For the last few months I’ve been living in a three — and for about three weeks a four — generation home. It’s been quite interesting and at times more than just a little bit stressful. Perhaps the most entertaining part of this set up is my niece. She’s a little over a year old and is in a phase where she’s learning a bunch of new things. She’s sassy, loves to dance and likes to help me make my coffee in the morning.
Over the weeks, I’ve noticed a few things about her that I think are hilarious. I’ve found myself looking at her and going, “Same, kid” when she does something incredibly toddler-like. So I was thinking — how is it that toddlers and college students — in my case, a college senior who should have their life at least partly together — are actually of the same breed? Here’s a breakdown of how my niece and I are basically the same person.
We both love Maroon 5.
Whenever she hears "Moves Like Jagger," she stops what she's doing and just starts do dance.
I too, want to cry when I wake up.
Mia is still in the phase where whenever she wakes up, she cries. As a perpetually exhausted college student, I can absolutely relate.
When we get cranky, mom hugs are the best hugs.
Every now and then, I get overwhelmed and all I want is a mom hug to make things better. Mia does the same thing, although a tad bit more violent than I would — the kid just hurls herself at you.
90 percent of the time, feeding us will get rid of our attitudes.
Listen. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If the day starts off with a lousy breakfast, there's gonna be hell to pay.
We both play with my empty wallet.
For Mia, my wallet is super exciting. There's all these pockets to put stuff in! For me, I'm just bummed that all I have in my wallet now is my license and a sticky note with my locker combinations from my junior year of high school. I think we keep opening it up expecting to find some money tucked away in it.
We both love cats.
Every time she holds her little finger puppet cat, or sees one of her stuffed animals, or hears something even remotely close to "Meow," she looks at us and goes, "Mao!" Just over and over. It's so cute. She's cute. Cats are cute. It's great.
The kid is absolutely hilarious. She goes from cracking up to crying. She climbs around on furniture, and likes to say goodbye when she closes doors on people. When I go up or downstairs, she likes to watch me through the spaces beneath the steps.
She can be compared to a girl who owns bobby pins — her pacifiers are literally every where. Twice in the last two days did I step on one that was camouflaged in to the bathroom rug. They're under the couch, on the kitchen counter, in our beds.
I can't wait until she can actually speak, because right now, she talks up a storm, and none of us know what's she's talking about. That's okay, kid. Sometimes I don't know what I'm talking about either.
