The Bun Life - My Nephew Stephen..The Little Engine That Could

Actually, he is more like "The Little Engine That Could Not Stop Crying Every Time He Sees Me!!" Well, first off, let me acquaint you with "HIM", better known as Stephen, my nephew:

Don't let the cute button nose and infectious laugh fool you, this baby has brought me to the brink of despair more than once!! He would make a great commercial acting baby, because you can make him cry on cue, on demand anytime you want, for any length of time.

"How is that even possible?" you ask? Okay, well even if you didn't really ask that, I am going to answer it anyway. It is possible, a virtual guarantee, as sure a thing as Old Faithful, that to get Stephen to cry on demand, you simply need to alert him to my presence! Did you think it would be more complex than that?

Well, no sir. He could be immersed in happiness, love, endless bottles, run of the house unabated, attention non-stop 24/7, but the second he realizes he is staring at my ugly mug, boom! The tears start flowing! I am not talking about regular crying here, from the outside it sounds like I am pulling his teeth out with a blow torch and a pair of rusty bolt-cutters.

Me and my sister discussed this at length, and we have come to the conclusion that the best way to handle this situation is to simply tell him that I am the devil. Yup, it's quick, it's painless (well, for him it is anyway, my future mental health not withstanding), and most of all, it builds a solid foundation for mine and his relationship later on in life to blossom, you know, sort of like how Jim Jones and his people did.