Learning from my niece...

Ok, so I have this niece, Autumn, who lives with me. She is five years old and thinks she knows everything...typical. The other day when we were cooking dinner she asked to help. We were making chicken roll ups. She decided to help me pop open the cans of crescent rolls, pinch them together, put chicken mix in them, roll them in bread crumbs, and put them on a cookie sheet. Now I haven't made these in forever so I had to get the hang of it but she was already ahead of me telling me that I had it all wrong and that you have to 'pinch them together first!' Oh dear, excuse me! So after watching her do a couple, I decided to try my hand at it and sure enough I could! Wow! What do ya know!! It was fun because she was the pincher, roller, and putter on cookie sheeter and I was the popper and put chicken mix oner. :)

There is never a dull moment with her either. Between her and Micaiah, there is always something to laugh about, something to keep you awake! She loves to sing, dance, and do sign language with everything she does. Whenever she goes to sleep, she tells herself stories and sings herself songs. When she's in the bathroom she is singing her little heart out and you can hear her from a mile away! At every gathering she gets out in the middle and does sign language to the songs we sing and every other little girl goes out too and copies her. Even some of the adults copy her signs too. :)
The other morning it was hot so we put a fan in the open window and she was standing by it singing into it. She was singing "Mighty to Save". She started singing it..."Everyone needs compassion, love that's never failing, let mercy fall on me..." and she stopped there. She kind of looked confused and said, "I don't want mercy to fall on me." We all looked at her wondering where her little brain had taken her. Then she said, "She's too heavy." She was dead serious too. We all burst out laughing!!! It was totally a classic! She says funny things like that every day.
I have been meaning to do something fun with her and her brother but haven't had the time. The other day when I watched them I couldn't give them my full attention or take them on a walk like they wanted me to because I was making my dad's juices with my mom. Their mom was going to make banana cookies this morning for breakfast but didn't have time so I decided that was a good idea for tonight! I had them find the recipe and get out all the ingredients. My nephew Gavin mixed up the dry ingredients and Autumn did the wet. I pretty much didn't do anything besides remind Gavin that we needed two teaspoons of salt not two tablespoons. I thought about taking pictures of them cooking in their aprons but I was in the thick of things too so I couldn't. Since their mom was at a meeting, I let them stay up a little later than usual and we all sat at the table dipping our cookie in a cup of cold milk! It was a nice treat!!! :) While we were eating them I said, "these cookies are so good it isn't even right!" She looked at me and asked, "why isn't it right?" That was a hard one to explain...

Remember that time of your life when there was that someone that you looked up to, loved, and did everything they did? Well, I do. But now I am older and there are younger ones, Autumn for example, who now look up to me. It is a very scary feeling to always have someones eyes on you, saying everything you say, doing everything you do...For example...my younger brother Micaiah knows everything that annoys me and always seems to be doing those things. I get annoyed easily when it comes to him so I am always asking him to "please stop" especially when he's singing during school hours. I think it has become a habit for me to say that to him because the other day he walked in the kitchen and I asked him to "please stop" then realized that he hadn't done anything. So Autumn, seeing and hearing everything, now asks Micaiah to "please stop" too. Yesterday he was outside in the backyard singing and the window was open. Autumn crawled up on the couch, put her face against the screen and asked him to "please stop". That is only one of the many little things she has picked up from me. It is good I guess because it makes me want to be and do better for her sake. It makes me watch myself and catch things before they exit my mouth.