On Being an Aunt

Monday the kids were back at school after March Break and the house was quiet again after the drama of races and hockey tournments and girls until my sister came over with my nephew who has been giving his parents a hard time with sleeping lately. Now my nephew is about the cutest, happiest baby on the planet and I love the fact that whenever he sees me his eyes light up and he gives me the biggest toothless grin ever. Being an aunt is almost as good as being a grandmother. I don't think I had this reaction to my brother's children or my husband's brother and sister's kids because in the first instance we were having our babies at the same time. I had Number One, my SIL had hers 10 months later when I was still knee deep in just getting by. Then she had Number Two and two weeks later I had mine. She had Number Three and five months later I followed suit. So we were always going through the same things at almost the same time. No time to sit back and smell the roses or see the forest for the trees or any other cliche. And our other nieces and nephews now range in age from 14 to 19 so back then when my Other Half and I were still foot loose and child free I loved the babies but I had no real appreciation for how much work was involved. Plus we were living out of the country for most of their early years so we only saw them at Christmas and in the summer.







But this one is different. Maybe it is because he is my sister's baby or maybe it is just that I am now the experienced one who gets called upon for advice so even if I can't really remember how my boys reacted to their first solid food I remember all too well trying to get them to sleep through the night. I vividly recall feeding every hour on the hour through the night, watching the digital clock tick through 5 .. 10 ...15 minutes and trying to gently pull a now sleeping baby off and every so gingerly placing him in the crib and holding my breath as I backed out of the room. All the while chanting to myself, "Please don't wake up. Please don't wake up." Finally lying back down in my bed and daring to breath a sigh of relief only to hear, more often than not, a wail. Feeling my whole body tense up at the sound and a feeling in the pit of my stomach that said, "I can't do this again." But getting up and going across the hall to soothe my child because what else is a mother going to do?

Flash forward seven years and I now get to spend time with my seven month old nephew. Did I mention how cute and happy he is at least when he's with me. If he does start to fuss all I have to do is call our dog into the room and PJ is entranced. Or if I have to call in the big guns I just get my Number One Son to take his cousin for a while. The two of them, 12 years apart in age, seem to have a real connection. My oh-so-cool almost teenager will have a bath, change a diaper or walk around for an hour talking with PJ and I swear they understand one another. The other two boys love spending time with him as well but they lose interest more quickly. Number One seems to have far more patience with the cousin than with the brothers. Go figure?

The chances of PJ being an only child are pretty high as he was a IVF baby and my sister turns 40 this year and they are both self-employed so there is no insurance to cover her for another round. So I am thrilled they have chosen to live nearby for both their sake on the child care front and ours. Now the question is whether once my sister goes back to work I will consider becoming my nephew's full time babysitter? Haven't broached the subject with my Other Half or even mentioned it to the boys. My sister and I haven't even talked about it seriously, just lots of off hand comments from both of us. It is a big commitment for me and my family. Oh and did I mention that we are looking into getting another dog as well? At least that will provide double the fun for PJ.