cousin camper: itty bitty

cousin camp itty bitty

A discussion takes place:

“What’s my nickname?”

“We call you Itty Bitty.”

It’s a name that fits my pint-sized niece with the fairy-wing voice.  She’s had the nickname since she was a baby, and now that the baby fat has mysteriously melted away from her thighs, belly, and cheeks over the past four (and eleven-twelfths) years, she’s just at the cusp of out-growing Itty-Bitty like she outgrew last year’s shoes.

When you become an Aunt, you’re not quite sure about the bundle of joy that has given a prefix to your parents.  Grandparents.  Sounds so old.  So does “Aunt,” come to think of it.

So it takes some adjusting.  Just like those snaggy diaper tabs the first time you offer to babysit for your sister and brother-in-law and then remember (after they’ve bolted for the door) that you haven’t actually changed a diaper in, say, two decades.

But then that Itty Bitty thing squirming after balls on the floor mysteriously loses all the baby chub and elongates into an elegant little slip of a woman-child.

cousin camp lydia

A woman-child with beauty that flashes unguarded in her eyes when you smile at her.

cousin camp lydia

A woman-child who loves to “do your hair” and whose delicate fingers send shivers down your spine each time they float through your strands.

cousin camp hair

A woman-child who has her own ideas on how to decorate her room, a baby bird’s nest, or the dinner table for her cousins.

cousin camp lydia table

A woman-child who runs shyly to your side and nudges her hand into your own as you walk across the lawn.

A woman-child who can utter words and dress them in gowns of magic when she says, “Hey Aunt Beth…”

cousin camp itty bitty

She says it in such an Itty-Bitty voice.  But it’s a voice that’s growing so quickly into a beautiful young woman.

4 Comments

  1. angela said:

    I want a niece or nephew so very much (but I would never voice that pressure to my bro & sis-in-law!) This post made me want one even more 🙂

    July 6, 2011
    Reply
  2. John Schoeneck said:

    Cousin: Wait, you will be call a Great Aunt someday….I’m feeling very old!

    July 6, 2011
    Reply
  3. jsh0608 said:

    So I’m not a mother…but I am an ‘aunt’ to many this is including family and friends kids. Now on easter I hadn’t seen my oldest nephew (19) and niece (18) in almost 2 years. And found out that my nephew has a 2 year old…so that of course makes me a ‘great aunt’ and then my niece is pregnant right now. Being a ‘great aunt’ makes me feel really old and I don’t even have my kids yet. Oh boy, I can hear my kids friends when I pick them up from school. ‘So and so you grandma is here’ :/

    July 6, 2011
    Reply
  4. Faith said:

    Being an aunt gives me the blessings of children in my life, watching them grow into mothers and fathers and then becoming the ‘great’ aunt….not old but someone who is really great to have around :> ) !!! Lifes cycle really is splendid!

    July 6, 2011
    Reply

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