Well, I'm off to see my mom tomorrow. And my sister and her three kids (one is hers by vagina, two are hers by marriage...all 8-10 yrs old, all very loud), my brother and his two kids (both are the product of his loins, 3 & 4 yrs old, but the four year old we just found out about this summer as he found out about it when the mother of his 3 year old was pregnant, and he didn't want to piss her off by letting her know he had a kid with his old girlfriend...anyway, both are very sweet if busy) and me and my 8 month old (alternately v. quiet and v. loud) are all going to be there.
I have a sense of resigned dread about the whole affair. Mostly because of my sister's kids. They are completely overwhelming to me, and we are going to be spending our time in a small duplex apartment in the midst of an estate sale. My mom is moving to her parents to help her father take care of her ailing mother. It was an impromptu decision that brought on an impromptu trip for all of us to see her and "help" her get ready to move.
Yeesh, this is a lot of back story just to get what I just said off of my chest: I'm not looking forward to being around my sister's kids, especially with a baby daughter in tow. When my mom took my brother's son (the only one we knew about at the time...let's call this anonynephew "Blondy") to visit my sister and her kids ("Freckles," "Sweet" & "Salty"), she basically had to run interference the whole time to keep them from steamrolling blondy and scaring the shit out of him. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I were a drill sargeant like my sister, but I'm a pushover. There has always been an uneasy tango of power in my mind, especially with my birth-nephew Freckles. I am the adult, the one with experience and authority. And he is the one with force of will and disdain for me. He's not a bad kid, but he's loud and rough and he makes me nervous. And he hates it when I tell him what to do. As do I.
And that's just Freckles. When all the kids are together they are like a tsunami of loud. If my daughter becomes loud she will be in heaven in her visits to her cousins. If she remains kinda reserved holidays on both sides of the fam will be as hellish for her as they are for me.
Thanks for letting me expose my inner librarian here.
I don't know if I have it in me to be like my sweet, spacy, Pollyanna aunt to these kids. I've more followed the lead of my other aunts and uncles, who alway seemed slightly uncomfortable around me.
I have a sense of resigned dread about the whole affair. Mostly because of my sister's kids. They are completely overwhelming to me, and we are going to be spending our time in a small duplex apartment in the midst of an estate sale. My mom is moving to her parents to help her father take care of her ailing mother. It was an impromptu decision that brought on an impromptu trip for all of us to see her and "help" her get ready to move.
Yeesh, this is a lot of back story just to get what I just said off of my chest: I'm not looking forward to being around my sister's kids, especially with a baby daughter in tow. When my mom took my brother's son (the only one we knew about at the time...let's call this anonynephew "Blondy") to visit my sister and her kids ("Freckles," "Sweet" & "Salty"), she basically had to run interference the whole time to keep them from steamrolling blondy and scaring the shit out of him. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I were a drill sargeant like my sister, but I'm a pushover. There has always been an uneasy tango of power in my mind, especially with my birth-nephew Freckles. I am the adult, the one with experience and authority. And he is the one with force of will and disdain for me. He's not a bad kid, but he's loud and rough and he makes me nervous. And he hates it when I tell him what to do. As do I.
And that's just Freckles. When all the kids are together they are like a tsunami of loud. If my daughter becomes loud she will be in heaven in her visits to her cousins. If she remains kinda reserved holidays on both sides of the fam will be as hellish for her as they are for me.
Thanks for letting me expose my inner librarian here.
I don't know if I have it in me to be like my sweet, spacy, Pollyanna aunt to these kids. I've more followed the lead of my other aunts and uncles, who alway seemed slightly uncomfortable around me.
No comments:
Post a Comment