The Westmonster Daily

My niece likes to talk. A lot. Of course, it’s a little hard to understand what she means at the moment when everything she says sounds a lot like “da da da”, but there are two distinct words she is already using appropriately. Those are “please” and “thank you”.

Over the Easter weekend the whole nuclear family gathered and I had two days to observe her. She likes giving things to people and getting them back. It goes like this:

She picks up something and holds it out for you to see. But when you try to take it, she won’t let go. You have to say: “Would you please give this to me? Please?” before she actually gives it to you. And she repeats the “please” back to you. When you say “thank you” she repeats that as well. Of course, the next thing you do is give the item back to her, saying “there you are” (which is the same word as “please” in German) to which she usually replies with her version of “thank you”.

How cool is that? Can’t talk yet but she’s polite like a pro!

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On  a different note: She also imitates a certain animal. While other children may know what the dog says or how the cow goes, my niece knows what the hedgehog says! Unfortunately, that curling of the nose and snuffling and lip-pursing can’t be put down in writing… *dying of cuteness*

My, but they grow so fast! My niece is one year old now. While I’ve stopped showering her with gaudy toys when I figured my brother’s house couldn’t take any more and she’s successfully climbed the first mountain set in her way by life, health, and fate (those bastards) she’s managed to stay the cutest little button the world has ever seen! Seriously, this is not an aunt’s subjective assessment at all! Everybody says so! And yes, I know that everybody always says so, no matter how ugly or egg-shaped the respective baby actually looks. But in this case… well, never mind, I don’t have to prove anything to you! *hmph*

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Anyway, she started being shy with strangers a couple of months ago. While Hubby is a constant source of joy and wonder to her (she’s flirting with my man! Always has!), me, not so much… Since I’ve never really had a lot of contact with a lot of small people she wasn’t usually very thrilled with my carrying her awkwardly around. I guess she sensed my general insecurity with babies and didn’t like the feeling, since she herself hasn’t had the opportunity yet to build much confidence in her own ability to keep herself alive. Whenever I’d pick her up she’d start wailing pretty much right away and fling her little hands toward the next best grown-up nearby. Settling into safer arms, she’d stop crying and smile again.

So that crushed me a little bit.

I knew, rationally, it didn’t have anything to do with sympathy or lack thereof. But it made me question myself anyway. Would I stand a chance with children of my own, if they ever happened? Or would they prefer their more experienced (and obviously more attractive to babies) daddy over me because I’m generally insecure with kids? Rationally, I knew that those questions, too, were nonsense. But emotionally… whole different story!

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Then, one day, shortly after her first birthday, I went over to my brother’s to have dinner with the three of them and take my bro out to the movies. As I walked in the door, my sister-in-law and my niece were home alone, sitting a couple of meters away from the door on the floor. When my niece saw me, she took me in with that quizzical look of hers, then started to grin and gurgle, and actually scuttled toward me! She didn’t stay with me long because she had to go pick up another load of confidence from her mom, but she returned often and seemed generally comfortable in my presence. And it has stayed that way for a couple of weeks now. I can actually make her laugh, and she watches me all the time and grins when I look at her. What A Feeling!!

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Rationally, I know that she probably has overcome her shyness of strangers or maybe I’ve been over there often enough so she knows I’m harmless now, but emotionally, I’m partying inside.

The most recent most bestest thing that happened to me is my niece.

I like babies fine, you see, but I’m not one of those women who go “ooohhh, where’s the ittybittylittleboopiepoooooo?” before going “THEREsheis, yessheis, oooohhh, she’s soooo preeeeetty!”. Nope, that’s not how I roll around babies. I usually don’t roll around babies at all, but definitely not like that! (more…)