small friend

during the cold months, my sister's family and i have sunday dinners. we hang out at her house of mine, eat good food, hangout, catch-up. i get to play with my nephew and niece. it's always an enjoyable time for me. yesterday i arrived at my sister's house, she was on the phone, my nephew was over tired and refused to say hello to me. i held the baby and waited patiently. finally, my little buddy looked up - HI! we were best buds for the rest pf the evening. we read books together, and threw the ball around.



before dinner, my brother-in-law was helping nephew carve his pumpkin. nephew intermittently lost interest. he wanted to color or read or just run around. it was his very important job to scoop the goo out of the pumpkin. he stuck his hand in once and said "ewwww! i don't wanna." i rolled up my sleeves and showed him how it was done. "see, it's fun! you try." he dipped his hand barely inside the pumpkin, probably not touching anything. "NO! Angie do." i got to extricate the rest of the pumpkin's innards. he watched intently saying "ishy" and giggling that i had to do it. the pumkin turned out well, and nephew was very proud of it.



after dinner, i helped my 2yo buddy take a bath. he was surrounded in toys and bubbles, sinking ships and bobbing rubber duckies. we made the tiny plastic pirate guys walk the plank. we spelled our names on the bathtub walls with foam letters. i tickled him with the little turtles, a game he thought was exceptionally funny. he giggled uncontrollably, which made me giggle, causing him to giggle even more. he nearly fell over, he was laughing so hard. i think that was the highlight of my weekend. seeing his innocence and pure pleasure in playing with me makes me smile even now. we rounded out the night cuddling on the couch until bedtime. children really know how to enjoy the small pleasures of life.