You know what’s weird? I really miss my baby niece, Mele. She’s two and a half, so she’s really a toddler, but she looks so baby-ish. She’s so small and cute and she really liked me right away. I’m sure she didn’t remember me at all, which made it all the more endearing that she took to me so easily. It made me feel… I don’t know. Really good about myself. A small child liking and trusting me so readily made me realize she must see something in me that’s approachable, even comforting. And that’s a really good feeling. She doesn’t react that way to everyone. She was kind of freaked out by Joe at first, and he said he thinks it’s because I’m more comfortable with kids than he is. I think that makes sense. Children are just so darn intuitive. It’s freaky.

It was nice hearing Joe say that, because I realized it’s true – I am comfortable with kids. This is reassuring to me, because for a while there, I really wasn’t. But my fondness for children has begun overpowering my apprehension and general fear/annoyance of them. And I’m back to those “damn, it’ll be nice to have a kid of my own, someday” feelings. Luckily, I’m in a healthy spot with that – not overly eager for kids, but not anti-kids either. It’s a nice feeling.

So yeah, when I browse through this year’s Thanksgiving pictures, I realize that in the short time I spent with Mele this visit, she dug out a little space for herself in my heart. I’ve known her since before she arrived in this world. I saw her mom (Joe's sister), Sandy, when she was pregnant with Mele. Then I saw Mele at ages 6 months, 10 months, and 15 months, during which time she was more aggravating and screechy than anything else. She would scream and shriek and Sandy and Joe (her parents) would say things like, “Oh, that’s her happy noise.” Then my Joe and I would look at each other as if to say, “Dear lord, I hope she doesn’t make her UN-happy noise!”

So this visit, Mele surprised me by being pleasant and fun! And hilarious! She is a really funny child. As we were driving in Monterey, her dad hit a pothole and the whole car made a big CLANK! sound. We all said “Woah!” or “Oh no!” Mele laughed and said, “That was funny!” We busted up over that one and laughed even harder when she giggled and said, “Do it again!”

She also has a great memory. They’ve done a bit of traveling with her, so another time we were driving around Monterey, she saw a palm tree and said, “Hawaii!” Her dad said she also recognizes streets when they drive through Chicago and will say on the correct street, “Are we going to the zoo?” What a funny little traveler! Any time we headed out to go anywhere, she’d look around at us and ask, “You’re gonna go with me?”

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. On the ride back to the hotel, she turned to me and said, “I had fun today. I saw fishies and otters and sea lions and…” And she just went on for a while! I smiled at her and said, “I had fun today, too.” When we got to the hotel, we were relaxing in the room and she took a piece of paper and a crayon, sat right in front of me and asked, “I can take your order?” Sandy laughed and said, “Can you tell we eat out a lot?”

Sandy, her husband Joe, and Mele drove up from Monterey and stayed with us overnight the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We had a great time! But poor Mele! I thought Santa Claus scared me? Nothing compared to this poor child. (By the way, I’ve since gotten used to Santa and he no longer startles me.)

When she first walked in the door, she saw him, burst into tears as she scrambled for her parents’ legs, and said over and over, “Daddy hold you!” (that’s her way of asking to be held). We went into the bedroom (which we gave to their family for the night), and we relaxed on the bed and futon. That wasn’t enough for Mele, though, because she kept telling us to “shut the door.” She freaked any time anyone said, “Santa,” so we just generally didn’t mention him, pretended he wasn’t there, and let her just play in the bedroom. I hung out with her a good part of the evening. She liked playing with my doll and with the Hokey-Pokey Elmo Joe and I got her for Christmas (he really does turn himself around!). We even played in the kitchen for a little while, with cups, water, and all the coins in our coin cup (she couldn’t see Santa when she was on the counter, facing me). Of course, then someone said “Santa” and she leaped into my arms, demanding to go back to the bedroom. Then they all went out to see some friends of theirs, so Santa’s reign of terror was put on hold.

Her favorite thing was playing with our remote control light switch. When she turned out the lights, she’d say, “Go to sleep.” And when she turned them back on, she’d say with all the excitement in the world, “Good morning!!” Another time, as she and I were playing, we heard the muffled sounds of the t.v. and Joe, Joe, and Sandy laughing. Mele busted up and said, “Hahaha! Something funny!” She totally cracks me up!

Of course, my favorite thing she did was whenever I asked, “Hey, can I have a hug?”, she’d flop on me and wrap her arms around me real tight. She gave me a hug good-bye as they left, and gave Joe (my Joe) a kiss on the cheek. She is so sweet and darling! I’m so happy we got to see her at this sweet, cute age. It’ll be weird when we see her again. She’ll likely be an entire year older. That’s kind of how visits go considering the miles between us. So, she’ll be three and a half then, which is probably an even cuter age than two and a half. I’m looking forward to meeting her all over again.