A Boy and His Aunts

Dear Jack,

You have some of the best aunts in the world. They love on you and just adore you and they think that you are just the most beautiful boy in the world.

They think a lot like I do, really.

Anyway, this past weekend, we went to Houston to see your Aunt Rachel and cousin Will and because they were in town, we got to see more family than we normally do on a weekend trip.

This is your Aunt Peggy and your dad's cousin Jessica (Aunt Jessica?).

My favorite you and Aunt Peggy moment was actually last Christmas. You were, as you usually do, reaching for things with your left hand.

Aunt Peggy commented on it and we told her that we suspect that you might be left-handed, but that we thought that was odd because no one else (not your dad, not I, not any of our siblings or parents) is left-handed.

Aunt Peggy says, "Well, I'm left handed." And you could tell the very idea that you might have inherited her left-handedness endeared you even more to your aunt.

Oddly, that same visit, we told that story to my Aunt Kathi (Aunt Dani's mom - because of course we "aunt" second-cousins who are old enough to be your mother) and she said the same thing. So I guess both of your grandfathers' sisters are lefties. Your Aunt Dani thinks she might have been a lefty as well had she not had a bad burn on her left hand as a child.

Speaking of your Aunt Dani, she and her family took excellent care of you again. After being sick for almost three weeks, Aunt Dani wouldn't hear of you going to Moody Gardens and being exposed to all of those touristy-germs. (I think she just wanted an excuse to have you all to herself, personally.) So you went to her house. And then it just became easier for you to stay there. I actually called and asked if they needed any baby equipment -- a high chair, a pack n' play, a jumper, or even a stroller. But really, you only need those things if your plan is to ever put the baby down and they don't unless you really want to be down. That's your Aunt Dani.

I also enjoyed seeing Lily with you. I was holding you at dinner and I actually heard her saying in a stage whisper (as only a fourteen year old girl can do): "Why does she get to hold him? She has him all the time!"

I gave you back.

Because really, she's right. These aunts do love you a lot, but I'm the one who gets to go home with you.

Love,
Mom