Role Models

For no reason I can explain, Bugga is just now meeting her only cousin, who is three going on 12. Well, I suppose the distance has something to do with it, as they were unable to visit us with the rest of the in-laws over the holidays when we welcomed Bugga into the family.

Aside from the 5 weeks of daycare that my daughter participated in, she has had limited exposure to other people her size, so her cousin was fascinating from the moment her cousin asked the first second, “Can I hold her?!?” Bugga has never seen such energy! She watched mesmerized as my husband sought to cram as much Uncle-ing as possible into the brief overnight stay we had with his niece, never taking her eyes off this new 3-year-old role model.

Could it be coincidence that Bugga then decided to test out her voice more than ever, pushing it to higher decibels than we thought she was capable of without ending up in hysterics? We found it highly entertaining (and somewhat confusing), while my brother- and sister-in-law never batted an eye, used to such chaotic scenes repeating themselves daily in their living room.

I feel like we visited with a 4-month-old infant and left with a toddler. I get a sense that my daughter is finally realizing there is a world full of all sorts of fascinating people and things around her and she needs to swallow up as much as she can TOMORROW.