Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Making friends

The day before yesterday I met a 3-year-old great-niece for the first time. At first she was quite shy, but she has been warming up to me. It is a mark of her regard that she has twice honored me with an invitation to accompany her when she goes potty. She chatted away to me, observing that she was peeing in the toilet instead of her pants, while I highly commended the discretion and maturity of that choice. This afternoon, as I walked into the bathroom myself, I felt a tap at the small of my back and turned around. "Hey!" she said to me, "What are you doing?" "I'm going potty," I replied, "but I want to go by myself." "Okay," she said cheerfully and proceeded on her way down the hall.

Earlier in the day, she blew her nose in a tissue. "I blow my nose," she told me. "You're a big girl," I affirmed. "See?" she said, opening the tissue and showing me the contents. "Mm. Yes. We just fold that up and throw it away, okay?" "Okay."

She's open to suggestions. It's a sign of intelligence.

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