Holiday Snapshots: Where did the baby go?

'Buh! Tuh!' Her baby blue eyes were wide with delight and she brought her palm up to her cheek, as if to emphasise her happiness. My cousin passed her daughter a small piece of buttered toast, which was greeted with the same happy chant. 'Buh-tuh!'
'She loves butter,' my cousin smiled. I guess that's what you expect from the offspring of dairy farm kids.

For a few minutes, my cousin and I chatted and sipped at our coffees. Soon though, our plates, with their appetising fried eggs and bacon became the focus of attention. I was flashed a wide, brilliant grin. 'Am?' she wondered aloud. 'Well, yeah, I guess bacon is almost ham' I confirmed. 'Am pees' she said, grinning again, and I rewarded her good manners with a little piece of bacon.

For a few days, all our attention went to this little bundle of blond curls and happy chatter. Each brightly coloured bracelet I wore was slipped off by little fingers, pulled over a tiny fist and pushed as far up a chubby little arm as it would go. 'Mine!' she would usually add, looking up from under long lashes to see if she had got away with it. Each morning I looked forward to the 'Beh-Kah!' that would greet me. We read stories of other families and other farms. She could name all the animals in the farmyard and imitate their noises. 'What's that?' I'd ask, pointing. 'Cow!' she'd declare. 'What does a cow do?' I'd continue. 'Mmmmmmmmmhhhh' she'd go, laughing up at me with her cleverness. With songs, she usually joined in the last word, as if for emphasis. 'Baa baa black sheep have you any wooool, yes sir, yes sir, three bags fuuuuuull.'

It was a sad day when we left.

It's tough seeing family members so rarely, but at least they stay more or less the same. This little being though has changed from a drooling baby to a bright, talkative little girl in very few visits. She'll be a stomping teenager before we know it.