I have such a cute nephew. Two of them actually. One of them is old enough to come away with me and the D-Man on daytime adventures. He's four.
On Monday school was out for President's Day and I had the day off of work as well, so I scheduled an adventure--D-Man, the nephew and I--off to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. With pee pee breaks, it was about an hour and a half away, so not a bad little trip.
Naturally, every family in Southwest Florida that was not at the beach or Busch Gardens had the same zoo idea. So for a few hours we sneaked around other strollers, smart phone-laden teenagers trying to get pics, and hordes of families positioning for good views of the sluggish looking fauna.
I thought we had a pretty good time. We covered some serious ground enjoying everything from monkeys to tapirs to bizarre ibises to giraffes, and we pushed cute little Neph in the stroller the whole time so he didn't even have to get tired out.
As we were leaving, I said, "Neph, did you have a good time at the zoo?"
"No," he replied, very matter-of-factly.
I was planning on not feeding into the little trick. Being outsmarted by a 4 year old is not a good plan. So we loaded up into the car and I suggested a milkshake stop on the way home. Two strawberries and one chocolate. That would be a nice after-event pacifier for all of us, I thought.
About 15 minutes from the house, Neph started working himself up into a teary episode. "What the heck is going on here?" I thought.
I got him out of it a few times by making conversation, but as soon as he could remember his plan to be upset for extra love from mommy during the reuniting, he started the pouting again.
By the time we pulled in the driveway, he was in the middle of a full-on cry and went running up to the door like Big Bad Aunt Gropius had taken him along on a road trip from hell.
Overtired, needing to poop, who knows... I know, he's only four. But I still felt lousy that a good day had to end like that for all three of us. Next time we'll make it a little shorter and a little closer to home. He's a sweet kid and we all love to spend time with him. But really, Neph, did you have to do that?
9 comments:
One day 21 year-old neph will look back on this and grooooan at how rude he was to his way cool aunt.
My 3 year-old niece once refused to hold my hand while crossing the road, telling me "it's not dangerous". I had no hesitation in ratting on her to Mum, the little naughtyboots!
I suppose the old adage rings true: you can't please all people all of the time, only some people some of the time.
Oh how unfortunate... I hope he still enjoyed the day, just decided to behave like that for some weird reason :(
Neph needs more loving spankings, I think. "You want to cry? I'll give you something to cry about!" is constructive, long-range, strategic parenting, I think. It will help him be a better person in the long run.
oh poor little nephew, he must suffer from separation anxiety. I had it as a child and couldn't be parted from my long suffering mother until I was about nine.
Well my goodness. I was sure you were going to psyc it out for us. Now we'll have to wonder until next year!
aww, he sounds like a sensitive little guy. Probably not yet comfortable in new situations. Good for you for hanging in there :)
Don't take it personally. The little guy was probably just overwhelmed by the excitment of the day. You are definitely a cool aunt.
Ohh, take a look here ;-)
http://www.chairblog.eu/2011/02/27/f51-chair-and-sofa-by-walter-gropius-at-imm-cologne-13/
I'm sure he was overtired...but if he does it next time then you might want to start wondering if he thinks you're cool.
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