Notes from "Super Aunt"

On my last visit to London, Kim and Steve gave me the best present: 20 minutes alone with Gordie. Kim needed a shower and Steve had to get some work done before heading out of town for a business trip. His parting words as he went down the stairs:

If you need me, just scream

As I looked at "Serious Gord" and he looked back at me, I realized the odds were higher on him screaming way before I started to (unless he got another handful of my hair). He's just starting to get to the age where he looks for his Mom and Dad when they're not around and after awhile I knew he'd probably start to wonder where they went off to.

I managed to go almost the entire 20 minutes before this happened. This required singing and little games, and walks around the living room to look at the kitty or out the windows.

I was determined to get a laugh or even just a smile out of this stoic little one, and spent most of the time trying to do exactly that (or distract him from the fact that Mommy and Daddy weren't around)

Hey Gordie! Aren't you such an adorable little man?!

Silence.

Do you want to go look outside?
Silence. A thoughtful stare.

Oooooh look at the kitty! What a cute kitty huh?!
Silence. Accompanied by a look clearly designed to tell me how weird he thought I was.

*** I should admit that reading this now makes me aware of how wierd I probably sounded. For some reason I ask Gordie (and Addis) questions as though they'll answer me. Occasionally I'll repeat the question as though saying it twice will produce a response. No wonder Gordie looked at me like that ***


Gordie must have realized that Mommy was done her shower because his fussing started right before she came down the stairs.

While 20 minutes might not seem like alot, I have realized that it can be VERY long if a baby is not in a good mood. It was a big relief that Gordie seemed to enjoy spending some time with me :)

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With my other nephew, it's a lot easier to get a smile - pretty much everybody can get him to grin. Having mastered this feat a long time ago, I was determined to help out my good friend Ledawit out by geting her son to say "mama" instead of "dada". (I should note that he already says "dadadadada" all the time)

"Okay Addis, say momomomomom"

grin
"dadadadadaaaaaa"

"C'mon kiddo, I know you can do it! Say "momomomom"

grin
"babaabababaaaaababababaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"



Apparently this is a fun game.

He won.

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It's amazing to watch the development of these two boys - Addis is literally minutes away from saying his first word (which will probably be "dada" in spite of my efforts to get him to say "mama", "cat" or "hi" - some teacher I am huh) and crawling too. He rocks on all fours and looked like he was going to do it as he contemplated how to catch Kim's cat.





To "the Dude's" credit, he stared right back instead of running away and seems to have realized that these little people can't actually catch him. Yet...

I look forward to the stories of Gordie chasing poor Dude through the house. He's slowly mastering the "roll over" and eating solid food (as mentioned in Kim's blog) and smiles and giggles lots for his parents.






This will be another game won by the kid, I'm sure.

Maybe this is the great secret of how to be happy in Motherhood - no matter what, your kids win. Especially when they're as adorable as these two.


As their honorary Auntie, I will be more than happy to let them win whenever they want.