Happy Birthday Pop!

My niece is fourteen today!
14!!
When she was little my mom always thought I wouldn’t want anything to do with her. I was not fond of the babysitting gigs my sister and I would book and little kids always seemed to need stuff. But when she came home, all bundled and folded, I instantly fell in love and she was my partner in crime.
At the time, I used to work 3-11 so when I would get home from work at 12:30 (the 65 bus did not, and I am sure does not still, run on schedule) I would slide into my sister’s room, sneak Pop out of her crib and she would hang with me while I watched late night TV, eat a snack or I would read to her.
When Pop was smaller, I would write about her on my old web page. There she was referred to as “Pooh”, as in PoohBear. Here are some of the memories…

… (on being a great thinker)Pooh is in the “why” stage as in why is that man reading that paper and why is that lady writing on that paper and why is that girl jumping rope and why is that little girl eating and why are you, Missy, putting on that shirt and why is mom your mommy and why is Mommy your sister…?

…(on wedding rituals) When people ask, I tell them that of course Pooh will be my flower girl but she told my mother that that was too much work and that she would just sit next to her Mom (my mother) and watch.

…(on proper etiquette for wearing a skirt) Whenever Pooh is wearing a skirt and bends over my sister will say to her, “I see London, I see France, I see someone’s underpants”. The other day my sister said Pooh bent over and didn’t have any panties on and said to my sister, “I bet you don’t see London now.”

….(on knowing what she wats) My sister told me that she and Pooh went to some store to buy barrettes and the lady in the store kept trying to push these barrettes with ladybugs on them when all Pooh wanted was barrettes with Hello Kitty. My sister said that as the lady bagged the barrettes Pooh said, “There better not be any lady bugs in my bag.”

…(on neighborhood watch)My sister told me the other day as she and Pooh walked to the bus stop Pop (then Pooh) observed all of the cop cars and said, “The Po’ is everywhere.”

…(on social commentary about the minds of children) If asked Pooh will give you her opinion about what “Childs” will do. As in: Childs will get dirty sometimes or Childs are loud sometimes.

…(out of the mouths of babes) She also says that “Star Truck” is too corny, she can’t stand Charlie Brown ’cause that’s too corny for her to watch and when my sister asked her about eating a mozzarella stick she said: ‘Do I look like I care’?”

…(on health and nutrition) My sister has informed me that PoohBear told her she doesn’t want to eat salt because she doesn’t want to get Hot Blood Pressure.My sister has a cat named Buttons and he wasn’t feeling well. PoohBear said: Let’s give him some Catlip.

Happy birthday Pop!