Monday 10 December 2007

Aunt Elise


My sister is an "anorak" person. The type that spends her holidays taking long muddy walks with the dog and buys clothes for practicality as apposed to fashion. Her wardrobe consists of fleece jumpers, light blue shapeless jeans, mustard walking shoes, wellington boots and, yes, lots of anoraks. For her anniversary I bought her and her husband a spa treatment weekend (lord knows she needs her hair conditioned!).

Early Saturday morning I drove to Devon and picked up my nephew. I had offered to baby-sit for them while they "had a go" at the spa. My nephew is a sweet polite boy. I feel quite sorry for him sometimes. His parents seem to want to dress him in Trax trainers, fleece jumpers, blue jeans and, yes you guessed it, anoraks, without any regard at all to children's fashion. I know he's only 6 years old but children can be so cruel at school. The slightest difference can cause teasing. Imagine what the poor child goes through every day!

I grasped this opportunity to be Cool Aunt Elise and took him shopping as soon as we got back to London. Within an hour he was completely exhausted and I had successfully bought him new t-shirts, Converse trainers, fashionable army trousers and some sports hoodies. Children's clothes are so inexpensive!
Solicitor called me while I was driving home through the town centre. I had forgotten to bring my hands free kit so I put him on loudspeaker and asked my nephew to hold the phone up near my ear as I battled through the traffic. I luckily missed crashing into another car by inches. I broke hard and swore. My nephew found this incredibly funny and started laughing. I quickly asked Solicitor to meet us at my place and hung up. I spent the journey home explaining why swearing is very bad.

It was only when I arrived home that it occurred to me that seeing my nephew might erupt some bad memories for Solicitor. His son was around the same age when he died and his dark hair and large brown eyes were very similar to my nephew's. When he arrived I saw a flicker of pain in his eyes. He recovered quickly and offered to play Ludo with him while I prepared dinner.

When I'd finished cooking I found them both talking easily with each other. My nephew's eyes were lit up and he was animatedly describing his pet hamster. Solicitor’s eyes met mine across the room. I don't quite know what passed between us but I my heart felt so...warm.

Later that night the three of us sat on the sofa and watched Disney's Lion King. I'd dimmed the lights to create a cinematic effect. My nephew sat between us holding a big bowl of microwave popcorn. By the end of the film he had fallen asleep on my shoulder. Solicitor carried him into the spare room and pulled back the covers while I dressed him in his plain blue cotton pyjamas. The poor kid should have Looney Toons ones or something. What was his mother thinking buying plain Marks & Spencer pyjamas for a 6 year old? I must remember to buy him some new ones for Christmas.

A few hours later the two of us went to bed. It was the first night that we'd slept together without having sex. We were content with just holding each other through the night.

The quickie in the morning doesn't count!

17 comments:

Polgara said...

I have a couple of neices and a sister that sounds very similar to yours!
One of my neices is a grown up now and i am still the cool auntie!
Go Auntie Elise! x

Pixie said...

Aaaaaah thats so sweet - all you needed was some snow!

FreeOscar said...

I'm far from a fashion maven now, but in school it was important to be update. It's easier for boys compared to girls, but it's hard no matter what.

Juliana said...

You are cool Auntie Elise :)

Malach the Merciless said...

That what kids do

Unknown said...

What a cool Aunt you are!

Verdant Earl said...

The quickie in the morning always counts. :)

A Girl, A Boy, and Me said...

Hopefully at 6 they aren't teasing about wardrobes!

There is a cool factor though.

My girl is in a uniform and I put her in knee socks and a jumper or skirt and when I pick her up the socks are rolled down. I put her in pants and she rolls them up to just below her knees. Finally, I yelled - why is it that you roll down your socks and roll up your pants!!!!???? And she said - Cuz mom, it's cool.

So now I look at the older girls and - sure enough - rolled socks and pants.

The Ponderer said...

I'm alive! And your life is so much more remarkable than mine! I'm glad you dressed him in some suitable clothes. It does suck horribly to be the unfashionable one, even when you're 6. I've still got the problem of a fashion sense, but only due to my lack of cents. Clever, no? =P

Patchwork said...

It sounds so sweet! I wish I could give The Pickle that lesson about swearing but I always laugh like a moron when she says shit! It's beautiful I swear (the lisp and the slight carefreeness of not knowing what it mean) and I think she learnt it from her Dingbat Grandma.

Cocaine Princess said...

I need your advice- I don't know what to do? If I make the first move, if I call him, what am I suppose to say to him?
XOXOXOXO,
Cocaine Princess

Slyde said...

the quickie in the morning ALWAYS counts...

Haylzc5 said...

Elise, sounds like you would be an aunty that i would have loved growing up! Sounds also like you would make a remarkable mother too! Your nephew sounds soooooo cute!!!

Love Hayley

P.S Thanks for wishing me luck on my first day at work!

Kitty said...

For those of us not getting any, a quickie in the morning sounds like a veritable feast.

:-) x

Michelle Hix said...

Has Solicitor talked much more about his son?

Amanda said...

Aww...I just got my first nephew on November 28th and I'm looking forward to being the cool Aunt Amanda. I've already got him way more baby clothes than he'll ever be able to wear before he grows out of them (you think kids clothes are cheap, baby clothes are even better).

Your post made me think of my boyfriend. He didn't have a ton of experience with kids until his cousins started having them this year, same with me really. Kids have a way of bonding couples though. I'm not sure how.

linda said...

I wear an anorak! Is that bad? I paid a fortune for mine.

I let my son choose his clothes. He knows what he likes and I am happy to have him dress like his friends. It is okay for me to be daggy, not him.