Child Cradles Newborn Cousin

We visited Kina’s new cousin, Otis, yesterday, unsure how she might take to a family member younger than her. Short version: She did great, holding and entertaining her newborn relative as if she had known him for years.

Otis’s parents were weathering the first two weeks of their first child’s life with about as much grace as I can recall myself having at a similar moment in Kina’s life—a veiled sense of lingering shock and displacement from their own home hung in the air as we ate lunch; I vibrated in remembered sympathy.

Compared to Kina, Otis barely weighs anything at all, but as I laid him in Kina’s arms, I felt her muscles firm up underneath him to keep him safe. She knelt on the couch and looked down at him, then began to sing him lullabies, which I like to think is the one thing she remembers about being two weeks old.

Later, as Kina read from the three books she’d selected from her library to give to Otis, his parents embraced in the corner, leaning on each other in celebration and exhaustion, still at the beginning of their long hike, but knowing they were heading in the right direction—and with a small but experienced guide.

It was only late in our visit that it seemed to occur to Kina that somebody else was vying for her attention, and so she joined the cats in the house in feeling slightly miffed at her loss of status. The cats clearly appreciated her solidarity. Otis was unperturbed.

When I walked out of the living room to take a shower, Kina was insisting that Laurea take full responsibility for today’s Parade so that she could watch a show instead. When I dried off, I found this on the table. Our publisher is fickle but has excellent taste in color.

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