Nieces of all stripes

On Monday night, my two year old niece called me and told me a very succinct yet evocative story about a bird? in the house? in the fireplace? and the ceiling? is all DIRTY! and she was SCARED! A perfect narrative, in about 25 words -- and it was the first real back and forth phone conversation we've had.

My sister tells me that Lulu is always more eager to call me than to call Grandma -- and she thinks it's because Lulu knows Grandma really LIKES her calls and I, Cate, am merely pleased by them. A tiny girl with full understanding of the ways of becoming more enticing by withholding affection.

I'm happy I'm going to see her and her tiny vociferous sister this weekend, after the joy of meeting Stef's guy's little girls last week. (Heh, and Stef tells me a fantastic story about Molly and her squiggly ways: "the fairy came home to find her husband...but when she got there, she saw that the person there was...her wife! And then they had dinner").

So my middle sis has Lulu and Mica, and Stef has these two sweet shy little monkeys in her life, and Stef also forwarded this great pic of her meeting her bio-daughter, Hope. A tremendous gift, those eggs, and Hope's parents are overjoyed... and there she is, floating out there, watermark niece, tracked against the vividness of the other four and the other little girls in my edges. So many stories to be lived full.