(no subject)
My niece is so cute.
Sure, my nephews are cute too, but they're 4. They'll look adorable in overalls and suits for a few more years, but they've already been overtaken by their baby sister. In another year or so, I'm going to start making dresses for her. Dresses! Squeeeeeeeeee! Can you imagine that Campbell-kid in a dress? I'll make something or other for the boys, too, so they won't get jealous. Maybe handmade stuffed animals or something.
Anyway, I arrived at the hotel at 7:30 am, just in time to meet my freshly-awakened niece and go with her and my brother to Harvard Square for a big magazine run. Adorable. Adorable, I tell you! Pictures don't do her justice. Normally, I don't fall in love with anything under 2. Babies are good to make funny faces at, but they're fragile and can't play pretend or run around. At 14 months, this charmer made me understand why one might, theoretically, want to put up with many months of screaming and crying and diapers and waking up really fucking early. She's just awesome. So interactive, so happy to babble back at you, and she blows the best kisses.
When we got back to the hotel, the boys were up, so I had breakfast with my nephews. They didn't remember me. They hadn't seen me in two years, so it isn't surprising. Luckily they aren't shy. To my delight, I found that they are old enough to really appreciate my songs and stories now. I told them one improvised one about a character on my Pokemon T-shirt (Eevee the fox), and then the two Native American stories that I've been telling for a long time. Now I need to expand my repetoire. They wanted to hear How The Chipmunk Got His Stripes multiple times, but being Bear made my throat hurt. So I switched to songs, trying to sing as many story-songs as I could remember off the top of my head. I must have sung them that old English fox song at least 8 times, per their request. Hopefully they'll call me, I'd love to sing it 80,000 more times to them.
We went swimming for a little while. I got to be the "partner" to one or the other of them the whole time. I don't know all that a "partner" is supposed to do, but they jumped off the side into my arms, went for quick dips underwater with me, and clung to me as we sorta swum together. It was a lot of fun!
Then we all went to have brunch with Great-Grandma (to them) Roses, Great-Uncle Larry, Great-Aunt Beth, and my parents. Great-Grandma Roses sang them the old Animal Fair song: they liked it so much that they asked for a dozen encores. My Grandma loves to sing, so she was as happy to oblige as I am. During brunch, London got her current favorite toy: an apple. It took her about twenty minutes to figure out that this pretty green ball was something you could eat. And then she spent a good hour or two eating it with her four or five teeth.
The boys were given a set of puffy stickers you could assemble. They eagerly set to work, and Jake hardly asked for any help at all. I see some of my visual intelligence in him. Griffon divided his time between the stickers and talking to new people, especially his Great-Uncle Larry and Great-Grandma Roses. After Larry left, Griffon kept asking, "Who was that nice boy I was talking to?" Uncle Larry's a sweetheart. Between him, Griffon's Papa, and Unca Andooo, there's no shortage of really nice male role models in his immediate family.
I hope me and Unca Andooo get to go out to see them before they forget us again.
Anyway, then we headed to the Boston Children's Museum. Papa showed them the Japanese house, and I showed them the cool crawly maze. Griffon outpaced me quickly and managed to get a bit stuck: but my bro found him before any serious psychological damage could happen. I hope. I think they liked the Clifford exhibit best of all. Griffon fried me up some (plastic) hamburgers at the cafe and rang up the register. I think $855,555 is pretty pricey for a burger, but luckily his place takes invisible money. Jake had a great time mailing letters to Clifford and using a screwdriver at the woodworking station.
We left, but as they repacked the car in the parking lot, I finally got to hold my niece. She thinks my leather necklace makes a fine teething ring, and she was happy to share it. It's unclear whether she liked sticking it her mouth more than sticking it in my mouth. And we had a good time babbling to each other. I swung her around a little, too. Boy-babies don't get all the fun!
And then there was goodbyes. Griffon isn't big on them, but Jake gave me a big hug and a kiss. London blew kisses, and both Ben and Andi gave me nice hugs. I'm going to miss big chunks of seeing them grow, but I hope that someday, somehow, I live near a friend who sprouts a kid. I still don't want the eternal vigilance and exhaustion of parenthood, but I would like a bigger taste of it.
