child

When I was barely able to walk, I became fascinated with the garden. My Dad was the gardener in our family, growing both flowers and vegetables. When I was 5, he finally let me help him plant a row of flowers. He showed me how to make the straight furrow in the middle of the annual flower bed. (He planted all the rest of the bed afterwards.) I was very precise in filling the row with seeds, carefully covering each with fine soil. Then I watered them tenderly and waited day by day for any sign that things were growing.

The nephew is a very loving little man. Besides the excited hugs he delivers when he sees us, he will say "I love you" whenever he feels like it, no particular context needed. Or I'll get a big, sloppy kiss in the middle of some explanation of why he's not wanting to eat right now.  And sometimes while playing, he kisses my hand and then goes on doing whatever.

The other day, I was in Safeway where, of all places, I saw these various stuffed animals. They are squarish with a head along one side and each corner has the legs/feet. Then on their sides, they have velcro pieces so you can fold them in half and keep it together to form a pillow. The nephew has one that is a dinosaur. He has lots of other normal stuffed animals with which we play all sorts of make-believe.