This weekend I was asked to babysit my adorable niece Carolyn (we call her Caribou). She is going to be one in a few weeks. Since she was very small, her and I have always bonded. She is my little buddy. I always try to make the time we spend together special and unique. This past Saturday was no exception.
My sweet niece Caribou
Caribou is a timid mover, but man can that little girl bounce and dance! I brought my mini speaker out into the kitchen and we turned on our favorite station thanks to Spotify: Meghan Trainor. Dancing is always a necessity of a successful girl’s day. Bouncing, giggling, and baby gab…it was everything a dance party should be! If anyone could have been a fly on our wall, I am sure they would have deemed us crazy.
“Dancing is always a necessity of a successful girl’s day!”
Next, we decided we needed manicures. Correction, I suppose it was Aunt Catie that decided on manicures seeing as Caribou can’t talk yet…anyways!Given that she is so young, we did the best we could. Baby manicure’s consisted of Tupperware filled with lukewarm water, 2 paper towels (to dry our hands), and a little gentle sugar scrub. I made a little sugar scrub using some of her baby soap and a little sugar. We washed our hands using a little scrub. We soaked them in our lukewarm water and dried them with our towels. I cleaned her petite nails and we were ready for lunch.
After she ate her and I both felt sleepy. I could tell she had a full tummy, glazed over look on her face, and both of us were caving quickly. We snuggled and next thing I remember, we were fast asleep. There is nothing I love more than baby snuggles.
Sleeping babies are the best!
As my little sleeping beauty awoke, we were both drenched in sweat. That could only mean the next thing we had to accomplish was a bath. “Oh yeah, her hair!”
Caribou’s hair goes crazy – always. Needless to say, her Aunt Catie loves trying to tame her fly-away hair! I put a little Velvet Gelatine in her hair then proceeded to blow her little hairs into place. She loves to feel cool air of the dryer in her face. It did help for a bit, but then her hair went back to being it’s crazy self.
It wasn’t long after that her parents arrived with open arms. Our girl’s day was complete. We didn’t spend any money, but we did spend a lot of time creating memories together. And if there is one thing I have learned since becoming an aunt, it is that just simply spending time with one another is enough.
Planning a girl’s day doesn’t take much to make it rewarding and fun for everyone. Sometimes the simple seemingly silly dance parties make you feel so absurd, but in the end aren’t those the parts that you remember anyways?