I called Milan earlier this morning to wish her a happy birthday and she responded with “HAPPY….” before catching herself and changed it to a “YAYYYY” instead! 🙂 Milan is my niece but really, if I were to have my own kids, I know I couldn’t love them any more than I love this kid. And it’s not just me, my entire family is putty in her hands and she knows it. 🙂 I wish I had time to put together a more eloquent post but here are just a few random things about her that pop into mind right about now:

– When Milan was first born, I didn’t know how to bond with her. She was this adorable but fragile child who didn’t know who I was and all we did were staring contests. I looked at her, she looked at me, she probably cried haha and that was it. Not until she was a little older (maybe 6+ months or so), when she was more “interactive” that we took to each other. Now I can’t go a day without thinking about her and always find myself chuckling at some silly thing she said or did when we were together.

– Even though I babysat Milan a few times a week while her mama was in school, I never once changed her diaper! I don’t even know how I got away with that cuz you know, children go quite often. One time, she was stinking sooooo bad I couldn’t take it and almost mustered up the courage to stop breathing for 5 minutes and get it over with, but then my dad came home and took over diaper duty. Phewww! I’m pretty sure our marriage contract states that Phong is 100% responsible for that task in the future. 😉

– Milan is not at all subtle at giving hints and I call it passive aggressiveness but my sister doesn’t agree with that word. For example, my brother was drinking an oreo shake from McDonald’s and I know Milan reallllyyyyyy wanted some but she refused to come out and ask for a sip. Instead, she whispered innocently: “I’ve never had that drink before, I wonderrrr how it tastes like” haha. Sometimes I pretend to ignore her and she keeps coming up with the most creative ways to broach the subject until I hoot with laughter and finally give in.

– When Milan grows up, she either wants to work at a restaurant (probably In-n-Out) or be a doctor. She’s gotten pretty good at taking In-n-Out orders from us, let’s just hope she gets all that out of her system now. 😉

I moved to LB over a year ago and the hardest adjustment is not seeing her every.single.day. I make it a point to visit at least once every 1-2 weeks and that girl makes me stay longer than I’m supposed to. We go on a date each time and always at either Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s, or Woodranch BBQ and no other restaurants have made it into her “pattern” yet *sigh*. Each goodbye was hard and almost teary but it’s gotten better over time; I’m not that much of a baby anymore! 😛 Simply being her aunty Trini is one of the biggest joys in my life and on Milan’s 5th birthday, I wish that she always loves and be loved. Can’t wait to squeeze her tight tonight! <3