Today I went to my sister’s house to play with my niece and nephew. My nephew is the best, he’s 3 years old and every time I come over, he sees me and says “Oh! Hi Gina!” like it’s the most exciting thing ever. The poor guy is having a hard time being so cooped up in the winter and has tons of energy. I guess we are all kind of feeling like that now. We got bundled up and went outside to play together. Mostly he just wants to walk around the neighborhood and climb into the big snow drifts by the driveways.
My niece is 10 months old, and is standing up, starting to walk, and has found her (screeching) voice. If you dance to music, she tries to imitate by shaking her little body. She will put soft table foods in her mouth now, but she just gums them up and spits them all back out instead of swallowing. Of course I’m a pediatrician so my sister keeps asking me why she does this but I have no idea. I’m sure she’ll figure it out eventually.
My nephew likes this show called Word Party and after a few episodes of that your mind is like, what-the-fuck-is-happening-right-now. My mom hates it because the animals call themselves babies, even though they can walk and talk, and all still wear diapers (my nephew is having trouble with potty training). He makes me work on I Spy books with him, even though he knows where everything is by heart.
But being with the kids is kind of energizing in its own exhausting way. They seem to just enjoy my presence, which is validating in the best way. They always make me smile way more than I normally would. And my niece still has those round kissable cheeks that just beg for attention. I definitely feel happy when I leave, which is not always easy to come by. I do love being an aunt.
[…] many others, my mental health has been tenuous during the pandemic. Seeing the people I love as often as possible has really helped keep me sane. I worry about where my depression would be […]