Coolest Aunt Ever

Okay, so I know it doesn't count if I bestow that title on myself, but I certainly feel like a pretty cool Aunt. For the record, I say "Ant" the Hoos' family says "Auhnt" and pretty much they all just call me "Amy" anyway.

For her Bat Mitzvah my oldest niece, the Divine Miss M, got a laptop and her first email account. This allowed her to hook up with two of my other nieces, Chill-E and N2, whom reside on the other side of the world in Budapest. M's brother, Homer, also got in on the action and the four of them would chat up a storm using Google Talk.

Last week I got a request from M to get a Gmail account so we could chat as well. It was like being asked to be friends with the popular cheerleader! Except she wasn't "itchy!" She was my wonderful, down-to-earth, 13-year old niece.

Now about once a day she pops in to say "hi" via chat. Of course this is usually at 9:30 at night - when she is doing her homework - or supposed to be doing her HW (like the cool abbreviations I use for chatting?). I think my coolness quotient definitely goes down when I ask her if she is doing her HW or remind her that she should be doing it. But, most awesomely, she still ends every conversation with "love u." I wish I could bank it.

I have also been able to chat with N2 in Hungary. Which is great, because it is hard to stay connected when the time difference is 6 hours.

The cherry on the cake was that yesterday, Homer, the quiet, introspective nephew, invited me to connect with him. We haven't actually chatted yet, but I am looking forward to it.

I know that I blog because often communicating is easier in writing than in person, so I am hoping that this will be a great opportunity for me to connect with my nieces and nephew and reinforce our relationships.

Now I just have to get my 6 and 3 year old nieces in California and my 6-year old nephew to learn how to type!