My brother has one child, a daughter, who is almost two and a half. She is, undeniably, the cutest two-year-old we know just now, and not only because she shares some of my DNA. Yesterday she was in particularly fine form.

In the afternoon, we rallied all the children (big and small) to go play at the park. My sons, of course, resisted to the end, because GOD FORBID they leave whatever might be going on at Nana and Papa’s house to play outside. My dad had spent the day reminding me that if Henry wanted to swim again, he would take him, even though the pool at the hotel (have I mentioned that my parents, who LIVE HERE and have a house that could rival any bed and breakfast in the Albuquerque area, are staying in a hotel while the rest of us completely trash their house and drink their liquor? How lovely is that?)–my dad kept saying that he would be happy!! to take Henry swimming again, even though the hotel pool was filled with ice water. So when Henry refused to go to the park, I said, ‘Hey! How about you and Papa go swimming?’ and he said, ‘Great!’ and ran into the living room to announce, in his best Outdoor Voice, ‘Papa, will you take me SWIMMING?’ And then Charlie, who was cold and miserable the ENTIRE TIME they were at the pool yesterday, started to cry and said, ‘I want to go WITH HENRY!’ and insisted that he would swim, too, and that it would be FUN. So I packed my kids and my dad in the car, muttering under my breath, and we all went off to the hotel pool.

(Please note: I had NO INTENTION of getting in the pool. I didn’t even take a swimsuit with me. Swimming in December is not in my job description. Just so you know.)

We get to the hotel, and Henry and my dad are getting changed to swim, and Charlie says, ‘I changed my mind. I don’t want to swim.’

I took five big yoga breaths and said, ‘So what are you going to do?’

‘I’m going to play with YOU!’ he announces.

‘Well,’ I say, ‘I would like to go to the park and play with Tess.’

‘Really?’ he says. ‘I had no idea.’

Damn that kid. (My dad looked at me and said, ‘Is he kidding?’)

So we go back to the park, leaving my dad and Henry to swim, and when we get to the playground my brother says, ‘Tess, do you want to ask Aunt Susan something?’

And god bless her, she says, ‘Aunt Susan, do you need a cocktail?’

Last night after dinner we had her singing songs, because the whole point of having kids is to provided family entertainment, and John got her started on a song about a bumblebee. ‘I’m holding my baby bumblebee/Won’t my mommy be so proud of me?’ Very cute. Then there’s the bit about how the bumblebee stings the singer, and then this: ‘I’m smooshing my baby bumblebee/Won’t my mommy be so proud of me’ which was accompanied by the appropriate smooshing hand gestures. And the more we laughed, the more she smooshed and sang, and despite the fact that the song was all about killing an innocent bee, my god it was the cutest thing ever! Since the kids went to bed, we have compelled my sister-in-law to sing the song probably ten more times. There is also a verse about wiping the smooshed bee guts off on your pants–how fun! I will be singing this song every day.

This morning Tess and Charlie had a tea party, complete with fancy hats borrrowed from my mother’s coat closet. Tess had a straw garden hat and Charlie had a cowboy hat; they served tea and crumpets to their stuffed buddies for a while and then decided to be cowboys, waving their tea cups in the air and yelling, ‘Yee-ha!’ And the cuteness nearly killed me.