Growing Up With Laura: Part 4 Aunt Lulu
March 11th, 2009
Last year I wrote a series of stories during the Iditarod to help you get to know my sister as I know her. I have received many requests for more of these peeks into Laura’s life so I thought to continue with them this year. I was trying to decide yesterday what this first one would be about and as I was thinking my girls, Addie and SarahDawn, kept telling me stories about their Aunt Lulu (Laura) they thought I may be able to use. I realized that as my girls' Aunt, Laura and I have yet another facet to our relationship.
First things first, you are probably wondering how she became Aunt Lulu. It’s not like Laura is a hard name to pronounce or that my girls somehow couldn’t figure out how to say it. I have a very close friend who happens to share Laura’s name. I met her before I was pregnant with my first and her kids call me Auntie. When I did get pregnant we wondered what my kids were going to call her as they would already have an Aunt Laura (my sister). I was talking to my sister about this dilemma and she said,”People in Montana call me Lou Lou. How about Aunt Lulu?” That solved that. She became Lulu to my kids. Now my SarahDawn does have a hard time pronouncing the “L” sound so she calls her “Aunt You you”, which I think is adorable.
When I had my first girl 4.5 years ago I wondered how a relationship with her Aunt was going to look. I knew that Laura was going to love my children with all her heart but I also knew she hadn’t done much with kids (especially babies) before. I mean, let’s refresh everyone’s memory: Laura started her kennel when she was 13 years old. At the age I started babysitting Laura was breeding, training and racing a kennel of almost 20 dogs. It wasn’t that I would ever think Laura not responsible enough to watch children I just didn’t know how they would relate to each other. You see, my children aren’t furry; they eat at the table and you don’t scoop up after them, you change their diapers. The first time I saw Laura hold Addie (my oldest) my doubts were laid aside. She was a natural! Even as a baby my kids were comfortable with their Lulu.
What I should have been more concerned about was how pliable and moldable children are when they are young! Let me explain myself. Time with Lulu is always looked forward to with great relish. Part of the excitement comes from knowing that Lulu loves to play “tickle”, hide and seek and “wrestling”. The other part comes from knowing that they will get to do things Mamma normally doesn’t indulge in doing. For example, Lulu will go for long walks in the woods with the girls to explore. I remember one time when Addie was 18 months old and she went “exploring” Mom and Dad’s land with my sister. While they were out Laura taught her about salmon berries and blackberries. They also had a little lesson on garter snakes. Actually, Lulu encouraged Addie to bring the snake back to Mamma and share the lesson with her! Now, just so it is perfectly clear, I am terrified of snakes! This is not a secret in our family. I don’t care if it is “just a baby” or “so little it couldn’t even fit its mouth on you to bite”. I have tried to come to terms with snakes to no avail. So, here comes MY little girl holding a snake with the most excited expression on her face. My sister on the other hand, had an extremely smug expression on her face and knew I was faced with a dilemma. As a mother, I don’t want my children to learn to fear snakes because of my fear. I realize that logically I shouldn’t be afraid of all snakes and I don’t want to instill in my children a mindless fear base on my irrationality. Laura knew this and enjoyed seeing me squirm as I attempted to participate in my daughters “find”. Just as I thought I might possibly be able to get Addie to put the snake back outside “where its mamma was”. My sister pipes up with, “Don’t you think you should get a picture of Addie’s first snake” (big grin on her devilish face). Then to help me get a detailed shot Lulu proceeds to pick Addie up in her arms and hold her closer to me suggesting that Addie” hold the snake out for Mamma to see better”.
The snake incident happened when Addie was 1.5 years old. It’s been 3 years from that point and the “lessons” have never stopped. A few years ago I spoke to Laura on the phone and she had found a porcupine skull which I told her not to bring for the girls at her Thanksgiving visit (a few weeks off at the time). I knew by the way she laughed and promised she wouldn’t she was up to something. She showed up at our house with a perfectly cleaned cow skull she had salvaged from a dog run across a local ranch. Yes, I know, it wasn’t a porcupine skull which is what I had specifically asked her not to bring. Again, I could see the smug look on my sisters face but what can you do when she is sitting on the floor with your kids explaining the bone structure we call a skeleton and how all animals have it as well as humans.
As I watch my sister with my kids I have to smile. As much as I know she uses these little “lessons” to take jabs at me I also know she thoroughly enjoys teaching the kids about the wonderful world around them. Many of you know that Laura is severely dyslexic and struggles with it even today. It never stopped her from learning though. She is one of the smartest people I know and I’m not exaggerating just because she is my sister. She learned by putting her hands on everything around her, exploring, taking things apart, putting them back together again. What she couldn’t learn that way she would ask questions about until someone could explain the subject she didn’t understand. As I see her teach my kids I realize how much she loves them. She is sharing with them the way she was able to conquer so much in life. She is teaching them the skills to learn outside a classroom. My family grew up using the world and life as the basis for education. That’s not to say we didn’t use books but learning never ended there. I know that Laura wants her own family one day and I can’t wait for that to happen for her but until then I don’t mind in the least all the doting and love Aunt Lulu bestows on my two (soon to be three) children.