Being mindful when spending time with my nephew:
This weekend, we have the littlest munchkin – three-year old Thomas – come to stay with us while his mummy and daddy are away on a birthday celebration. Callum, the other munchkin, went to stay with his other mamma and granddad.
And there are two special highlights from this weekend that I will always treasure:
The first, is singing him to sleep. This is the first time I’ve had this pleasure, and it was such a joy. A pretty precious moment for me.
He was wide awake when my mum first took him up to bed, so it was no surprise to hear a knock on my bedroom door a few minutes after mum had gone back downstairs.
I took him back to bed and read him the story about a little bear who went BOO! (a brilliant children’s book by David Walliams).
He was still pretty wide awake after that and as it was getting quite late, I suggested I sing him a lullaby if he lay down and closed his eyes. He readily agreed, snuggled up with his Teddy, and I sang my favourite: Baby Beluga.
A dear Canadian friend introduced me to this delightful song a few years ago, and these beautiful creatures are quite close to my heart after spending hours sitting watching them in Vancouver’s Aquarium.
Anyway, I couldn’t quite remember all the words but sang what I could and made up the rest.
Over and over. And over and over.
Eventually I could sense he’d dropped off. But as I came back up the stairs after telling my folks he was asleep, he was waiting for me at the top saying: Auntie Helen, you said you’d stay with me.
So I took him back to bed, and kicked off Baby Beluga again.
And again. And again.
Mum eventually came and took over as I was flagging, and losing my voice. But I’m happy that at least I did sing him to sleep, even if he was asleep for only a few minutes: I’ll take it.
And today we woke up to a sprinkling of snow. How exciting! We don’t really get much snow here, not as much as some parts of the country, so any we get is a real treat.
And having a nephew here to enjoy it with was a real bonus.
So after brekkie we wrapped up warm with many layers and headed out into the garden. We had snow much fun (get it? snow much fun, snow?) making footprints, brushing the snow off the garden plants and bushes, making a snowman (which he wanted to take home with him later, bless!), and of course, the obligatory snowball fight – which Thomas won, of course.
We both came back inside with rosy cheeks and big smiles on our faces, ready for a hot drink to warm us up.
To be honest, I’m not sure who had the best time. Well actually, I do have an inkling…
So with this in mind, my happy for today is being mindful when spending time with my nephew.