The Visit

The visit to the aunt, uncle and little cousins' house was actually quite pleasant. It took me a little while to get into the right "gear" for enjoying family and kids, but once I did, I had a very good time. The holiday thing was mostly just giving the kids gifts, which was really cute to watch, even though I had nothing to do with the particular presents. But the kids were just so happy with their stuff, and put a lot of attention into it, and there was a really pleasant lunch, and the usual family walk. And the littler cousin was running with my mom- which meant that Mom was mostly fake-running, of course, and there were some really darling manglings of English in that 3 year old way: rather than wanting them to be running neck and neck, she wanted to be running "neck to neck", and rather than slowing down, she wanted to "slow up".

My folks got them a set of those marble tracks that Em and I had as kids, except that now they're slightly less intuitive and a bit more frustrating. But just watching the older of the cousins play with them on his own versus when I was playing with him and could help get pieces going in the right direction- it reminded me of how much More older kids can sometimes get out of toys that are originally intended for littler kids. I remember occasionally going up to the attic and playing with our set of marble tracks well into high school, and making some pretty nifty things while talking about the usual stuff that nerdy high school students talk about... And it all made so much more Sense than it had as a younger kid.

In any case, the whole Christmas aspect of things was almost not present, besides that there was a tree, and there was some amusement in relation to their cats kinding behind the tree, and chewing on it. I guess with the cousins this little, it's hardly surprising- but it's still nice to be able to leave that whole set of mishegas for another year. (The aunt and uncle were surprised about having a tree this year too, they hadn't been planning on it but the kids wanted one, apparently. It'll be interesting to watch what happens with them as time goes on.)

The Visit

The visit to the aunt, uncle and little cousins' house was actually quite pleasant. It took me a little while to get into the right "gear" for enjoying family and kids, but once I did, I had a very good time. The holiday thing was mostly just giving the kids gifts, which was really cute to watch, even though I had nothing to do with the particular presents. But the kids were just so happy with their stuff, and put a lot of attention into it, and there was a really pleasant lunch, and the usual family walk. And the littler cousin was running with my mom- which meant that Mom was mostly fake-running, of course, and there were some really darling manglings of English in that 3 year old way: rather than wanting them to be running neck and neck, she wanted to be running "neck to neck", and rather than slowing down, she wanted to "slow up".

My folks got them a set of those marble tracks that Em and I had as kids, except that now they're slightly less intuitive and a bit more frustrating. But just watching the older of the cousins play with them on his own versus when I was playing with him and could help get pieces going in the right direction- it reminded me of how much More older kids can sometimes get out of toys that are originally intended for littler kids. I remember occasionally going up to the attic and playing with our set of marble tracks well into high school, and making some pretty nifty things while talking about the usual stuff that nerdy high school students talk about... And it all made so much more Sense than it had as a younger kid.

In any case, the whole Christmas aspect of things was almost not present, besides that there was a tree, and there was some amusement in relation to their cats kinding behind the tree, and chewing on it. I guess with the cousins this little, it's hardly surprising- but it's still nice to be able to leave that whole set of mishegas for another year. (The aunt and uncle were surprised about having a tree this year too, they hadn't been planning on it but the kids wanted one, apparently. It'll be interesting to watch what happens with them as time goes on.)