Dear Grandparenting: A not so little problem has taken up residence in my brain. For the life of me, I find that I am having difficulties remembering the names of my grandchildren, at least not right away all the time.

What makes this so frustrating is that I absolutely positively know my grandchildren’s names and most everything else about them. They are at the center of my life.

But there I am, waving my arms trying to get my grandchildren’s attention because I cannot remember their names. That darn name can just sit there on the tip of my tongue, and when it finally comes to me, it’s too late. I cannot bring myself to say “Hey, what’s your name?” but it might come to that.

I never forgot the name of my late husband, and I still remember all the times I wished I could. I am not hard of hearing or losing my marbles. I still play bridge with the best of them. Now how can I get myself out of this mess? Deb Laurent, San Diego, California

Dear Deb: Welcome to the aging process. Without getting too technical, you have a mild form of anomia, an inability to retrieve and express certain words, especially nouns and verbs.

Grandparents around the world share your predicament, rummaging through their verbal inventory to recall given names that can be random and arbitrary. According to researchers that study language and aging, we store information about names and faces in different parts of our brain. As neural connections erode over time, transmission problems inhibit our immediate retrieval of the right word.

You might begin by explaining your situation to your grandchildren, lest they misinterpret your anomia as a lack of interest or indifference. While there is no cure-all, experts in the field recommend activities that increase your word production and lubricate mental pathways, such as word games or lively conversations. Grandparents can also use mental images or semantic clues to strengthen connections between names and faces, like imagining grandson Jim playing on a jungle gym. It beats “What’s your name?”

GRAND REMARK OF THE WEEK

Grant Gold, of Baltimore, Maryland, weighed in with some changes brought on by the birth of grandson Max, now 15 months old.

“A baby boy has a way of making a man out of his father,” writes Grant, “and making a little boy out of his grandfather.”