My Niece Myah

My niece Myah is now one year old. I am very much in love with my princess, my daughter, my munchkin. Today, she tried to say my name and my sister’s name; she has also been trying to say her brother’s name. Since she has not learned how to talk yet, she kind of blurts out some parts of the names, which sounds wickedly adorable. These attempts are the reason why I feel that she is going to be a linguistically gifted child. Today was more hectic than the rest of the days I have spent with Myah because now she is older than before.

Our day started out a bit lazy. I woke up with a mild headache due to stress; but, I still went to check out my niece and sister-in-law. After talking to my sister-in-law for a bit, I held my niece in my lap. I thanked God that she has become used to me by now—she was a bit shy at the very beginning. Her mother had already fed her so I mostly played games with her. We spent a lot of time reading children’s books; playing with her toys, real fruits, and the fake fruit basket; singing and dancing to the tunes of Sesame Street music; feeding each other; pasting stickers on each other; and, kissing, hugging, and communicating with each other.

My favourite part was when she would laugh at me after I used my nose to tickle her tummy. Even more interesting part was when she scratched my face especially cheeks and lips; and, I had to remind her to be gentle. When I said the word “gentle”, she gave me a solid stare and started listening to me; her arms literally froze in air as she stopped scratching me like someone is scratching a cat. I think she is used to playing like this because she is around cats a lot. Her parents are slowly teaching her how to listen and react to word “gentle”. I totally love her reaction to this!

Another best moment involved walking Princess Myah by allowing her to fold her hands around my fingers. She held her arms up and then ran wildly as I ran with her. She has somehow learned how to apply pressure on my hands so that I may know which room she wants to enter or which way she wants to turn. We also walked outside for 30 minutes or so while my baby niece rested lazily in her stroller.

Another highlight of this day was when her mom and I decided to dress her up in her two new frocks. These are large and very decorated and frilled party frocks. One is coloured red with a large red rose on the waist; a bow belt that can be tied at the back; and, many frills at the middle and bottom of dress. The second frock is pink in colour; is embroidered with dark pink flowers; has a large white flower on the waist; and, has a very pretty bow belt. After we dressed her up in the red frock, she got so excited at the feel and look of the dress that she held her mom’s hands and ran towards my younger sister to surprise her. Her mom and I went almost crazy with excitement and fatigue as we tried to snap her pictures. Finally, we dressed her in the pink frock. Again, we tried taking her pictures; but, by this time she was pretty stressed. Thus she grumbled and became distracted. Her mom decided to give her my small hair clips to play with. She held them and marveled about them while we managed to take her pictures when she was sitting and standing.

She had to rest a bit after all of this; also, her mom and I were definitely tense and strained after this particular activity. Then, we were courageous enough to forget our need to rest and bathe her to relieve her. She was rather happy and energetic during the bath; and, she splashed a lot of water on her mom. I helped dry and dress her as her mom showed me some exercises she does with her to relax her.

Phew! What a gorgeous and challenging day! I am about to fall asleep early tonight. Her mom is still with her; and, I admire her courage and patience with my child Myah.