I got to spend 10 whole days with Nephew A and Nephew B! Who are perfectly perfect for the ages they are. I learned about cars and trucks and incredibly boring baby games (what is with the “I hand you a thing and you hand it back to me” game? Just keep the thing Baby! Just keep it! Your things are so gross and sticky and I don’t want to take them!). And now I am totally exhausted.
My theory is, in a very very limited way, it’s actually harder to be Auntie than to be Mommy. Because Mommy is Mommy, whereas Auntie is not Mommy and therefore always viewed with slight suspicion. And when Mommy is busy and Auntie is trying to do the things Mommy usually does (like preschool pick up), it is slightly harder because she has to convince the kiddos that she is capable of these things. Especially when she isn’t super capable (car seats are SUPER COMPLICATED! 5 buckles?).
To give you a glimpse of the week, enjoy this lovely recording. Which should also show how excellent my sister is as a mother! Nephew A is confident in his knowledge of everything in the world, and Nephew B is confident that he should scream for help when picked up by strangers. (oh, and if you are struggling to hear, Nephew B’s petname is “prabub” for complex reasons)
dontcallitbollywood 
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Baby games are all about connection and attention and draining thing is how much attention one can give to another without being bored out of one’s mind. Did you feel an oxytocin surge at any point? Sometimes that makes it a bit tolerable
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Oh definitely! But it’s still boring after a while 🙂
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100% no argument from me there. That would be the point where as an aunty I would return the kid back to their parents 😂
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Boring stress. That was how spouse and I referred to baby care.
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Thank you for this light-hearted piece about visiting a household with little ones. It brought back memories for me and started my day off with a chuckle.
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ha ha ha ha ha – I listened in bed this evening with my spouse next to me. I was laughing, he couldn’t understand why I would listen to someone else’s baby cry. I asked him if he missed those days, and he said no. Our days are different now. Tonight the 12 year old stole the 15 year old’s bed, which isn’t really his bed, but my old bed at my parents’ house. And in retaliation the 15 year old sang Wonka songs for over 10 minutes because “he always sang before going to sleep” (not). But he was singing in the same room on a blow up bed next to the foot of my old bed, so the 12 year old kept kicking him in the head on purpose to get him to stop. I had to intervene because one was really going to kill the other. It was still better than holding a crying baby.
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Aw, your boys are still kids! I was worried now that the oldest was 15, it would all be grunting and deep thoughts and being too cool for interactions. The fact that he was rebelling by singing Wonka songs just adds to the whole adorable still-kids quality.
Anyway, yes, a baby crying while a 4 year old monologues at you is quite hectic and tiring. Although both kids were very very cute! And I would go back in a heartbeat to learn more about fire engines and continue my quest to get the baby to stop hating me.
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