Nebraska Trip – #TBT

I spent two weeks in Nebraska this past winter. 2023 is the Year of Babies in my family – two of my sisters and one sister-in-law had/are having babies in 2023, and it has necessitated many many flights by Aunt RG to visit babies. Anyhow, two of the babies were due close together – in January (Nashville sis) and February (Omaha sis). Omaha sis needed a pair of hands around for a couple of weeks pre-due date and my mother couldn’t do it because she was assisting during Nashville sis’s postpartum time, so I took myself out to Nebraska to help. It’s one of the joys of being remote! Doesn’t matter where my laptop is so long as it connects to internet.

(The Final Baby of 2023 is due in September – my California brother’s first child! California Baby will be Grandchild Number 11 for my parents!)

Omaha sis was pregnant with her fourth, and her 5 year old son (Charles), 3 year old daughter (Margot), and 1 year old son (Louis) all got to hang with Aunt RG while their parents did hospital tours, organized the nursery, and did other preparatory items. I was there two whole weeks and the baby (Annie) never did come til after I left, so now I shall ever-after refer to her as “That Brat, Annie, I’ll Never Forgive Her.” (Said with a giggle and laugh and eventually when Annie can understand me, a hug and tickle so she knows I am 100% teasing.) I still haven’t had a chance to return and meet her, but it’s on my mind and I shall do it as swiftly as possible.

So, that was a long preface for me to record just one cute memory that I thought of today. Omaha sis (her name is Corrie, let’s just go with her name from now on) can braid hair but her daughter Margot will not allow Corrie to do it – Margot knows her own mind and Corrie picks her battles. I can also braid hair and in true toddler fashion, Margot absolutely LOVES for ME to do her hair. She insisted that I braid it every day – an aunt’s privilege, I guess. I did love it as my talents are utterly wasted on my sons. Well early in the trip one day before school they were trying to get out the door and Margot “needed” her hair in two braids before they left, so I was in a hurry to slap it together so they weren’t late. I did not have a comb, so I snagged a fork out of the drawer to use to part her hair and then carefully braided it in two pig tails. As you can imagine, every day thereafter Margot dutifully brought me a brush, her hair ties, and a fork.

My mother eventually came to take over, once Nashville Baby was settled in and they were grooving. My mother cannot French braid so I decided a few days ahead of time to transition to “Minnie Mouse ears” so my mom would be able to do it each morning. Gotta stay one step ahead of the three year old.

Here are a few other memories to share:

The oldest nephew in that family, Charles, needed some individualized attention. I mean – fist bump for the oldest child of a large family, my bro. It ain’t easy being Mother’s Little Helper starting basically from toddlerhood. And Charles is not the most talkative kid, whereas Margot WILL talk your ear off, so sometimes Charles gets lost in the shuffle. I decided that we needed to have an Aunt Nephew date – just him and me. After much thoughtful discussion with a furrowed-brow’d 5 year old, we landed on a plan to go to the Omaha Children’s Museum and work in the builder’s area where Charles normally can’t go because his siblings are too small. After exploring the Museum, we would go get ice cream, and then go get hot chocolate, and my stomach hurt in advance just thinking about it but on this day Charles was the boss, so I did as I was told.

We beelined to the building area where he built himself a car. They have drills, hammers, screwdrivers, all kinds of tools – the number of children allowed in is limited and they are somewhat supervised but basically allowed to go ham with the tools, which they all loved including my nephew. After he finished up his car, I dutifully overfed him on sugar and garbage snacks. Then we took a “train ride” which was really just a couple of carts linked together going in a VERY tight circle on the ground, making Aunt RG a little dizzy.

We went to this room full of tubes and tunnels and small plastic balls. The tubes had vacuum suction and the idea was you put the ball in the tube and watch it travel along and pop out somewhere else. Then, just outside that room, Charles led me to a face painting area and asked me to paint him as Spiderman. Aunt RG is NOT an artist but all hail Google – I looked up “Spiderman face paint” right quick and figured out a design I could fumble my way through. He loved it.

At this point it was starting to snow and I was a wee bit nervous about driving, so we hustled over to the ice cream shop across town that we had chosen for our treat. Carefully, carefully he surveyed the options and chose his flavor – mint chocolate chip. We “cheersed” our cones and ate, and I tried nonchalant chatter while nervously watching the snow accumulate outside.

We walked across the street to get hot chocolate – he made sure I got one for Margot, sweet brother. Then we slipped and slid home, literally at one point I ended up sliding into somebody’s front yard at verrrry slow speed. We landed in a snowbank, reversed out and carried on our way, but I definitely don’t love driving in snow, especially with such precious cargo.

Having set the precedent for this guy, I’ve also had other Aunt/Niece/Nephew dates subsequently, including taking Margot to the movies and my Nashville nephew Jacob to Chuck E. Cheese. I’ve got more to do now, did I mention there are 11 grandchildren on that side (and only 3 of them are mine?) But it’s a fun project, I’m not complainin’.