic grandma.

She is determined to teach James how to speak Spanish, singing him ‘Cinco lobitos tiene la loba’ and crooning to him in a language we rarely speak as a family any more.

Little James is probably bilingual already, based on her dedication alone.

Hola, amigos.

Hola James.

When Heidi announced that little James was on the way–and even prior to that–we liked to talk about what Mom and Dad would be called. ‘Grandma’ just didn’t seem spiffy enough for this energetic, artistic mother of ours named Twinky.

So I coined ‘Mama Twink’ for her and ‘Papa Rick’ for Dad in this blog post last year.

Who knew that they would accept these names so easily? Mom, Dad: you have been named by my blog. How do you feel about that? Confused? Brainwashed? Elated?

Of course, the true test will be once the granchildren are speaking. Will they take to those names? Because right now James seems to be calling them things like “aaaaaiiiii” and “eeeoooo.” Bilingual or not, this kid could use some lessons in enunciation. When he says “aaaaaa” I’m never sure if he’s referring to the piece Time magazine just did on the 100 most influential people or his opinion on the legacy of the Daleys in Chicago politics.

During their time together, Mama Twink did a great job teaching small James the art of metallurgy and jewelry design.

You like my necklace, huh little James? Well tell you what–I’ll buy you a tiny welder and a tiny welding mask, we’ll review the benefits of different alloys, and then we’ll choose the best one for our design.

Okay Mama Twink: I choose copper and bronze, studded with fragments of turquoise. Can we eat it when we’re done, do you think?

Mom, you’re equipping this young man for the future. Good work.

Of course, when the little man got tired from all these valuable lessons in languages and the craftsmanship of making your own necklace chain, Mama Twink settled him in for a snuggle.

He’s just a baby after all, with a grandma who loves him very much.