Girls, girls and more girls

Girls are just different! I'm so used to boys after hanging out with the Midgley children most recently. But in South Africa I've mostly come across girls... Despite the differences, they are just as entertaining - maybe even more so:

My niece, the 5-year-old drama queen, overheard having a conversation with a six-year-old and four-year-old over dinner the other night about boys they liked ... Tahila (the niece): "I love Ryan, and want to marry him." Jocelyn: "You know he has to love God if you want to marry him." Tahila: "He does love God. And he loves zombies!" Enough said...

My sister always jokes that her three kids were plugged directly into ESKOM, the South African power provider, at birth. The same can be said of my friends Collin and Jacomien’s 5-year-old character, Abigail. I asked her the other day if she was a naughty child to which she responded, “Ummmmmmm ... only most of the time.” She too is a drama queen of note!

Little Rachel was very shy at first (when I went to visit them recently) but once she had warmed up she kept on showing off her latest discovery, the concept of time with, "It's time for spitting," at which she walked around the house blowing rasberries at me. Or, "it's time for flying ... please can you make me fly, uncle Robin?" And finally, at suppertime, "It's time for playing, and NOT for eating." That didn't go down well with the parents ... (And for all you anti-photoshop people out there - this pic was not photoshopped - this is courtesy of my new 85mm Nikkor lens)

And finally, my greatest fan - 11-year-old Zoe - who promised me at a young age that if I never found a wife she would take one for the team and marry me when she was old enough. Although, after this year's Christmas play, I'm not sure if this is still the case. The next day she asked her mom, clearly much-scarred, "Mommy, why did uncle Robin have to pull his pants up like that in the play? I don't think I'll ever forget it!"