Teenager

My niece K is 13 today. I didn't forget her birthday, but I almost forgot that I planned to do special posts for my nephieces when they turn 13! It's been since February when my nephew turned 13, so it slipped my mind. But here I am! (Don't let me forget when it's Z's turn!)

(Me holding K, fresh from the oven.)

When K was born, her family was living with my parents and me for awhile. So K and I were roommates way back. ;) She was born very early in the morning (1-something, I believe), and my mom and I went to the hospital to wait for her arrival.

Because I didn't yet have a digital camera, I don't have many photos of her as a baby. But these are from when she was closer to 1, I think, and both with her older sister L. (She and L are exactly 18 months apart, so of course they played together a lot and we have lots of photos of them together back when they were my sister's only two daughters.)

However, I have thousands of pictures of her from about age 2 up, and it's very hard for me to choose some for this post!

I don't really like this photo of myself, but here we are again.

I have a memory of K that gets me emotional just thinking about it, but this photo reminded me, so I'll share. One year, her family got tickets to see Lion King (the live musical), but then her dad had a migraine and couldn't go, so I went in his place. K, probably about 3 years old, was on her mom's lap, and both girls seemed really into the play. You know how the Circle of Life song kind of builds and climaxes with holding up the lion cub for all the animals to see? Well, K was so into it, that when the music got very strong and they held up the cub, she shot her little fist up in the air all victorious-like. It was like she couldn't contain herself. She probably didn't even realize she was doing it. Oh my, it was SO ADORABLE. Too adorable.

K is both laid back and kind of zany. She doesn't take herself too seriously and can be goofy without self-consciousness.

Her personality makes her a natural with kids. She is calm and will spend time playing with them, reading them stories, etc. But then she'll also get riled up and lead them in noisy excitement, too. She's energetic and naturally skilled at physical things like climbing and running.


[Same tree as the first photo.]
Something else about K is that she's always a willing subject for the camera. She's naturally able to find and hold poses for me, and doesn't ever seem to object when I want to get pictures. In that and many other ways, we are opposites.

But in some ways we are alike. She loves art and music. She likes to draw and puts together scrapbooks of design ideas. She writes song lyrics. She's generally compliant.

There's so much more I could say, but to sum up: K is awesome, and I love love love being her aunt/tia. I only wish we could hang out on a regular basis. The plan is for her to fly out to see me next summer, like her older sister did. I can't wait!


(We used to do a lot of sleepovers when I lived in the same town, and we would put on face masks.)

(She is in the background, but I came across this funny photo and wanted to post it. She's dancing with L and their cousin J.)


Happy birthday, beautiful K-meister!