Babysitting
So sweet! Spent the weekend with Juliette in New Haven, and got some practice with feeding and clothes changing. Surprisingly no poopy diapers while in our care, but a lot of false alarms. We also did a lot of rhythmic bouncing up and down the hallway when our girl got restless. It puts her right out though!
I can’t explain how much it means to me to be part of my niece’s life. When I was a kid, most of my extended family lived out of state, so I only every saw them for a couple weeks at a time each year. I know from working four years at a neighborhood toy store that kids grow up alarmingly fast, so I hope to be there regularly to spend time with my niece and be part of her life month to month.
It also just blows my mind that my brother has a kid?! In my eyes, he’s still the troublemaker who goofed off during after school programs and played pranks and constantly played Nintendo 64 on the weekends, but now I see him so confidently caring for his daughter and letting her snooze on his chest. I still feel like a bit of a kid myself, so it’s weird to think of the cycle of childhood/parenthood resetting before I’ve had a chance to really digest being an adult. But I suppose I'm kind of digesting this experience through the filter of aunthood, so it's a nice way to dip my feet in.
