Friday, November 24, 2006

"Grumpy"

I met my new grandson today. He was born on Monday of this week, and one of the many, many things I'm thankful for is that he didn't choose the middle of Thanksgiving dinner to make his entrance. I'm told, by his father, that my daughter went into labor at 1:30 a.m. Monday morning, and gave birth in the back of an ambulance at 2:00 a.m, right outside Westbrook High School, on the way to the hospital in Portland (ME). "So what goes on his birth certificate?" I asked. "Westbrook, or 'the back of Fire and Rescue Ambulance #1'?" (Portland -- the hospital of record.)

He is a pretty placid kid, in that at four days old, he does nothing but sleep and eat. The only time he makes his discomfort known is when they are changing him -- apparently, he hates to be cold, and face it, a wet diaper is pretty cold, till you get a nice dry one on (especially in Maine in November). However, when he is awake, he seems to do a lot of frowning and making little squeaks and grunts that indicate he's trying to decide whether to make a Statement about current conditions.

My daughter blogs about both writing (her profession) and family life. Her oldest son has been dubbed "Hamlet," for reasons of privacy, and also, as she said, because "his tantrums are positively Shakespearean." We've recently been trying to decide on names for Son #2. Banquo? MacDuff? Jaques, from "As You Like It"? Today, the baby's father grinned and said, "I think we should just call him Grumpy." I have a horrible feeling that it will stick.

Welcome to your weird family, Grumpy! ;-)

5 comments:

Susan said...

congratulations on your new grandson. How many do you have now?
We have four, and they are all different. They have thier own gravitational pull, so when they run through the house, things fall off the walls etc.
They are so fun!

Meg said...

We just have the two. My son, who's visiting for Thanksgiving, asked my daughter if she was planning to try for a daughter of her own, and she said no, she was "all done" -- and she thinks her husband is even more "all done" than she is. Sad to think that there are just these two, since my son has no intention of marrying, but at least we *have* them. And yes, they are great fun!

Mimi said...

What wonderful news! A new baby is always a blessing! I can't wait to hear more!

Congratulations to all. And, sniff that brand new baby smell for me. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the new grand-baby! Such a wonderful blessing, for sure.

If your daughter doesn't want any more children, she may want to ponder the wisdom of nicknaming her new child with a name associated with a LARGE group..let's see, Sneezy, Sleepy, and who were the others? I can see a house full of them :)

Elizabeth @ The Garden Window said...

Meg,
warmest congratulations on the arrival of your new grandson !

I do hope he isn`t permanently known as Grumpy, though - how about Sleepy so he might get the message and give his mom peaceful nights ?

Enjoy them both :-)