More random nephew stories

My nephews are a never-ending supply of joy, hilarity and levity. Spending time with them always makes me feel better. They have a way of drawing you into the moment. Can’t worry about the future or the past when they’re in the middle of something mischievous and potentially dangerous right this second.

For posterity here are a few recent nephew moments:

1. Tonight Jordy was playing on the computer while I watched TV. I turned to him to ask what he was doing. His said without skipping a beat: shopping for happiness.

2. We were driving down the road and out of the blue Jordy says, “You know you’re not the only aunt we have.” OK. How do you respond to that. He’s a child. He doesn’t know he’s driving daggers into my heart. My first insecure response is, “But I’m your only real aunt since your mom doesn’t have any sisters.” Then Mikey pipes up, “And you’re the only one we connect with emotionally and spiritually.” Score one for Mikey, he does love me. LOL.

3. I will be watching the boys tomorrow morning because they have the day off from school. Jordy loves to cook so I told him we would make some chocolate chip cookies. He said, “That’s too simple we need to show off how well we can cook.” After all, last time we made muffins and he said it was an advanced cooking class with his aunt. Although his suggestion was a soufflé. I have no idea where he heard that. He has no idea what a soufflé is.

Funny Nephew Moments

My nephews are a hoot. I know they drive me crazy, a lot, but generally I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

I realized that this summer they have done and said some doozies so for posterity I am recording them here, mostly for me, but you might enjoy them too.

1. My dad took Mikey and Jordy fishing a couple of weeks ago. After getting the line tangled five or six times they finally decided to take a break. Mikey laid out on the grass and raised his shirt and said he wanted to get a tan on his stomach. Jordy flopped on the grass, raised his shirt and announced, “I want to get a nipple tan.”

2. One day Jordy walked into the factory and declared, ” I am here to bring joy to the factory.” LOL and he does.

3. Mikey is a child that has to know three or four steps ahead of where we are. He likes the agenda for the day in the morning. On a trip he wants to know where we’ll stop and what we’ll do when we get there. Once there he needs to know the procedures and directions. When you’re done he wants to know what’s next. One day coming out of Sam’s Club he was asking what was next. Not satisfied with the answer we gave he kept asking. Finally out of exasperation Jordy shouted, “Up your anus and to the left.” I guess that was specific enough for Mikey because he got quiet.

4. Last week I picked up the boy from VBS, which they declared to be the same as last year, just with a new theme. To entertain himself Mikey taped a note to himself that read, “I give girls free hugs, so go ahead and ask for one.” He said all he got were pity hugs.

5. At the end of Spring we had an international art exhibit of Kimono’s come to Canton. We were one of two stops they made in the U.S. Jordy was really excited to see them and kept asking me to take him. I was kind of surprised by that but one day gave in. The kimono’s were beautiful. Each one took a year to make. But Jordy buzzed through the exhibit in like 10 minutes. After circling the main room a few times he came back to where I was and asked, “Where are the animals?” I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he went on, “Yea I want to see the kimodo’s, that is what they said would be here.” LOL. We never did find the dragons.

6.  A few weeks ago to distract Mikey and Jordy from fighting I decided to make cupcakes. Jordy, who loves to help, volunteered to be in the kitchen with me. I asked him to read all the ingredients so I could pull them from the cupboard. Then he was actively involved in stirring and prepping all items for the cupcakes and frosting. Half way through he said, “This is a like an advanced cooking class with my aunt.” Awww…. I love that. Memories.

That’s all I can think of right now. I don’t want to forget one cute moment with them.

Believing in Santa

I really missed Mikey and Jordy today.

I talked to them yesterday and Mikey thanked me in advance for my present via mail. He doesn’t believe in Santa anymore so he knows that adults buy the presents. Jordy on the other hand was sure that Santa would bring him his heart’s desire.

I wish I had that kind of faith. I instead rely on myself, become a control freak and end up disappointed.

But beyond that, what is my heart’s true desire. Do I even know anymore? I thought I did for a while but I’m beginning to doubt, maybe that’s the beginning of true faith? Letting go of my plan and embracing something bigger with total confidence, like Jordy.

Nothing like faith lessons from a 4 year old.

Nephew Withdrawal

I am going through severe nephew withdrawal, so I was going to post Mikey’s latest addition to my art collection. But Hello won’t let me post it. I have no idea what’s going on. But just to let you know, it is of Thomas the train that is his favorite. Mikey is the 6 year old, who just started first grade. His favorite things to do are: draw, try and play musical instruments and man oh man does he love tv. His favorite cartoon is Spiderman. He is very precocious and has an answer for everything.Last time I talked to my brother Mike, Mikey was having trouble adjusting to his new school. The poor kid has already been to three schools. One for pre-school in Mexico City. One for kindergarten in Punxsutawney, PA. Now this one in Ohio for first grade. I feel for him. We moved like that as kids too. I told my brother that I hope he’s settled for a while. I know he isn’t moving just for the sake of moving, but it’s rough always being the new kid.

I forget how backwards Ohio can be. There are a lot of rednecks in the making, who like to pick on the little brown boy because his food is different from theirs. Mikey asks to take mexican food for lunch and they tell him it smells funny and that its weird. Their comments don’t phase him. He takes it like a trooper and tells them – “hey, my mom makes this especially for me, not you. I’m not asking you to eat it, so why does it matter to you what I eat.” My sister-in-law doesn’t have the heart to tell him its just a burrito from the frozen food section. I wish I had that kind of confidence now, let alone at six. Pretty amazing for a kid that just learned to speak english last year.

My protective instinct goes WAY UP when I hear stories about kids picking on him. I want to beat up their parents, since you know that’s where it comes from. Although who am I kidding, kids are just mean sometimes. Mikey is a sensitive little kid too, has an artistic flair. I don’t want him to lose that just to conform. They are very careful though to make sure he has room to be himself, which is good.

I think I’m going to call him now to say hello.

Auspicious Beginning

Since I am the resident procrastinator and person who has the most time on the job to surf the web, contemplate life and offer general musings I thought I’d create a blog.

This will give me a chance to stay in touch and use the anonymity of the computer to say things I otherwise might not. I have no idea what I’m going to find to talk about, although I’m imagining the following topics will come up more than once: my nephews and how great they are, the fact that I hate my job, sense of purpose, and movies.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a small taste of what is to come.