187 Babysitting

"Don't worry about a thing. Just go have fun, you lovebirds!" Sam assured her cousin and his wife as they headed off to catch their flight. 

The two of them were finally taking that vacation they had been dreaming about for over a year and had taken advantage of a layover in New York to drop Ellie off. Sam had offered to watch her because she wanted a chance to bond with the little cutie and earn the title of Favorite Aunt. 

She looked down at the little girl who had recently passed her eighteen month mark and was grinning up at her with the eleven baby teeth that had grown in. She was a ridiculously cute kid with her mother's green eyes, chubby cheeks, and wispy blonde curls. 

"Am!" Ellie cried happily. "Am pway!"

She couldn't quite say the 's' sound yet so that was what she called Sam. The two of them hadn't spent a ton of time together but she knew the toddler was asking her to play.