Don’t let the title turn you off. I’m not going to write about sucking my thumb, wearing mini skirts and scrungies, flirting with teenage boys, or smoking a cigarette for the first time. I’ve recently caught an illness from my niece. She has hand, foot, and mouth disease, which she got at daycare and lovingly spread to her mom (my sister), me, and her 10-month old baby sister. What sucks is that adults generally don’t catch this disease so I didn’t think twice about hanging with my niece.

Then I woke up. And my right thumb hurt in one teeny tiny spot. There were no marks on it, but as the day wore on, the spot got red and it was unmistakeably a blister. And then I noticed that I had a little sore in my mouth. By the end of the day, I had two more sores in my mouth. WTF.

I’ve always said that I find it fascinating to watch my nieces grow up. Catching their diseases is just one of the many things that make spending time with them feel like I’m experiencing a second childhood. I watch a ton of children’s television, The Wiggles, Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, and Hannah Montana are all on my iPod, there’s a pack of Disney-branded fruit snacks in all of my bags and purses, and I used a crayon to take notes on something today because it was the only writing instrument within reach.

It’s a nice feeling, made even better by the fact that they aren’t MY kids so I am free to play in adult land whenever I want. It’s also scary because I know I’m a huge influence on them – I truly believe that my older niece thinks of me as more of a sister than aunt, and outsiders have even thought that. It can be disturbing when I notice my niece picking up on something I say (such as “chillax”) or a certain behavior of mine (such as rolling my eyes or making dirty faces at people…ahem).

It’s a fact that having children in your life grounds you. In the best cases, children make you grow up while also letting you be a kid again. I’d forgotten how great Nilla wafers were, or how a tickle monster attack could make anything better. Now excuse me while I gargle with salt water and watch Sesame Street videos on YouTube.