7 posts tagged “aunthood”
The winters are unbearable in Minnesota, but the commencement of spring makes up for it in my opinion. It's slow to come, and the warmth comes by fits and starts, but there are glorious days of mild breezes, melting snowbanks and chirping birds that make even the most curmudgeonly among us feel about twenty years younger. Daylight savings helps. Dusk goes from falling abruptly at five to falling gently over us well after seven p.m. Neighbors are rediscovering each other after a long hibernation. There are no mosquitos yet. People are flirting with sandals and flip-flops and making summer plans. Life is, overall, showing some potential. In short, it feels like everything is waking up.
March has been so far intersting -- it feels as though it's speeding by and yet it feels like it's been March forever. Last week, my mom and I flew out to Pennsylvania to see Prf. Hermano and Beep, as well as baby Peanut. My nephew is beyond adorable -- he's worthy of worship in my humble estimation. Both of my brothers' children are, if I may say so. Peanut is 60% sweetness and 40% curiosity about the world. He greets every strange event with a furrowed brow and scrutinizing gaze, and you can only hold your breath and hope you pass his test. He's learned to laugh and smile and does so easily, but laughs the most with his mom. Also, he thinks their dog, Davy (the worlds largest beagle -- seriously, he's as big as a lab) is the bee's knees. If Davy is near but not paying attention to him, Peanut wiggles and squawks until Davy notices him, and then he smiles like the greatest thing in the world just happened.
I'm a pretty lucky aunt.
A week from tomorrow, my mom and I are flying out to visit this little guy:
Yes, that's my nephew, Peanut, at Christmas. He's the offspring of my oldest brother -- who possesses a PhD in Chemistry -- and my sister-in-law, who has aced every bar exam she's taken and knows more about American politics than most people who were born here. So naturally, they have a son who, at barely five months old, can slay fools with one simple glance. That look right there? Someone attributed a quote to Fitzgerald that was actually said by Hemingway. Took him days to take that person seriously again.
In a few months, Peanut will start walking, but as you can clearly see, he is already ruling. I have a distinct feeling his first words will be, "You don't know what you're talking about."
I can't wait to see him again. I hope I don't say anything stupid in front of him, though.
It's a boy!
My first nephew!
You can't see it in this picture, but Peanut has giant hands. Big Brett Favre hands.
Way to go, Beep and Prf. Hermano!
Peanut also makes pirate faces:
Beep has started labor, but it is early stages and I think the baby will hang in there for a day or two yet. Last night I dreamed that Beep and Prf. Hermano had a boy, and named him Jeremiah. I was like, "That's an awfully biblical name for a Buddhist and an Athiest to give their child."
Off to work...
Any day now -- even today -- my Aunthood could be refreshed, as Prof. Hermano and Beep are now at the "Any second now" point of her pregnancy. Updates forthcoming as news arises - Beep has a doctor's appt this afternoon (4/3Central).
I got the best postcard ever from the Starlet, who is on the British Isles right now, wandering about. He got it from a gay bar in Edinburgh, and told me a story about using a ladies restroom. How I miss him.
My last days of classes are this week, and my final papers are due Monday, so I imagine I will be a little sparse this week. I keep procrastinating, naturally, but soon it'll be all papers, all the time, instead of "work on a paper, stop, peruse the internet, work on a paper, stop, eat lunch, read for a while, then realize I have to go to work."
Ooh, that reminds me. Yesterday I worked a long shift, and on my break I wandered over to Borders. I saw a book there called "The Obama Nation - Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality." But... I'm more than a little sure that Jon Stewart coined the phrase "ObamaNation" a year or two ago. So, way to crib from The Daily Show, right-wing dude who wrote a book. What's next, a book titled "Truthiness?" Heh. The very best part of this was that it shared a table with the promotional material for Breaking Dawn. So, you know, at least it was with the rest of the fiction.
Cult of personality, my ass. It's like they forgot the years of "DON'T CRITICIZE BUSH BECAUSE WE ARE AT WAR!" Remember? When it was unpatriotic to criticize the president? I sure do. I got told to "leave America" by a roommate when I said that I understood why Europeans didn't like our president. Ironically, we were not IN America at the time she said this, and it didn't make her any less angry with me when I pointed this out. It does make a great story years later. I ran into another roommate from Athens at a wedding, and she was like, "I tell everyone about the time when she said, 'If that's how you feel, get the fuck out of America!' and you said, 'But... um, we're in Greece?'"
I'm something of a jerk.
OK, I said I wouldn't talk about my niece again, but I have to say it. I saw the people magazine with Brangelina's twins on the cover and, you know what? Not impressed. Compared to Little Miss Sunshine, those babies are total uggos. Nice try, Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Well, I don't know if I care to talk about anything besides the wonder that is my niece. The only variation in speaking about Little Miss Sunshine will be in October, when the Peanut is born and I'll have another niece-or-nephew to talk about.
This is by far the best picture - my dad holding his new grandchild. I don't talk to much about it, but my dad had a genetic heart condition for about a six year stretch between the end of my high school career and the beginning of my graduate career. When I was 22, he had a very risky surgery to correct it, and it worked. The shadow of fear went away. Four years later, he's healthy - save for an arthritic joint or two -- and around to hold his grandchildren. It makes me so happy. I could cry.
You'll note that Little Miss Sunshine is particularly plump and cute. Rumor has it, she takes after her (still plump and cute) aunt, as this side-by-side comparison of me as a newborn and her as a newborn shows. I was a good two pounds heavier and several inches longer, being born two weeks after my due date instead of two weeks before. But note the same chubby face, the same nose and lips, and note the fuzzy head. Sure, she has more of a controlled hair style than my little baby faux-hawk, but it was the eighties then. We all made fashion errors. Anyway, this baby knows what is good for her. Clearly, she is already advanced.
