The baby in the mirror

I was standing in the lobby of a hotel in Mozambique, holding my six-month-old nephew on my hip. I don't have any children but I have nine nieces and nephews, and this was number seven. I love holding babies. I love their fat solid weight, their hot little hands, I love their sweet sour smell, I love how easy it is to love a baby, you can just keep pouring love in and they are never full even though they are such a very small vessel. All babies are different to hold. One of my nephews had to be entertained all the time, even when you were holding him, or he would scream. I'd hold him in one arm and use the other hand to make marionette movements in front of his face. One of my nieces would always fall asleep on me. Or that was my story. My sister pointed out that when she left the room, the baby was asleep in her cot, but by the time she got back, she'd mysteriously made her way to my lap. This particular baby, nephew number seven, was fascinated by faces. Whenever I held him would wriggle and writhe until he had managed to twist his body around so he could look me in the eyes, smiling and batting his long, beautiful eyelashes.  Now we were standing in front of a mirror, so instead of looking at my actual face, he was looking at my reflection, mirror-me, holding a baby. I got an impulse. I made sure that he could clearly see and recognise me. Then, still facing the mirror, I touched my nose. He saw me touch my nose, and he saw that mirror-me also touched mirror-me's nose. I touched his nose, and he could feel his nose being touched, and see that I was touching the nose of the baby in the mirror. Then I touched my nose again. And then his nose again. I did it a third time. Suddenly he got it. He was the baby in the mirror! He nearly leapt out of my arms in excitement, laughing and bouncing and waving his own arms and legs and watching his reflection do the same.  I know that parenting is full of these moments, like when your baby discovers that it has feet (what are they for? putting in my mouth maybe?) but it's rare and special that you get to share one as an aunt. It's still one of my most joyous memories and it's one I can go back to whenever I feel bored and fed up of myself. Imagine seeing yourself for the first time, imagine how exciting it was when you first realised that you were you. Imagine greeting yourself every day with the joy of the baby in the mirror.