Whether her baby is a he or a she, the nickname will be.

With so many things happening here in Manila, as well as the rest of the world, I sometimes fail to realize that I am about to enter the last great stage of my life. No, I am not saying I am some great person. I’m just a working Joe like everybody else. But by early next year, I will be something else – a grandfather.

The second of my four kids, and the only one who is married thus far, broke the news to us a couple of weeks ago. She’s pregnant.

I don’t know if my reaction was normal. I was stunned. My wife and I had been waiting for exactly this little piece of news for the past several months after she got married in December, last year. But when it finally came, I was speechless. Unbelievably happy, yes, but also unable to say anything sensible.

A lot of my peers became grand dads ahead of me, and I was always amused whenever they raved about the kids of their kids. Hey, it’s normal, I wanted to tell them. But I usually gave polite comments about how awesome it must be.

Know what? It is great. It’s terrific, it’s spectacular, it’s sensational. It’s a lot of things, but I must also add that I am also worried at the same time. Nothing wrong with my daughter or my son-in-law. They’re both young and in good health. But I can’t help but worry about the thousand and one things that can go wrong. I should know. I raised four kids and had my share of sleepless nights when my wife was pregnant.

You all know the line. Seems like only yesterday when I was an expectant father-to-be. Four times. And now I’m an expectant grandfather to be.

When my daughter had an ultrasound, or at least I think it was an ultrasound but she described it differently, we all had a first glimpse of her baby. At first she joked that it looked like a jellybean. And lo, that description stuck. Whether her baby is a he or a she, the nickname will be Jellybean.

My kid is going through the usual first trimester woes. She can’t stand the smell of some foods which used to be her favourites. She’s sleepy a lot of the time. And there are days when she can’t find the energy to head to work.

She and her husband were able to buy a house before they got married. Right in front of their place is the church where they wed. It has a nice, sprawling lawn, so I should be happy that my grandkid Jellybean will have a place to catch some sunlight everyday. That’s where he/she will take his/her first steps.

I’m going to be the one and only “lolo” of that baby when he/she comes out next March. This is because my son-in-law’s father passed away a couple of years ago. I hope I get the chance to see my first official grandchild grow.

Why official? There’s a long story to that involving my oldest child. I may write about it someday.