One of my favourite things recently has been to watch Winston interact with his cousins. He is only one and already has 12 cousins! I still have 7 siblings left to get hitched, so who knows what absurd amount of cousins he’ll end up with. The past few months he has really loved getting to know them, playing with them and laughing with them…he is not such a loner anymore and really tries to join in. When they’re not around we show pictures to him to make sure he knows who is who and he squeals with delight when any of them arrive at our house. I love watching them all enjoying each others company!
Cousins formed such a huge part of my childhood. Every school holiday was spent with them, we went dancing together, we had countless sleepovers together, sung together, enjoyed Christmas together, camped together, cycled together, blamed each other, were cheeky together, played games together, laughed at insides joke together, got told off together, baked together and generally had far too much fun together. I cannot imagine with my childhood or teenage years without my cousins, and even though we all live much further apart and many live across the Atlantic, I still think of them on a daily basis. When I think of my childhood it is jam packed with memories of my cousins, who are all rather quirky! and I cannot imagine life without them.
I visited America 2 years ago and saw many of my cousins that I haven’t seen for over 5 years (and some for much longer than that). I was so surprised at the ease of which it was to carry on from where we left off and the blatantly obvious similarities in our personalities and interests, despite living so far apart and the differences in our age. I have such a strong feeling that all members of my immediate family and extended family are related for a purpose; perhaps so we can all learn, grow and help each other. Family is such a strong bond, one that should be cherished, respected and nurtured. I so want Winston to have a childhood that is jam packed with memories of his cousins.
Some fun things Winston has done with his cousins over the past few months:
– been on a steam train
– swimming
– played on bikes and tractors
– had a bath (quite a few in fact)
– digging in the garden
– apple and raspberry picking
– visited the park
– jumped off (and been pushed off) a ladder on to the sofa
– been on walks
– played with chickens
– been on holiday
– shared food
– sported matching jumpers (he wore his most days last week)
– been to the library
– laughed an awful lot!
E xx
Love it pest. Not seen a lot of those pics
John! I’ll email you some! x
Our parents (June, Helen, John, Kathleen and spouses,) were so dilligent at making sure getting together with family was a priority in their hectic lives.. Luckily, we are the beneficiaries of this and can pass this on to our children. Although I don’t see you all very much, I love to read about how all of my cousins are and see the fantastic pics. Lots of love x
What’s so lovely is when your cousins children love spending time with your children. Conor, Logan and Rhys love seeing updates and pictures on Facebook. They’re desperate to come up and see all the cousins and children soon. xxxx
Ah this is lovely.
Loads of my fond memories as a kid include my cousins.
My two don’t have cousins yet, but I’m excited for when they do 🙂 xx