I LOVE My Nieces!!

I have the best nieces in the world. I could never completely describe the happiness they bring to my life, but it will have to suffice to say that they bring me immense joy.

Alaina is the oldest and will be six years old next month. She is in kindergarten, and her class has eight Hispanic students in it. Certain family members who will remain unidentified are racist, and needless to say displeased with the classroom demographics. Please note an interesting tangential point: this particular family member claims that he is not a racist but is rather just "prejudice." My ex-boyfriend (who for blog purposes will be called Sampras) also claims that he is not racist but is rather prejudice. Of course, my follow up query to this claim is always "Aren't you prejudice against these certain individuals because of their race/color?" Ok, so anyway, given this family member's racism, it was particularly ironic when Alaina came home from school with her first crush...Carlos. When asked about why she liked Carlos, Alaina explained that he was really good at art (even better than her) and was very smart. When asked how she knew that Carlos was smart Alaina explained that Carlos could speak two languages--white and Mexican. When asked if she meant English, Alaina exclaimed "He can speak three languages." My mother explained that people from Mexico speak Spanish, and Alaina was even more impressed with her crush who she then declared as being able to speak four languages.

Also in nice contrast to "racism" and/or prejudice based on race, my other niece Lauren's (see her beautiful photo below) favorite toy is Dora the Explorer who is Hispanic.

Lauren never takes a bad photo and is absolutely gorgeous. She is charming and playful and loves to ask people "What are you doin'?" repeatedly....like 20 times in a three minute phone conversation. She is also easily entertained by Donatello's mouth-made flatulence noises, which always leave her smiling and glancing around to determine who made the sound.

My only complaint is that I do not get to see them enough. I hate missing ballgames (Alaina plays t-ball), parties (looks like a skating party will be next), lazy days, and all the funny things that they say and ask. I am so glad to be an aunt--it's the best!