How I became Pop and Why Tucker doesn't like The Beach Boys song; Barbara Ann

Being a grandparent changes you. You have all kinds of decisions to make, but the first and most important one is what that grandchild is going to call you.

When Tucker (my oldest grandchild) was born I realized that I needed to make a plan for my new grandparent name. Wow, this is a big decision. I didn’t want it to be some silly name that Tucker might start saying by himself. I wanted to pick my name.

It didn’t take me long to come up with Pop. I called my grandfather on my dad’s side, Pop. I have very fond memories of him. We even started calling my dad Pop, as he grew older. Besides there is Pop Corn, Pop Tarts, Pop Cycles and the list goes on. When ever Tucker wanted a treat, there was always one out there with Pop in it. This really made Carla mad and she started calling Pop Cycles, Grammy Cycles.

And, Pop is a one-syllable word like mom and dad. This should be easy. Every time I held Tucker, I would start telling him that my name was Pop.

Well, I like music a lot and I have lots of old records that I often play. I would play them and hold Tucker and dance with him. One day I was playing one of my Beach Boys albums and they played “Barbara Ann”. There is a place in the song where they say, Barb, Barb, Barb. That was all it took. I played that song over and over to Tucker and at that point in the song, I would sing Pop, Pop, Pop. I know that I did this at least a 100 times in the first years of Tucker’s life.

Now, Tucker knows the song and can’t stand it. I think I wore him out with it. But, I was very successful with it; he learned to call me Pop almost as early as he could say Mom or Dad.

The name has stuck with the other two grandkids Willie and Emma. So now I am Pop and I’ll answer to that anytime.

Coming Tomorrow: The dreaded flip flop