Babysitting duty

Tonight Darren and I were in charge of his two-year-old niece Harper. We took her to my parents’ house because they were throwing a dinner party there for my Wyoming brother Jack. I think Harper had a pretty great time. She ran up to my grandma who was laid up on the couch and shouted, “I have no underpants on!” She approached Drs. Murray and Morris where they were discussing the steaks on the grill and proudly declared, “Banana banana!” She ate sushi, peanut butter, rasberries, and pico de gallo. She also got fizzy water up her nose for the first time, which almost made her head explode.

Toward the end of the night Harper and I reclined on the backyard hammock to look at the stars. She heard someone speaking to my brother Brad (home visiting from med school) and she asked me about him.

“He’s going to be a doctor,” I said.

“For Halloween?” said Harper.

“No, when he grows up,” I said.

“When I’m three I’m going to be a doctor,” she said confidently. Shortly thereafter we retrieved her underpants from where they were drying on a pole made for hanging plants, and we said goodbye.

6 Thoughts on “Babysitting duty

  1. The Aforementioned Jennifer on October 8, 2007 at 8:42 pm said:

    Tonight I’m all “who lives in Crazytown, Harper June?” and she points to herself.
    “Who’s the mayor of Crazytown?” and she points to Jim Waive. “Who’s the swami?” and she points to me! The kid’s got it.

    Also, she was upset with me because I declined a dinner offer from our next door neighbors since I’d already started cooking. I said, “aren’t you glad we ate at home? The Illgners don’t have corn on the cob and they don’t have Sianey!”

    Sianey says, “Yeah, I’m way cooler than Tara.”

    Harper June: “No, you’re not.”

  2. the sister on October 9, 2007 at 11:07 pm said:

    Harper June is the smartest female alive.

    Sorry, Wistar. And Jennifer.

    Also: Is it kosher to use your tips for ending writer’s block on my 12 page paper/photo journal about US terrain? It will be really creative and interesting…I swear…

  3. This is the best blog posting of 2007! I read it to my husband – who usually can’t be bothered with “blog nonsense”. Now he laughs everytime I say “I have no underpants on and I am going to be a doctor when I am 3”.

  4. I think the last thing the kid needs is more, “you’re soooo smart”!
    Clearly she is missing a few cards from the deck if she thinks Tara is cooler than me. I mean, REALLY!

  5. Sian, I agree. The kid should be in special classes if she is making judgment errors of that magnitude (no offense to Tara of course, but you are the one making out in the back seat of Jim Waive’s conversion van.).

  6. That is what I’M sayin.
    AND I have a token tattoo, AND I cuss like a sailor, AND most men would be ashamed to take me home to their mothers.
    Need I say more?

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