Blast from the plastic past

I've become quite attached to that niece of mine lately. Maybe it has something to do with her saying my name when she see me, (full name mind you, "Jennifer", and not just Jenn), but the fact that when she sees me, her eyes really look into mine and she recognizes me. Really *knows* me now.



and i love it.

So when I got a text from my dad on Saturday telling me Caridee was over at their house for a while and I could come over too, I did what any awesome aunt would do and postponed my trip to Fry's (for some way overdue groceries)  and Chandler mall and headed to those sweet knowing eyes.

She greeted me at the huge iron doors my dad bought on craigslist. Instead of the huge hug I was craving, she quickly led me back back to the spare room. post haste. and with good reason. The floor had dissapeared into a sea of toys; crayons, plastic people, and books littered the floor. She's grown up so much in the last few months and her newest thing is to have conversations between her little toys, where she picks up a toy person and then you pick up a toy person and they have a dialogue. Ours was something to the effect of  going to the park and then sleeping in what must be the most uncomfortable plastic green beds ever.





The cool thing about this playtime with my blonde little relative, is that its a clash of generations; a colored plastic blast from the past if you will. The old Sesame Street house that i played with when I was a kid, complete with Oscar the Grouch trash can that pops up when you push a button on the sidewalk. (Anyone else have one of these? anyone? Bueller?)  A  plastic Big Bird with paint coming off talks with Woody from Toy Story, plastic people from the 80's slide next to the shiny girly legos she just got for her birthday. Its suprisingly refreshing to see this little girl with the toys that her dad (my brother) and I once made fake conversations with, slid our fake friends down the slide, and answered doors in the Sesame world.

[caption id="attachment_35" align="aligncenter" width="472" caption="Didn't notice till after I took it, but that chair in the background was my brothers when he was a child."][/caption]

Yes, this little girl has captured a place deep within the hearts of all us Gills. Deeper than I knew existed. I can't imagine how it is when the little knowing eyes are of your own child. An even stranger phenomenon is how your heart just seems to open up, shuffle things around a little bit and create room for these new little creatures. . And I await for the day, just a few in fact, when undoubtedly our hearts will awaken and  stretch once again as a new Gill baby leaves its cozy cocoon and braves its way into this world. A piece of our flesh, traces of our very DNA come to life right before our eyes. We await that moment with great excitement...

but until then... we'll just make some more wiggle room for the love of this one.