Cute as the Dickens!

Yep, I still want to have kids.

Of course, my little niecey Nora Lu is so cute and well-behaved, she makes having a child seem like so much fun.

Nora is one and a half years old, and I swear, one-and-a-half has got to be the cutest age. Everything seems to be so new and exciting to her—and I mean everything.

Her Mom and Dad brought her over to our apartment yesterday morning, and immediately our cat caught her attention. She’d never really been around a cat before, so our cat Autumn was really fascinating to her. She kept coming close to the “kitty,” but then backing up—she just wasn’t quite sure yet what the kitty would do. Finally, when I started to play with Autumn with her favorite feather toy, Nora got closer to her and began shaking the toy at Autumn, then squealing with delight whenever Autumn would swat at it.

Over and over again, Autumn would swat at or bite the toy, and Nora would squeal and laugh, while her little legs shook with excitement. It was just too cute.



Later on, when we met back up with them after her nap, the first thing that Nora said to me was “Kitty?” Too cute!

Yesterday afternoon, we took her to the Chicago Children’s Museum, and I think her favorite part was just walking across a little archway bridge they had there. Over and over and over again. And then ten more times (at least it seemed like it). She just did not get bored with it. But the funny part was, I didn’t get bored, either, watching her. She was just so happy and excited. Can you imagine being so excited about something so mundane?

And whenever there was anything to climb through, she would climb through it over and over again. She just loved it—and I loved watching her.

Just imagine looking at the world with such enthusiasm! Maybe that’s one of the lessons that little ones teach us—to be happy with the little things in life.



And Nora’s parents (my sister Sheri and brother-in-law Rick) are so good with her. It is just so obvious that they really love their little Lu Lu.

We had a wonderful time, just hanging out and chatting while Nora Lu entertained us with her playfulness and cuteness. Even Buck joined in on the fun by showing his apartment (with the great view from the “balcony of terror”) and having some yummy lunch with us.

One of my favorite cute things from the weekend was a monkey backpack and leash that my sister had put on Nora.

Here she is wearing the backpack—you can’t exactly see the backpack in this picture, but isn’t she just so cute?



And here's the little monkey, on the end of her leash!



What a wonderful weekend—and a wonderful niecey. I am such a proud auntie.