She was born last week, seven days overdue, but when she decided to arrive she came in a rush: Tuesday afternoon, my sister-in-law had a doctor appointment at which the baby showed no inclination to be born in the foreseeable future. Trying to induce labor naturally, my intrepid SIL took a hike that evening. At 2:45 Wednesday morning, she awakened to her water breaking. She, my brother, and her mother reached the hospital at 4 a.m.; by 5, the baby had arrived.

My mom and I, along with my SIL’s mother and sister, were at the hospital when the nephew met his little sister. My SIL had both children on the hospital bed with her. Very softly, she said, “This is your new little sister.” My nephew leaned over, said, “I luff you,” and kissed the baby. It was one of those “awww” moments for the adults, and a story I hope my niece will hear and treasure.

This isn’t to say everything’s been perfect. My nephew struggles with having to share his parents, especially his mom. He sometimes acts out in front of visitors, because suddenly he isn’t the (only) center of attention anymore. He can be uncooperative when asked to pose for photos with the baby. On the other hand, when she was in her swing and we were all eating dinner, he went to her, leaned over, hugged her, and gently rocked the swing. He brought over a book to read to her (although adult intervention was required to keep him from smothering her with the flapping dust jacket). Adorable.

So was this: Earlier, I’d been trying to take a nap on the couch. When he saw me bundled up in a blanket, he said, “Mowique! Nap!” and came rushing over. He wanted to crawl under the blanket with me and pretend to nap (pretend napping being fun, real naptime being something he strenuously avoids). Every so often, he’d turn his head toward me and say, “Wuve you.” When he decided we were finished pretending to nap, he said, “Wake up!” and tugged on my hand. I assured him that I was napping for real, but he wanted me to get up. Eventually he trotted away, only to return a few minutes later for another “pretend nap.” I tend to be cranky about interrupted sleep, but I wasn’t even mildly annoyed at him. How could I be?

As far as the niece, I can’t yet say with honesty that I think she’s cute, but she is incredibly, exquisitely precious. She’s a warm, sleepy bundle, at least most of the time I’ve been around her. She’s quite mellow; I’ve spent something like eight hours in her presence and heard her cry maybe twice. She makes funny faces in her sleep, stretches, twitches. But none of this, I imagine, is unique to her. I’m eager to find out who she’ll become: stubborn like her parents and brother? tender? funny? precocious?