So.

[camwyn]

Got to visit my parents this weekend, and in the process, got to visit my nephew Nicholas. He's a cute little peanut of a kid- still working on the whole 'oh, so THAT'S the direction toes are supposed to bend in' concept, and he's at that stage of baby development where the eyelids have three settings:

- Closed
- Mostly closed
- Open so far that he appears to have retracted his eyelids entirely into his skull

Reddens up very easily, especially in the feet and hands. Fuzzy hair at the moment, but I'm told it's likely to fall out quite soon as Hair That You Are Born With often does so. Burps loudly, for a baby less than ten days old. Neck still floppy, of course. Pretty well behaved for a kid his age. I got to hold him for a while.

You know that thing about how a woman in her thirties will hold a baby, or meet a baby, or be confronted with a baby, and suddenly realize she wants one of her own? The whole biological clock, reproductive instinct thing?

It's bupkis.

He's a good kid for his age, my nephew, and he's cute enough and all, but holding him- whether or not he was crying, whether or not he was sleeping- didn't do anything for me in the 'eeee! want!' category. Maybe it's because he's still got Newborn Baby Peculiar Looks or something. Maybe he's too small to 'register' as a proper baby- I mean, he's smaller than the Skwish Pillow I bought last month, though he's growing fast. I dunno. I didn't particularly want to keep him and I didn't particularly want one of my own. I didn't mind holding him, though I was a little worried about holding up his head.

Maybe it'll change when he's old enough to read stories to and get some kind of response. We'll see. I doubt it, though. I've never been big on the idea of a kid of my own, and I've known that for some time. I think I was in late high school or early college when I realized that my frustration with being pinned down to the house by my responsibilities to an untrained puppy probably meant I wasn't going to be especially happy about the whole 'baby' thing. I'm about at the stage where I could probably deal with training a puppy. At most.

Ah, well. That is why I am his aunt and not his mother. I shall buy him toys that squeak and go 'ding' and drive his parents crazy and that will be good.

Comments

[kitanzi.livejournal.com]

THANK you! It's good to find another 30something woman who likes kkids well enough, but doesn't find they make the biological clock go gottahaveonegottahaveone! I love being an aunt to everyone else's kids, and have never wanted one myself. I get asked why not - what I want to know is why should I? I'm happy without any. Whatever biological hook is supposed to make people desperate to make more little people just doesn't seem to show up in me - but I never got the people who scorn "breeders" either. Kids are fun. I play with and take care of other people's - then give them back. :)

[bohemian--storm.livejournal.com]

- Open so far that he appears to have retracted his eyelids entirely into his skull

That's the only setting my eyes had when I was a baby, apparently.

As for wanting one ... ugh. I told a woman I used to work with that I had no real desire to have children and, at the moment, didn't see myself having them (I'm twenty one! Clearly that can change!) and she had a minor meltdown, telling me that I was "denying my responsibilities as a woman". Um, alright. In that case I'll just pop out a kid and resent it because it prevented me from following my dreams of acting and writing? Good plan.

Besides, buying noisy toys is always the best part. ;)

[whobunkyboo.livejournal.com]

I often experience pangs of regret at being childless that are so intense that they literally bring me to tears.

I find that spending an hour after lunch on Hot-Lunch-Day Friday trying to get my class to DO ANYTHING usually clears it up nicely, though.

[lasa.livejournal.com]

The only kids I ever really liked were my own.

[terrie01.livejournal.com]

I like kids. But one of the things I like? Being able to give them back to their parents. I plan to be the fun aunt. When the kids turn ~9, I will kidnap them and turn them into nerd children. Then I will return them to my brother and laugh as he struggles to identify with his nerdified kids.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

Yes, the catch-and-release method. It's great. The ways a determined aunt or uncle can corrupt a child at that age into a completely geeked-out nerd are limitless. The dinosaur flash cards, the name-the-parts-of-the-solar-system game, and so on and so on...

[hugh-mannity.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the importance of sugar.

As an aunt you get the pleasure of feeding them sugar just before sending them home. Ice cream counts too. It will make you their favorite relative.

A really cool aunt, or uncle, is one who can answer the teenage questions which one knows one's peers don't have an answer for but cannot ask the parental units. You know, the sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll questions.

[ymfaery]

Don't forget the drum set.

My oldest niece is now nine and is into Pokemon and Yugioh. However, she also tends to talk while watching tv--not asking questions, just talking--which annoys the heck out of me when I'm trying to marathon something and she happens to come by to see what I'm doing. I don't think I'm a very good aunt. ^_^a

[sundre.livejournal.com]

I'm prepping my cousins kids for when they get older. I'm the cool book aunt. My cousin thrilled cause I'm giving them classics, like pre-disney Winnie the Pooh, and Elephant's Child. She doesn't see my secret plans. Today, Shel Silverstein. Tomorrow, CS Lewis. But next week is Terry Pratchett.

I can do this. I've successfully corrupted two out of four younger siblings to varying degrees of bookishness, and that was mostly through proximity and lucky accident. I'm more efficient now.

(Oh, and when he gets larger, consider the harmonica. It's a real musical instrument! And when played by a neophyte it sounds like an affronted duck! An oboe would be moreso, but you can't get those for ten bucks.)

[isustrikanda.livejournal.com]

See, I'm firmly convinced that it only EQUALS OUT to average desire for children per person. Lots of you people who don't have the want on for kids...

I think I got yours. I'd like a brood. I started hearing my biological clock about 15 years ago (that's half my life, folks), which amused my mom no end. ("Poor baby, feels her biological clock ticking and only has 25 good childbearing years left...")

I've taken care of my aunt's 5 kids, my godson, etc.... and yeah, sometimes it's nice to give 'em back. But I still wants my own.

And, okay, I'm well-versed in the arts of child corruption by now. I'll read 'em Terry Pratchett as bedtime stories. Heh.