Nieces...

This afternoon I went to my 5-year-old niece's school to pick her up so that we could have lunch together. Usually she is picked up by her dad and they have lunch at home but she had asked if she could come and eat lunch at my place. Sure. So, we left school on our bikes and went to my house where we enjoyed lovely sandwiches. Her sandwich was a 'surprise' sandwich with different 'toppings' on each little piece of bread and a bright pink candy in the middle of her plate. She loved it. Once we finished, we went outside to enjoy the sun and within no time we were playing hide-and-seek. First we took turns hiding ourselves and looking for each other and then we ended up taking turns hiding a small ball and the other person went to look for it. Good fun. An hour later, it was time to bike back to school. I brought her to her classroom and she requested I walk her to her own little chair, which I did. Then when I said goodbye she very quietly asked if I could please stop at the window on my way out and wave to her. And that's exactly what took place next. What a lovely time we had together.

This evening I was with my nieces again. After dinner we played musical chairs and I must say musical chairs is quite interesting when you're not only playing it with your nieces but also with imaginary people. Oh the imagination of a child. We then let our creative juices flow and ended the day making chalk drawings in the backyard until it was time for bed. Once in bed, I read the girls the story 'Goodnight little bear'. Obviously it is an English book, so I figured I'd just translate it into Dutch. Well, my 3 year old niece just was not satisfied, so every page had to be read in both Dutch and English. I actually thought it was quite cute. After a goodnight hug and prayer my oldest niece was a bit sad and said 'I don't like it that you are going to Africa again because that means I won't have an aunty anymore', and the tears started coming. How sad. I quickly reassured her that I would remain her aunt forever but that we just won't see each other as often over the next months. I reminded her that we could see each other on the computer with skype (she was not impressed) and that I would be back around Sterre's birthday (October). Well, that was way too far off she said. And I suppose she is right. One thing is certain, I'll miss my nieces. 4 days and counting...