Arnold Schwarzenegger, 76, took some time to gush over his two granddaughters, Lyla Maria, 3, and Eloise Christina, 1, in a new interview. The Kindergarten Cop star was promoting his new motivational book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, when he opened up about being a grandfather to the girls, who are the daughters of his daughter Katherine Schwarzenegger, 33, and her husband, Chris Pratt, 44. He also revealed the sweet nickname they call him.
“Opa,” Arnold told PEOPLE about the nickname, which is German for grandfather. “It’s just such a fun thing to do because it’s kind of like I [didn’t] know how good I would be [at being a grandfather] but I have the animals so it’s an easy thing.”
The proud grandad, who has a dog named Cherry, went on to say that when Katherine brings over the kids to his house, “the first thing that Lyla would say is, ‘Where’s Cherry?’ Which is my little dog. I say, ‘Cherry’s waiting for you.’ ‘Mommy, can we go over to see Opa, to see Cherry?’ ‘Sure, we go tomorrow.’ So they come over: ‘Cherry, Cherry, Cherry’ and she holds Cherry in her lap.”
In addition to Cherry, Arnold owns many other animals, including a pet pig named Schnelly, a miniature horse named Whiskey and a miniature donkey named Lulu. “Then I get the pig around and then she likes the pig and feeds the pig,” he continued to say about Lyla’s reaction his animals. “Then I said ‘You want to come out? Let’s go out to the stable and see the horses.’ Okay, then take my hand and then we walk out to the fields and she goes to the stables and she visits the horses.”
Arnold further revealed that his granddaughters are also a fan of cookies he makes for the horses. “Lyla would go and say, ‘Can I have a cookie?’ But it’s not the regular chocolate chip cookies. It’s the cookie that Lulu and Whiskey eat,” he explained, referencing his two horses. “So it’s a specific oatmeal recipe. It has no sugar in it, just honey. And we make them for just the horses and the dogs, that we love, too.”