I'm a Young Uncle

29 I'm a Young Uncle When I was fourteen years old, my cousin moved to the United States with her husband and her 16-month-old son, Daniel. One day, we received a call from my cousin. After a brief conversation, my cousin told me to listen to someone else on the phone. I expected to talk to her husband. To my surprise, it was a young voice on the other end. “ Uncle, Uncle, " said the voice. My mouth opened wide in disbelief. “ Is this Daniel calling me?" I asked. " Yes, " my little nephew said from the other end of the line. Daniel was talking! It brought back memories of a hospital visit. Daniel was born prematurely, nearly four wecks carlicr than expected. My parents took me to visit him three days after his birth. He was in an incubator, but he was with his mother while we were visiting. I looked at my newborn nephew in amazement. He was so tiny and so soft. He only weighed four pounds at birth. I touched his soft hands, tiny fingers and little feet. How amazing it was to see the new baby! How long would it take for him to grow up?

After that visit to the hospital, I heard news about Daniel from time to time. I knew it took a lot of extra work to raise him. He woke up often at night, and had trouble eating properly. But day by day, he grew stronger. A year later, he reached a normal height and eventually began to cat like a normal kid. But there was one problem: Daniel wasn't saying any words while other babies his age were starting to speak. He was sixteen months old, but he still wasn't talking. That's what I remembered when they left for the United States. Now, almost two years old, he was uttering “ Uncle" over the phone. I was overjoyed to hear this young, sweet voice saying his first few words. I was so thankful that he grew from a tiny infant to a boy who could eat, run, sleep AND speak.