#4: Nephew Time

We celebrated Christmas with my family (my parents & my brother with his family) during dinner on 12/23 and dinner on 12/25. The nephews were both a lot of fun. Nephew1 (31 months old) has been talking about Santa for months, although I don't think he really understood exactly what would happen. My SIL told us that she prepped him for his visit with Santa at the mall, telling him what it would be like, and how he should tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Apparently, he took her advise to heart, because he started whispering "Superman Truck" as soon as he approached Santa. By the time they got him on Santa's lap, he was chanting "Superman Truck." haha! Even funnier, Brother & SIL had no idea where he had seen/come up with this toy. Brother said he even googled it and couldn't find anything. Luckily, they happened to be at WalMart a few days before Christmas, and were looking at some items on low shelves. Sure enough, right at almost-three-year-old-eye-level, there was a Superman Truck.

N1 has also apparently been coached on what to say when he opens presents. I gave both boys pajamas (matching, so adorable, even though their mom already had matching pjs for them) and a savings bond. N1 opened the box, and said "Wow!" and started pulling out the pjs. Then he turned to his mom and said "what is it?" So much for that wow, eh? I had to laugh--his mom has a video of herself as a child opening up a box of chocolate covered cherries, and her face just falls in disappointment. But she sees the camera on her, so she says "Wow, thank you!" in a totally fake way. (The funniest part of that story is that she'd shown the video to my parents & Brother a few weeks before her first Christmas in our family & my mom forgot all about it. Then she put chocolate covered cherries in SIL's stocking. SIL thought it was a joke, until my mom remembered and started apologizing. Ahh, good times.) Anyway, N1 was genuinely excited when he opened a gift from his Pappa (my dad)--a Hummer truck. He started shrieking "A Hummer! A Hummer!" That kid sure loves trucks.

Nephew2 (almost 10 months) is starting to show more signs of having a personality just like Brother's. He's so cheerful and easygoing--plus, he seems to like me more than N1, so obviously he's my favorite. heh. I had fun holding him and playing with him. K started to play peek-a-boo with him around my shoulders, and N2 became fascinated with K's mouth. Right now, K has a little triangle of hair just below his lower lip, and N2 could not take his eyes off him. K would move his mouth around in silly ways, and N2 would try to mimic his mouth movements. It was so stinkin' cute! Later, N2 crawled over to the big portable CD player where K's EP of Christmas music was playing, and started banging on the speakers--the kid loves to drum. K hurried over to stop him, and ended up picking him up. He joked "so how do you work this thing?" because he is not really a baby holder, he's more of a baby game player while someone else holds. N2 instantly became re-interested in his mouth, so he held him a minute. ADORABLE. If I didn't know I'd already ovulated for the month, I probably would have right then.

We also had a chance to visit with our 3 out of town nephews in K's home town on Christmas Eve for dinner & Christmas Day for lunch. K's godson, J, is 12 and really really into music. He plays several musical instruments--guitar, bass, and a couple of reed instruments (saxaphone, baritone, etc.). K gave him one of his old acoustic guitars for Christmas and J was thrilled. He immediately abandonded all of his other gifts and started playing around with the guitar. His mom said something to him about how it was a nice gift, and I heard him say "I know, Uncle K always gives me the best gifts; I could never give him anything this good." Ahh, but knowing that is gift enough to Uncle K, kiddo. J is very shy, but really listened when K gave him some tips (he even went to the kitchen immediately & cut his nails when K suggested he keep his nails shorter for better guitar playing). J's dad (K's brother) is not an ideal role model, so I hope that J follows K's example. It would be great if they were able to interact more often.

The other two kids are A (just turned 18) and C (who is 11). They also seem to be great kids, despite going through some tough circumstances growing up. A is polite, friendly, and helpful (though I did notice he was texting on his phone pretty much the entire evening, including during meals) and never seemed to go through that surly stage I expect from teenagers. He's hoping for a baseball scholarship to college next year, and despite a bad shoulder injury last summer, he's been performing well at pitcher and (I think) first base. It would be great if he went to UT, but I'm not sure if that's going to work out. He'd definitely be a star at a smaller school; UT has a pretty big talent pool.

His little half-brother C is a character. He's always working an angle to get something he wants, or he's trading sassy comments with someone--usually his grandpa (FIL). He totally cracks me up, although half the time I don't want him to know he's making me laugh because it only eggs him on. He is also a baseball star, although I'm not sure of the position(s) he plays. His dad is a total scoundrel asshole, and I'm glad C's been able to avoid sharing any of those traits with him.

I have to admit that spending time with the local nephews has been and is going to be fairly easy. In October (when I started this list), we saw them for my/my dad's birthday celebrations. Thanksgiving was in November, Christmas in December, and our family New Year brunch on 1/1. Next month, we'll celebrate my mom's/Brother's birthday. March will bring N2's first birthday, and April is K's birthday. May will be N1's third birthday. But, I still like to keep track of our time with them each visit, if only for a record later of what they were like at that age. I met these kids on the day they were born, and I am loving seeing them grow up.