My niece’s teacher’s sister

Every few days my brother telephones me to say, “Did you hear what Tinkerbelle [our niece] said?”

Today he told me that the other day when my sister picked my niece up from school, Tinkerbelle said, “Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!  Miss Quinn’s sister was in our class today!  And guess what her name is?”

“Helen?”

“Nope!”

“Sarah?”

“Nope!”

“Emma?”

“Nope!”

“Jane? Calypso? Tinkerbelle?”

“Nope! Nope! Nope!”

“I give up, what is it?”

“It’s Miss Quinn!  Miss Quinn and her sister have got the same name!  Isn’t that funny?”

Butterfly money

When my family was here a few weeks ago, we paid my niece to do little jobs around the house so she could buy herself ice creams. Her favourite NZ coin is the 10 cent piece:

It’s a picture of the head of a tiki, but my niece was having none of that. “Look, it’s a face. There are his eyes, see? And he’s poking his tongue out, see?”

“No. It’s a butterfly. SEE?”

So now, in our house, 10 cent coins are called butterfly money.

We found all sorts of little jobs for her to do around the house in return for butterfly money: feeding the cats, putting toys away, picking up dead flies… Towards the end of the holiday, she turned to my sister and said, “Mummy, what jobs can I do at home? I can’t pick up dead flies because we haven’t got them in our house.”

When she’s grown up she’ll remember me as the auntie whose dirty house smelt of cats and dogs, and was full of dead flies.

I never thought I’d see the day

My niece got a magazine that had a free bouncy ball on the cover.  Once my not-yet-quite-two year old nephew got hold of it, it got filthy, and my sister chucked it in the bin.

A few hours later, my niece (who is four) ran into the sitting room with the ball in her hand, shouting, “Mummy, I am very angry with you.  I never thought I’d see the day when you threw one of my toys in the bin“.

Jumping waves

My niece on the beach.

I’ve just realised that the island you can see in the background of this picture is also in the header picture on this blog, but from a different angle.  Can you spot which one it is in the header?

Four going on fourteen

Not long after my niece turned four, she and my sister were in the car. My sister said to my niece, “It will be so funny when you’re a teenager. You might not like Mummy and Daddy very much.”

“Why not?” asked my niece.

“Well, you’ll think we’re old and boring, and you’ll find us embarrassing.”

“But why?”

“Because that’s what teenagers are like.”

“Oh.”

A few moments later: “Mummy?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t like your singing even now.”

My niece has caught a bug at playgroup

“Mummy, I don’t feel well.”

Mummy: “Where does it hurt?”

“I don’t know”

M: “Do your feet hurt?”

“No”

M: “Do your hands hurt?”

“No”

M: “Do your elbows hurt?”

“No”

M: “Do your shoulders hurt?”

“No”

M: “Does your neck hurt?”

“No”

M: “Does your head hurt?”

“No”

…

“Mummy, you didn’t ask about my knees.”

“Oh, sorry darling. Do your knees hurt? “

“No”

What my three year old niece said…

… to my step-mother:

• Tinkerbelle: Mormor, what are you doing?
• Mormor: I’m putting on make-up so I look beautiful. Would you like some?
• Tinkerbelle: No, thank you. I’m already beautiful.

~~~~~~~

… to my sister, her mummy:

• Tinkerbelle (standing by the window, watching the rain): Cracking gooseberries!  It’s raining hard.
• Mummy: ????????

Next day…

• Tinkerbelle: Mummy, can I say ‘Shagging gooseberries?’
• Mummy (trying to keep a straight face): No.

~~~~~~~

Ah, I miss that little girl. Only three weeks now until I see them all. Can’t wait.