Moving moves forward.
So, tonight my brother brought over boxes and we stacked them into his old room (which is to be his daughter's room). When he came over with boxes, his girlfriend followed with more and my niece. Poor little thing was all tired from a long day, so when I tried to hold her while my brother went to upload the car, she started crying. We ended up with him holding her and the rest of us unloading the car. Anyhow, his girlfriend comes back in from a cigarette in the backyard, and she takes over charge of the little one, who cheered up a little once she was let to wander but had a parent in tow.
My niece bee-lined for my bedroom, and next thing you know, I'm pulling down my silly purple bird puppet that I'd brought home from Germany back in '99. I don't remember why I decided a purple two legged wingless bird puppet, well marionette, was of the male gender, but that's just kinda what I knew from the moment I bought him. Anyways, his name's Luke, partially because I had a crush on a guy named Luke at the time, and my German host sister is a star wars fan.
So, I pull Luke down, and start walking him around for my niece. She was quite amused by his antics. She'd giggle as I'd walk him towards her, this squeal as I'd have him back away, and we had to keep shushing her because my dad had already gone to bed at this point. I think I'm going to have to see what I can find in the way of a marionette for her. Heck, if I get the creative juices flowing again, I might even see if I can make her one of herself. ^_^ Though if anyone knows where I can buy another bird like this one, it would be awesome to find one of another color to give to my niece, and have the two play together for her until she's old enough to work one herself.