Sure, my nephews are cute too, but they're 4. They'll look adorable in overalls and suits for a few more years, but they've already been overtaken by their baby sister. In another year or so, I'm going to start making dresses for her. Dresses! Squeeeeeeeeee! Can you imagine that Campbell-kid in a dress? I'll make something or other for the boys, too, so they won't get jealous. Maybe handmade stuffed animals or something.
Anyway, I arrived at the hotel at 7:30 am, just in time to meet my freshly-awakened niece and go with her and my brother to Harvard Square for a big magazine run. Adorable. Adorable, I tell you! Pictures don't do her justice. Normally, I don't fall in love with anything under 2. Babies are good to make funny faces at, but they're fragile and can't play pretend or run around. At 14 months, this charmer made me understand why one might, theoretically, want to put up with many months of screaming and crying and diapers and waking up really fucking early. She's just awesome. So interactive, so happy to babble back at you, and she blows the best kisses.
When we got back to the hotel, the boys were up, so I had breakfast with my nephews. They didn't remember me. They hadn't seen me in two years, so it isn't surprising. Luckily they aren't shy. To my delight, I found that they are old enough to really appreciate my songs and stories now. I told them one improvised one about a character on my Pokemon T-shirt (Eevee the fox), and then the two Native American stories that I've been telling for a long time. Now I need to expand my repetoire. They wanted to hear How The Chipmunk Got His Stripes multiple times, but being Bear made my throat hurt. So I switched to songs, trying to sing as many story-songs as I could remember off the top of my head. I must have sung them that old English fox song at least 8 times, per their request. Hopefully they'll call me, I'd love to sing it 80,000 more times to them.
We went swimming for a little while. I got to be the "partner" to one or the other of them the whole time. I don't know all that a "partner" is supposed to do, but they jumped off the side into my arms, went for quick dips underwater with me, and clung to me as we sorta swum together. It was a lot of fun!
Then we all went to have brunch with Great-Grandma (to them) Roses, Great-Uncle Larry, Great-Aunt Beth, and my parents. Great-Grandma Roses sang them the old Animal Fair song: they liked it so much that they asked for a dozen encores. My Grandma loves to sing, so she was as happy to oblige as I am. During brunch, London got her current favorite toy: an apple. It took her about twenty minutes to figure out that this pretty green ball was something you could eat. And then she spent a good hour or two eating it with her four or five teeth.
The boys were given a set of puffy stickers you could assemble. They eagerly set to work, and Jake hardly asked for any help at all. I see some of my visual intelligence in him. Griffon divided his time between the stickers and talking to new people, especially his Great-Uncle Larry and Great-Grandma Roses. After Larry left, Griffon kept asking, "Who was that nice boy I was talking to?" Uncle Larry's a sweetheart. Between him, Griffon's Papa, and Unca Andooo, there's no shortage of really nice male role models in his immediate family.
I hope me and Unca Andooo get to go out to see them before they forget us again.
Anyway, then we headed to the Boston Children's Museum. Papa showed them the Japanese house, and I showed them the cool crawly maze. Griffon outpaced me quickly and managed to get a bit stuck: but my bro found him before any serious psychological damage could happen. I hope. I think they liked the Clifford exhibit best of all. Griffon fried me up some (plastic) hamburgers at the cafe and rang up the register. I think $855,555 is pretty pricey for a burger, but luckily his place takes invisible money. Jake had a great time mailing letters to Clifford and using a screwdriver at the woodworking station.
We left, but as they repacked the car in the parking lot, I finally got to hold my niece. She thinks my leather necklace makes a fine teething ring, and she was happy to share it. It's unclear whether she liked sticking it her mouth more than sticking it in my mouth. And we had a good time babbling to each other. I swung her around a little, too. Boy-babies don't get all the fun!
And then there was goodbyes. Griffon isn't big on them, but Jake gave me a big hug and a kiss. London blew kisses, and both Ben and Andi gave me nice hugs. I'm going to miss big chunks of seeing them grow, but I hope that someday, somehow, I live near a friend who sprouts a kid. I still don't want the eternal vigilance and exhaustion of parenthood, but I would like a bigger taste of it.