I've been a little sad lately; Something, someone I should say, has been absent from my life and I miss her very much - I need some hugs. Not having regular contact with her leaves me feeling like I'm missing out. We all know how fast kids grow up and how much we need to cherish their formative years. So, I've been missing this particular little girl greatly and am looking forward to seeing her again on Saturday.
If you're not a regular reader skimmer of my blog, the person I'm talking about is my niece 
My brother and his wife have been busy with life lately; Work keeps my brother flying all over the place and my sister in-law has a full-time corporate job also which, naturally, brings time and logistical pressures as far as their little one goes. It means they get very little time to simply be a relaxed family unit and when the weekend rolls around video calls with uncle, even an Aussie super-uncle like me take a back seat to their lives. I get it.
Still, I miss my time with small and it affects my mood. We have a video call planned for this Saturday evening though, (morning their time) and I'm really looking forward to that.
She's a little ripper, is smallsteps - I know I'm biased but she's a clever, funny, thoughtful, polite, mischievous and a damned snuggly-cuddly little thing with the cutest little smile, and when she laughs...Well, it always cracks me up too. Cheeky little bugger she is. Recently a few Finland steem-peeps met her at a steem meet-up and I suspect small stole the show like she stole my heart the first minute I met her.
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Smallsteposaurus
You may be wondering why I call her this...Well, I don't really. I use her name, which is a beautiful little thing - Much like her, or any number of cute little names I have for her also. But, she loves dinosaurs and so I used it for this post, just for fun.
She, really LOVES dinosaurs and because of this my wife and I spend much of our time sourcing dinothingosaurs stuff to send her. Of course she loves unicorns too, but she's a bit of a freak for dinos and so we send loads of dinothingosaurs stuff like clothes, toys and books - She loves dinobookosaurus's.
A few weeks ago Faith and I were in the Barossa Valley for a day trip and happened across a little gift shop that contained these dinofingerpuppetosaurus's - Dinosaur finger puppets. We knew she'd love them and so snaffled them up for the low price of $20! I spent $60 sending them in the mail (I know right?) and by now they should be almost in Finland. You can see my wife Faith modelling them in this image.
I'm looking forward to the video call we'll get once she has received them but the recorded unboxing video my brother will also send is great value too. She is so funny and excited during the unboxing phase and it's entertaining, and heartbreaking to watch at the same time. Heartbreaking because I wish I was there.
We're planning a trip to Finland for 2020 which will make it two years since we were last there. She was 2 that last time and will be almost 4 when we get to see her in person again, a real little lady. I know she'll remember me (from all the video calls) but I'm a little worried she might act different with me, not like me as much. I know, it's probably a dumb thought but this little dinosaur girl means so much to me that I will be shattered if she acts differently. I guess I should lower my expectation though huh?
For a childless couple who love children like Faith and I having smallsteps in our lives is a blessing. She is the future recipient of the sum and total of our lives when we are gone and whilst it's very difficult being so far away it means those times we spend, in person, or on a video call mean so much more.
[Sigh]...Anyway, I was feeling a bit sad so thought writing about my little Smallsteposaurus would make me feel a bit better and I guess it has. There's only a day to go before we'll chat so I think I can hang out that long.
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