My "little" cousin
Nothing dramatic here, just some other things I was thinking about from Monday.
My "little" cousin, whom I'm gonna call River from now on, and I have a pretty good bond. I call her "little" because up until 6 months ago I was still taller than her. As I knew she would she's surpassed me in height and will probably keep going. I figure she'll be about 5'10 if not 6 feet by the time she's done. She's only 11 and she just hit 5'7, but she's athletic - plays basketball - so it doesn't bother her. Actually it exhausts me just hearing her list off her extra curricular activities: ballet, tap, basketball, soccer and I'm pretty sure I've forgotten like 5 more of them.
So even though the age difference between is pretty big I got to spend a lot of time with her while she's grown up. About 7 years ago I was unemployed one Summer and spent a lot of time at my folks house swimming and generally enjoying the time off. My Mom used to baby sit her so we spent a lot of time hanging out and I became her favorite cousin. Hey what can I say, my zest for life *ahem* immaturity *ahem* has me relating well with kids.
As she's gotten older and reached my height (and surpassed it) her Mom has joked that we are like sisters. Sure, okay, I'll take it. We've bought (separately) some similar style clothes - that probably says more about where I shop than where she does. There was a slight issue one year where her Mom took my sneakers and packed them up (from when River has slept over my folks house) and I'm searching all over the house wondering what the heck happened to them, finally finding them in her duffel bag.
So it just became even funnier when I brought my new digital camera over (that River or her Mom hadn't seen yet) on Xmas Eve and the next day when they come over again she shows me her Christmas present from her folks. Yup, a digital camera almost identical to mine, it's just the next set up - probably wasn't even around 5 months ago when I got mine for my birthday. So we are dorkily testing out features (I haven't even figure out all mine yet) I'm showing her what I know, she's showing me what she knows. Her Mom is taking a picture of us leaning over our cameras intently sharing info. It's kinda cute.
She's a really good kid, I've never really gotten along with too many of my female cousins before. I only have 3 to begin with and one lives in France, with the other two who were older - one was so crazy shy it was difficult to get to know her and the other was interested in girly stuff and I didn't care about that at all.
River taught me how to do Cat's cradle a couple of years ago and how to make Jacob's ladder - ah how the hobbies come around, I never knew how to do that my Mom couldn't remember all the steps, so my little cousin had to teach me.
So it between taking pictures of each other with our shiny cameras we're having races on who can make Jacob's ladder faster... which she always beats me. Even with her eyes closed. Show off! Okay I got her once, when she got tangled up and even that was close!
Anyway, just realizing how there's some family I don't see that often until the holidays come up - and then it's like old times.
I think I will take her for that Henna tattoo - that's gonna be so much fun!!
My "little" cousin, whom I'm gonna call River from now on, and I have a pretty good bond. I call her "little" because up until 6 months ago I was still taller than her. As I knew she would she's surpassed me in height and will probably keep going. I figure she'll be about 5'10 if not 6 feet by the time she's done. She's only 11 and she just hit 5'7, but she's athletic - plays basketball - so it doesn't bother her. Actually it exhausts me just hearing her list off her extra curricular activities: ballet, tap, basketball, soccer and I'm pretty sure I've forgotten like 5 more of them.
So even though the age difference between is pretty big I got to spend a lot of time with her while she's grown up. About 7 years ago I was unemployed one Summer and spent a lot of time at my folks house swimming and generally enjoying the time off. My Mom used to baby sit her so we spent a lot of time hanging out and I became her favorite cousin. Hey what can I say, my zest for life *ahem* immaturity *ahem* has me relating well with kids.
As she's gotten older and reached my height (and surpassed it) her Mom has joked that we are like sisters. Sure, okay, I'll take it. We've bought (separately) some similar style clothes - that probably says more about where I shop than where she does. There was a slight issue one year where her Mom took my sneakers and packed them up (from when River has slept over my folks house) and I'm searching all over the house wondering what the heck happened to them, finally finding them in her duffel bag.
So it just became even funnier when I brought my new digital camera over (that River or her Mom hadn't seen yet) on Xmas Eve and the next day when they come over again she shows me her Christmas present from her folks. Yup, a digital camera almost identical to mine, it's just the next set up - probably wasn't even around 5 months ago when I got mine for my birthday. So we are dorkily testing out features (I haven't even figure out all mine yet) I'm showing her what I know, she's showing me what she knows. Her Mom is taking a picture of us leaning over our cameras intently sharing info. It's kinda cute.
She's a really good kid, I've never really gotten along with too many of my female cousins before. I only have 3 to begin with and one lives in France, with the other two who were older - one was so crazy shy it was difficult to get to know her and the other was interested in girly stuff and I didn't care about that at all.
River taught me how to do Cat's cradle a couple of years ago and how to make Jacob's ladder - ah how the hobbies come around, I never knew how to do that my Mom couldn't remember all the steps, so my little cousin had to teach me.
So it between taking pictures of each other with our shiny cameras we're having races on who can make Jacob's ladder faster... which she always beats me. Even with her eyes closed. Show off! Okay I got her once, when she got tangled up and even that was close!
Anyway, just realizing how there's some family I don't see that often until the holidays come up - and then it's like old times.
I think I will take her for that Henna tattoo - that's gonna be so much fun!!