Let me start with: I’m typing this with one hand.

While her grandparents are away, I’m playing nanny to me niece so my sister who is an emergency room night nurse can get some actual sleep this weekend. But oh the wonders you’ll see taking care of a three and a half year old.

This morning I awoke to a soggy behind and a baby half strewn across me. I decided to move her to a dry spot and let her sleep. An hour later she woke up, tapped my shoulder and said in her best big girl voice, “Auntie Teli, I wet mommy’s bed.”

I smiled and said, “I know.”

We got up, got her cleaned up, then went to wash the sheets. Another hour and a half later, my sister came home from work and my niece met her at the staircase and said, “Mommy, I peed in your bed.”

Funny thing, though, because I agreed to keep it our little secret if she was a good girl and quietly watched Blue’s Clues while I cleaned up (which she did).

Then for another hour she terrorized her (very tired) mom. And then we were terrorized by a large flying black demon insect from the depths of Hell itself. My sister couldn’t find the bug spray so she tried to Windex it to death. That didn’t work, but it started cleaning its legs.

After the insect incident we all went upstairs, and mommy twirled and laughed with baby. It truly was a lovely moment (made infinitely more comical because mom had just taken NyQuil for her cold). Finally baby let mom go to sleep and came back downstairs with me, begged me to make her a burrito, then climbed into my lap and promptly fell asleep–burrito uneaten.

Which brings us to now.

It occurred to me that the last time I updated about my niece, she was still in diapers. Now she’s a “big girl” who is 98.6% potty trained, but still cute as a button (even when she’s being bad).