ross catcher, new ork

I spent some time with my sister, Jeannie, and her family in Rochester, NY last week. The title of this post is how her four-year-old son pronounces where he lives. Or I guess I should say lived. They moved to "Tunnetitut" (East Haven, Connecticut) this week where Jeannie's husband, Brian, will start a new residency program in emergency medicine at Yale (Go Brian!). He just finished his first year of radiology residency in Rochester, but he and Jeannie made an exciting decision to change the course of his career. I was lucky enough to be available to fly out and help with the kids while Jeannie and Brian packed. We were able to squeeze some good bonding time in there as well. What a fun week!

Now let me introduce Rachael Bo Bachael and Todder Todder Glass of Water. Yes, I know: ingenius nicknames. They're not in the same league as Kelly Kelly Cow Poo (thank you Aunt Denise!), but hey, I'm still relatively new at this whole Aunt gig. I love it though. Melissa, I'm sorry Kelly and I haven't offered you the same opportunity yet.

This is the way I live, li'l boys still pushin' big wheels...

Todd and I spent some good times riding bikes, splashing in the playpool, and building airplanes, just like his Uncle Kelly! In fact, when I told him Uncle Kelly helps build airplanes, he asked, "So he has a big K'Nex set?" Todd constructs rather intricate machines with his legos and K'Nex toys. I never had to ask what he was building. His designs were that clear. In fact, this four-year-old can just look at a picture of what his K'Nex set (ages 5-7) is supposed to turn into, bypass step-by-step instructions and build it perfectly. If he happens to get stuck, his parents don't now how to help him. It's kind of scary. He rests his left brain by watching movies during his little sister's naps. As he snuggled up in the armchair with the remote control, he told me "I have everything I need right here."

Sugar and spice and everything nice

Is that baby Mary-Lou Retton? Nope. It's my very own niece Rachael. Yes, she is suspended in mid-air. Yes, she pulled herself up all on her own. And yes, those little jammy toes are pointed. I give her a perfect 10! Rachael is an extremely coordinated and fearless 18-month-old. At the Rochester Zoo playground slide, she climbed all those stairs and slid down by herself several times, unruffled by the swarms of bigger kids clamboring all over the place. She may be small, but she's tough enough to hold her own. She's freaking adorable too.

Okay, so I can't talk about these kids without feeling like I'm bragging. I probably am. But isn't that what an aunt is supposed to do?