Out of the mouths of Babes...

I love being home. It's nice and terrible for the same reasons. One example of such is my Nieces and Nephews. They can be hours of fun, but in minutes you can be so tired of them you want to dissapear.

LaDawn's child, Lauren, had been diagnosed with autism while I was away. She pays little attention to anyone else as she is in her own world. She is living with us for the time being while thier new family home is being built. I come home to my room and can't even get in. They have to lock my door shut at all times or she will roll around on my water bed and play in the toilet. If I leave and forget to lock my door, she is in. If I do lock my door, I might come home and realize I locked my cat Buska in my room for 10 hours...again. I hope I can find out where she pooped this time.

LaDawn's only son, Christian, is a blast. This child has discovered long prayers. The other day he prayed,

"And thank you that Jared can lay on his bed with Buska..."

Today he and Lauren played on my water bed for an hour. He has more questions than encyclopedia's have answers. I don't know how children can want to know so much.

The other day I went on a road trip with my nieces Lizzy and Sammie, my sister Wendy's kids. After leaving Vegas I lost my cell phone signal, so I turned it off and put it in the arm rest. Upon ariving in Phoenix, I pulled it out to turn it back on. It was dripping wet. One of them had put a juice in there, too. My cell phone didn't work for the rest of the day, but did dry out and is safe. I have yet to test my MiniDisc player which was also in there.

My nephew, Connor, also Wendy's child, is wild. He spends every waking moment around me punching and kicking. He won't stop. One time in complete dispair, I just sat on a chair, motionless, for over 15 minutes. He kept bouncing around me punching, kicking and ramming. His younger brother, Braiden jumped in. Then Christian joined in the fun. I wish I had footage of it. It would be played back in high speed, like those educational videos that show you how fruit decays. It would look like a pile of flies bombarding a piece of finkle matter...and I was the finkle.

I could probably go on, but I won't. Needless to say, I love them all. Being an Uncle is tuff, but fun. I can have all the fun I can handle, but then when they get to be too much, or are hungry or tired or cranky, I just hand them back to the parents. I call myself "Uncle Fun". And I am the best uncle any of those kids will ever have. They call me "Ji-jid". That is because the younger ones always have trouble saying my name right.

Maybe with all this practice with my sibling's kids, I'll have a shot at being a good parent. On the other hand, maybe I'll be burned out. Either way, I have come to realize that often we learn so much more from them than we can learn ourselves...if only we listen.