thirty-two flavors and then some
Today, my mom and I went to Rossville to spend Easter Saturday with our relatives there. We got to see Aunt Cindy, Tyler, Justin, Brandon and Stancy plus Jack and Nate. We brought Brandon’s grandma, Mary, in from Topeka with us and then Stancy’s mom and dad and sister or something were there and her step-sister’s son, Tyler. All the little kids were so cute to have around. Tyler seems to be about one, though no one confirmed his age for me. Jack and Nate are 2 and 5 months, respectively. I don’t think I’ve had so much fun with three little boys ever. Tyler and I played with this thing from the movie Cars that is like a racetrack for these little cars. You set them up at the top and then press a paddle and it makes noise and the cars go down the spirally track. Tyler was really shy all day (he spent the first hour or so riding around on this little fake john deere and keeping to himself) so I sort of had to just play with him and assume that he would run off if he didn’t like me. He was just very quiet. But after I used the paddle to make the cars go down the ramp instead of just setting them on it and letting gravity do the trick like he’d been doing, he got really interested in my ability to use the toy properly and then we became pretty good friends. We played with that thing for a really long time and then we both lost interest in it because we have the same attention span, apparently. Then we played with this little plastic workbench that has these pegs that are different shapes. and if you fit the shapes correctly in the spots for them then hammer them it makes a sound. The sounds were fun. And i had a good time asking Tyler if the circle peg fit in the triangular spot and then going over how it didn’t and how it was a circle. And then doing the same thing with the triangle and celebrating when we got it right and he got to pound-pound-pound and make lots of noise which everyone likes.
Jack played with us some too, mostly because he was jealous and he’s going through his “Mine! Mine! Mine!” phase. He’s a good kid though. Whenever you ask him to share something he just does it even after he’s ripped it from your hands. It’s like he thinks he’s got a shot not sharing it if only no one uses that special word. I made sure to say “Your toys are fun Jack! Thanks for sharing them with us!” when he came over so that he wouldn’t take things from Tyler because the poor little irish kid was so damn confused by things being taken away. Jack even sat on my lap for a little while and watched me explain how shapes fit. Then he took the square and put it in the square hole and seemed accomplished as Tyler pounded away at the square that now made noise. Then he held his gross, sticky jelly bean out to me and i was like “where does that fit jack?” and he put it in his mouth. So cute. Just absolutely adorable.
Eventually, I got control of the baby, Nate. He’s fantatic. He mostly just likes to watch things happen and be held. He’s not that demanding about what happens when he’s held as long as there is something exciting going on. Exciting, to him, is watching Justin eat and watching the Masters on TV. While we were all talking, he decided that he wanted to add to the conversation so he’d chatter sometimes for a few minutes and then just stop. And I’d ask him about his feelings about the conversation. We were talking about American Idol and how that one guy with an S name is maybe going to win despite sucking… Nate and I agreed that after Doughtry lost, it was all over. And that Nate thinks that the one-legged dancer on Dancing with the Stars should win the show because she’s so good with one leg and she’d probably be outstanding if she had both (for similar reasoning, FDR deserved the presidency). And he didn’t even cry when he got wet. He just squirmed around and started chattering until Aunt Cindy came by and changed him. He was pretty fascinated by my hair, cos it’s so curly and fun to pull. He’s got a grip like a bear trap too. And his major interest in holding onto hands and fingers is so that he can use them to ease his teething. He slobbered all over my hand for most of the afternoon.
So it turns out my maternal instrincts have gotten much stronger. I’m not nearly as afraid of Nate at his age as I was even of Jack at his a little over a year ago. And I think babies could maybe be sorta fun. Though I still want to be able to spend time with mine which means waiting like 8+ years before i have one. I texted kyle and said “awh. i love babies. my maternal instinct is so strong.. it’s scary.” and i think that scared him a bunch. he made sure to emphasize that i shouldn’t have a kid for a very long time in his reply. and my response made it clear that i in no way was meaning to test the waters on that question. eek. it’s weird though that i am at the age where some people start families. aggh. TERRIFYING.