Uncle of the Year

TB and I visited with family during our recent trip back to my hometown, Dayton, Ohio. The highlight for me was getting a lot of time to spoil the newest addition to our family, my niece, Chyenne — no that’s not a typo, no you are not dyslexic — and my 2 year-old niece, Justice.

My sister gave birth to Chyenne on June 14, just 8 days short for Chyenne to share the same zodiac sign with me and and the majority of my family. As one might expect from a 1 1/2 month-old, she mostly ate and slept. I knew from previous phone calls with my sister Chyenne has a healthy set of lungs. That little girl can holler when she is not getting the attention she wants. She is spoiled and likes to be held while she is sleeping. I apologized to my sister then did my part to spoil her even more. I think I held Chyenne most of the time we were together during that 3 day period. She likes me. I like her.

We babysat Justice for 2 days and it was fun hanging out with a 2 year-old from sun up to sun down. That is probably because I knew I could use a lifeline and call up her mom or my sister if things got too hectic. She’s potty-trained so the only major tasks were keeping her preoccupied, fed and clean. TB’s instincts kicked in and she seemed to enjoy taking care of Justice in small spurts. TB doesn’t really like kids.

If I had to guess, TB would say her favorite moment was when we took Justice, Chyenne and my sister shopping for baby clothes and other baby paraphernalia. Justice pushed the cart and walked down different aisles, stopping at various merchandise, and holding items up against her before exclaiming, “I like ‘dis!” She did it for shirts, dresses and even blankets. It was really cute because she was actually picking out nice stuff that matched. When she found a handbag and slung it over her shoulder it was all over. We could do nothing but laugh and admire her savvy. When we relayed the story to Justice’s mom, she confirmed Justice is a world-class shopper at age 2.

I have to get my Uncle of the Year votes lined up now. In about 8 years they will be big girls and won’t have much need for an uncle, save my wallet. Of course, I will have to spoil them then too.