Most every day around noon, I call to my mom to see how things are going back home.
Being so far away, I like to know how the family is doing and hear all the latest news.
Little did I know that my call home would turn into a special treat for my niece.
Some of you are probably saying, “Here we go again with the Aunt Jenny stories,” but this one is kind of special.
Mother and Daddy started keeping Kinsley Rae full-time for my brother and his wife shortly after Christmas. She will be 9 months old on Sunday, and she is definitely a character. And of course, she is as smart as a whip.
It didn’t take her long to become accustomed to and quite frankly expect a daily chat on the phone with Aunt Jenny.
It all started a few weeks back, when I called Mother and Kinsley was sitting in her lap. Mother, who all but worships her only granddaughter, decided to put me on speaker phone so I could talk to Kinsley, too.
She knows how much I miss being there to see Kinsley grow up, and she thought it might be nice if I could talk to her.
Kinsley was so excited the first time she heard my voice on the phone, and we decided to continue the daily routine.
At first, according to Mother’s description, Kinsley would hear my voice, then look at her, then look at the phone. She then would take the phone and turn it over to see if she could find me on the other side. She couldn’t figure out where my voice was coming from.
But no matter what, Mother says she always has a big grin on her face at the sound of her Aunt Jenny’s voice.
Now, when the phone rings at lunchtime, no matter where Kinsley is in the house, she says, “Hi,” and comes crawling to Mother so she can climb up into her lap and we can have our chat.
What’s so funny is the fact that any other time of the day, Momma says she ignores the phone.
Kinsley has it programmed in her mind that Aunt Jenny will be calling at lunchtime, and she wants to talk.
On Thursday, Aunt Peggy made the mistake of calling Mother’s house at my scheduled time. That got Kinsley all out of sorts.
Momma said Kinsley looked so funny when she didn’t turn on the speaker phone and let her talk. She was confused. Why wasn’t Aunt Jenny talking to her?
A few minutes later, we rectified the confusion and had our daily chat. She was trying her best to talk to me, and tell me all about it. Kinsley can only say “Hi” and “Bubba” at this point. She knows what other words mean, but she has yet to verbalize them. For example, if you say the word “nose,” she will point to or grab your nose. Same thing goes for the eyes.
It makes my heart so full when I hear that sweet girl on the phone just jabbering away in a language I can’t understand.
When we get ready to hang up. I make a kissing sound into the phone. Mother says she lays her little head on the phone like she is giving me a hug. Then she puts the phone up to her mouth and gives it a kiss.
Doesn’t that just make your heart melt.
I haven’t seen Kinsley since Christmas, so I am sure she will have so much to tell me when I see her in person on Friday.
I’m sure Kinsley has grown so much I’ll hardly recognize her. She has dark curly hair and hazel eyes, much like her Aunt Jenny did at that age, but she is much, much prettier. Thank goodness.
As my brother said, Kinsley has no idea how spoiled she already is. And I’m sure it will only get worse after my visit home at the end of the week. After all, isn’t that what aunts are for?
