Nice niece

My niece Bethany has been staying with us this week. The photo was taken the day we went on the cable car. We had already been to Te Papa, and had walked back along the waterfront to arrive at the cable car entrance.

Bethany is the eldest of my niece/nephews, and was the only one when I came to live in Wellington. In fact, she was my only niece for almost 13 years. She is also my goddaughter.

I have very clear memories of her babyhood and toddlerhood. It's possible that the memories have stayed so strong because there was a sudden departure and necessarily infrequent reunions since.

I have been angling to have her up here for a while, so it is lovely that she is old enough to travel by herself and that the opportunity presented itself.

One of my clear memories from many years ago is having breakfast with Bethany. We would do this on the days when her mother worked, and she was dropped off at Grandma's earlyish in the morning. She would sit on my lap and pick the best pieces out of my muesli - first the yoghurt covered raisins, then the raisins, then the little bits of other dried fruits, and finally the sunflower seeds. Eventually I wised up a little and taught her to ask by pointing at the object of desire rather than diving in with her hands. Later she graduated to her own little teaspoon. This worked well, apart from one memorable low point when she sneezed loudly, wetly and completely over the freshly prepared muesli.

I had toast that day.