Oh, How I Love Thee...

Sorry, no audioblogger today. I just couldn't get my shit together. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right. My excitement level has escalated over the past few hours as I realize that tomorrow I'm going to be hugging AJ. And Jamie will be getting to ESC's place and Aimee will be at her Scrapbooking Expo. What's everybody else doing? Back to AJ and my trip to Nashville. We're meeting about noon and going to the Frist Museum then... anything goes... then dinner and drinks. Considering AJ and I are the human incarnates of the Energizer Bunny, can you imagine? All day, non-stop gabfest. Gab, gab, gab, gab, gab, gab. No laying about, vegemiting in front of the tube. Can't wait... giddy, giddy, giddy, giddy!!! Hope everyone drives safely and all is well. ************ I was looking back over some of my old posts and re-read my 2nd Christmas post. I thought at the time that I had adequately documented my day but I found it woefully lacking regarding the time that I spent with my niece Annie. I go through life feeling as much as I go through life seeing. Nate and my nephews, J1 and J2, have the same type of energy. Its an alert, hyper, spastic, intelligent, seeking, searching, scanning, questioning, move, move, move, go, go, go, motor driven, mind never stops energy. Reminds me of someone else I know, but I can't think of her name. Annie though, Annie is different. She has the intelligence but she's watchful as opposed to seeking. Her alertness is not a head turning alertness, but an internal alertness as though she's contemplating everything. Her smile is warm and happy. J1 was somewhat like that, but J2 was not. J2 is such a cranker! Nate had a warm happy smile but ... its hard to explain the difference in the energy behind it. Its so rare when my brother and SIL come to my parent's house to be able to hear yourself think. After we opened gifts though my dad took the boys up the holler, SIL went to get ready for New Year's Eve, my brother went to Wal-Mart, and my mom cleaned the kitchen. I did with Annie what I did with Nate numerous times as a baby. I laid on the floor, my head propped up by pillows, and sat her up against my raised knees. She was already trying to sit up and she wobbled around a bit as I talked to her. "Look at those fingers and toes and little elbows my Annie girl. You're Aunt Nanna's girl aren't ya?" *Exchange smiles* She reached for my hair and I wrestled it out of her tiny but firm grasp. I picked her up and swung her in the air over my face. (Yes, this is very dangerous. You never know when you're going to have a tummy revolt.) I lowered her until our noses touched and she reached again for my hair and I threw her up in the air and as I caught her she had a little belly laugh. I did it again and again, smiling at her and laughing at her laughing. Then I sat her up against my bent legs again and talk non-sensical things to her and rub her belly with the doll I got her for Christmas. Then I rolled us over in the floor and sat her against my shoulder and watched her little fingers as they flexed and grasped. They learn so much so fast. I marveled at the shape of her forehead (like mine) and the shape of the back of her head (like mine), and her little red, perfectly curved eyebrows (like my brother). I got up and left her sitting, before she realized she didn't have any support and tipped over. I caught her and laid her on her belly, hoping to watch her turn over but she was more interested in a rattle and was content to kick her legs and gurgle. I laid down facing her and she looked up and gave me a wide gummy grin and scrunched her eyes up and gurgled and babbled. I reached out and smoothed her hair across her head and wished she were mine.