Being an Auntie....

I am an Aunt, or should I say an, "Auntie Christine" I love being an Auntie. It is so much more fun than being a mom. I guess that sounds a little harsh. I love being a mom but there are so many worries, so many things to teach them, say to them, making sure they get into college, pass algebra, have good table manners, then there is all the drama of the mother-daughter relationship that is a whole new blog in itself....the list goes on. Being an Auntie, I don't have to worry about any of that stuff. My nephew Oliver just moved back into state after being gone most of his four long years. I thought I would have to be an absentee Aunt. Today though I got to babysit for the first time. It was so much fun! I got to be silly and have fun. Table manners were not required.

We went to the Science Museum. I let him do and go wherever he wanted. I didn't feel like I had to *teach* him anything. He had no interest in the dinosaurs, oh well, moving on....we mostly stayed in the reptile and bug section. With my own children I would have tried to expose them to EVERYTHING whether they were interested or not. After all, I only had 18 years to cram in every species known to man! Then, I asked him if he wanted to buy a toy in the gift shop. I NEVER let my kids get anything in a gift shop! They would get spoiled and think they deserved something everytime, right? Besides, those gift shops are so expensive. That did not matter today. I let him get a BIG, plastic black widow spider AND candy.

Off we went to lunch...he got the kiddie meal that came with a sandwich,chips,teddy grahams, and a drink. The chips he chose were cheetos, the drink was lemonade. Again, as a mom I always chose milk and a *healthy* side item. He ate like, three bites of his sandwich but had all the cheetos,teddy grahams, and lemonade he wanted! There was no "use your inside voice" to be heard at all through lunch....we had fun! Thank goodness my nephew is such a good boy or it could have gotten bad!

We went home to play until his parents got home. I thought for a brief moment about checking my email. My instant reaction was, "I can't do that! I need to spend as much time with Oli that I can." I wish I had had that thought more often with my own kids. There was always something "important" to do. Now they are 14 and 17. I can't even remember what those important things were. Just that I wish I had spent more time having fun with them when they were smaller, before they wanted me to put a paper bag over my head in public.

So I learned a lot today. I love spending time with my nephew, I can't wait to have fun with him and watch him grow up.I learned that being an Auntie can make me a better mom. I learned that maybe I need to have more fun and not be so serious. Life isn't always about lessons to be learned. It's also about having fun.

Maybe that is the biggest lesson of all.