Pam finished snapping the buttons of Phillip's onesie to hear her husband's exasperated exclamation from the next room.
"Aw, come on, Cece, no!" Jim whined.
Wondering what was the matter, Pam lifted Phillip off the changing table and carried him into his sister's room, where Cece sat with a handful of crayons next to a wall that had served as her canvas that morning.
"Art like Mama's, Daddy. I drew on the walls pretty, like Mama." Pointing, she explained who the stick figures with sausage fingers represented. "See, Daddy, and Mummy, and Cece, and baby brudder."
Pam felt her heart melt into warm liquid gold in her chest, though she tried not to show it outwardly, knowing Cece would take the positive attention as a cue to continue updating the color scheme of their house with her limited art supplies.
"Cece, sit in bed while your mother and I discuss how to handle this." Jim said firmly. Cece obeyed, though she didn't look very happy about it. Jim quickly whisked Pam back into their room, and as soon as Pam had put Phillip back into his crib, Jim broke into a large grin and pulled Pam into a kiss.
"What was that for?" Pam asked, chuckling.
"Our daughter is just…" Jim said, at a loss for words, but still smiling.
"Amazing? Awesome? Adorable?" Pam offered. "And I'm only on the first letter of the alphabet. Which she recited for me yesterday, by the way."
'All of those things and more." Jim answered. 'It's so hard to be angry with her when I just want to squeeze her."
"Agreed." Pam said, adjusting Phillip's mobile.
"So, how are we going to explain to our daughter that it's okay for her mom to color on the walls, but she's not allowed to?" Jim asked his wife.
"I've got this one, I think. You want to grab Phillip?"
"Sure," Jim said, scooping up his son and following his wife into his daughter's room.
"Mama, am I in twouble?" Cece asked.
"No, sweetheart, but you need to listen to me, okay? Can you do that?" Pam asked, sitting with her daughter on her bed. Cece nodded. "Great. Baby, when Mama was younger, she went to a special art school called Pratt where she learned all about painting pretty pictures like the one you saw the other day. That's why Mommy gets hired to color on walls. When you're all grown up, if you want to go to a special school like Momma did, Daddy and I will help you, but no coloring on the walls until then. Okay, squirt?"
"Okay, Mama. I'm sorry." Cece apologized.
"It's okay, sweetheart. I love you."
"I love you, too, Mama! and I love Daddy and I love baby brudder!"
"And what's baby brother's name?" Jim asked, trying to get her out of the habit of not calling him by his name.
"Phill-up." Cece answered confidently.
"That's right, baby girl! Why don't you call him that from now on?" Jim praised and then suggested.
"Okay. Is Phill-up old enough for Barbie yet?" Cece asked, extending a plastic doll towards her father. Before her brother was born, Pam and Jim explained to Cece that Phillip would be too young to really play with her for a while, but she still checked in every few days to see if Philip would be interested in sharing her toys.
"Not quite, sweetheart," Jim chuckled. "Actually, Momma and I have to put Phillip down for a nap, but do you want a snack after?"
"Pudding!" Cece exclaimed.
"Okay, in a minute," Pam chuckled, kissing her daughter on the forehead before following Jim back to her own room. Phillip was a good napper, and Jim put him down without a hitch.
"Remind me to make sure you're the one telling the kids life lessons from now on," Jim said.
"What do you mean?" Pam asked, laughing, but trying not to wake the baby.
"You just knew exactly what to say to be supportive but also firm, and you just amaze me every day with how great a mother you are," Jim explained. Pam looked away, blushing. "Oh, don't you play coy with me." Jim said, lunging towards Pam and tickling her sides. "I love you, ."
"Love you too, ."