Ned was excited. JoJo was growing up so fast. The three year old went from being a little baby who couldn't move by himself, to a smart little toddler. Which is why, on his way home from work one day, Ned stopped by the store for something he wanted to give his son.
"DADDY!" JoJo exclaimed, getting up from the carpetted floor in front of the tv to go give his father a hug.
"Hey, there's my little man!" Ned beemed as he took JoJo in his arms for a hug.
"I missed you, Daddy." JoJo said, smiling his crooked smile, showing Ned that there was a tooth missing from the other day at the park. Because of one of his baby teeth coming out, Ned reminded himself that JoJo was growing up. Which is why he pulled out his shopping bag.
"What's that?" JoJo asked, his missing tooth causing a slight lisp in his speech.
"Daddy went out and got you something you'll need for school next year. I'm going to teach you how to read."
"Wead? Like weading bedtime stowies?" JoJo raised an eyebrow.
"That's right. Let's go to the kitchen and set this up." Ned strolled to the kitchen, where his wife, Sally, was busy rolling out dough on the counter. She barely noticed they were there until she heard them talking.
Ned pulled out big glossy cards and set them on the table. JoJo watched in amazement. That's what Ned loved about him. He was always so curious.
"This is called the 'Alphabet'. You have to know it before you can go to school."
JoJo nodded.
"This," Ned pointed to the first card. "is the letter A. Can you say 'A' for Daddy?"
"A!" JoJo exclaimed.
"Very good. Now, this is the letter B, can you say 'B'?"
"B! Like a bumblebee!" JoJo proudly said.
"Excellent! This is 'C', can you say 'C'?"
"Sea?" JoJo raised an eyebrow.
"The letter C and the Ocean Sea do sound the same, don't they, JoJo?"
JoJo giggled. Ned pointed to the next card.
"D, can you say 'D'?"
"Dee!"
"Now E, say 'E'?"
"Eeeeeee!" JoJo drawn out the letter.
"Okay, here's F, say 'F'."
"Ep."
Ned chuckled. "No, F. F." Ned made the 'fff' sound with his top teeth touching his bottom lip so JoJo could copy him. JoJo's gap stuck out as he copied his father.
Sally continued to listen as she cooked dinner. The two did the rest of the alphabet. After that, Ned wrote down words that started with each letter.
"A is for apple. Ahh-pp-el."
"Apple!"
"Very good! Good job, son!" Ned exclaimed. "B is for Bear. Ba-air."
"Bear!" JoJo tried, but the slight lisp he had made the B sound more like a P, resulting in Pear. JoJo made a small growl, pretending to be a bear. "Rowl!"
"Ooh, scary. C is for Candy. Ka- and- dee."
JoJo raised an eyebrow. "How come C sounds like K?"
Ned searched for an answer. "Well, some words that start with C have the C sound, and some have the K sound. Now, what does C stand for?"
"Candy?"
"Very good."
Sally continued to listen. This moment was so cute between her two favorite men.
"Okay, D is for Dandelion. Dan-Dee-Lion."
JoJo looked at Ned, confused. "No."
Ned was appalled. "No? What's wrong? You wanna take a break?"
"No, it's not that, D isn't for Dandelion."
"JoJo, Dandelion starts with the letter D."
JoJo giggled and took Ned's hand. "D is for Daddy!"
Ned was surprised at first, but he felt very warm after that. How sweet!
"Yes, D is for Daddy!"
Sally slapped her hand over her heart and mouthed an "aww!" That was so cute! She continued to watch them.
Ned proudly held up the letter J. He was excited about this one. "JoJo, can you tell me what word in this house starts with J?"
JoJo looked up at the ceiling, raised his eyebrow. That meant he was thinking. "Uh..."
Ned decided to help him. "It's a name."
"Really?"
"Yes, he's tiny, smart, and he says the cutest things."
"Who is he?"
"It's you, JoJo."
JoJo looked confused again.
"Your name starts with J."
JoJo furrowed his brows for a second, but then he widened his eyes. "Oh yeah!"
Ned held back a chuckle.
They did the rest of the alphabet, Ned teaching him how to pronounce words. At the letter M, JoJo said "Mommy", at S, JoJo said "Little Sisters".
After the letter Z, Ned was worn out. JoJo was bouncing in his chair as Sally set the table for dinner. "Mommy! I know the Alpabet!"
"It's a P-H, sweetie, it's Alphabet." Sally pinched his nose as she gave him his dinosaur shaped plastic plate. During dinner, as JoJo held up pieces of food, he asked his dad what letter they started with. "What does roast beast start with, Daddy?"
"Roast starts with R, and Beast starts with B."
A few of the little girls were confused as to why JoJo was asking so many questions when he was usually so quiet. After dinner, Sally collected the dishes to be washed later.
"Well, JoJo, you've done so well with your alphabet today with Daddy, I think you deserve a reward."
JoJo looked at her with a raised eyebrow. But the confused look turned to excitement when Sally brought a huge plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies to the kitchen table.
"Cookies!" All 8 of her children exclaimed. Her youngest, Hildegard, banged her highchair tray in excitement. Sally gave her children their dessert.
"See, Daddy, See!" JoJo said, waving his cookie to Ned.
"I see it."
JoJo shook his head. "No, see, Cookie starts with C!"
Ned smiled. "That's right."
After the cookie gobbling, it was time for JoJo's bath and bedtime routine to start. Ned took him to the bathroom and placed him in the warm water and bubbles.
"Bathtub, bubbles, B!" JoJo yelled as Ned massaged shampoo through his black hair.
"That's correct!"
JoJo picked up his rubber duck. "Ducky starts with D, like Daddy!" Ned nodded at his 3 year old son.
Ned finished washing him and took him out of the tub, drying him off with a towel.
"Towel starts with... uh..." JoJo looked confused for a second, lost for words.
"T." Ned answered. "Towel starts with T."
"I knew that!" JoJo beemed with pride, earning a smirk from Ned. They exited the bathroom and went to JoJo's room. JoJo picked out a book for Ned to read to him, as they did every night. Ned sat JoJo in his lap as he rocked the rocking chair.
"Once upon a time, there was a-!"
"Daddy!" JoJo interrupted him.
"Yes?"
"Can I read it?"
Ned was surprised. JoJo was determined to learn. "Okay, why don't you read it to me?"
JoJo nodded and took the book in his hands. "Once upon a time, thewe was a little boy named JoJo who wanted to learn how to wead. His daddy bwought home some funny looking cards and showed them to him. All day he learned the Alpabet and words and letters."
Ned listened to him. JoJo "read" from the book. One of these days he would sit down with JoJo and teach him to read a book, word for word. And he knew JoJo would be ready.
JoJo closed the book. "The end."
"Thank you for reading that to me, JoJo. You learn fast."
JoJo smiled, his gap showing. "All in a days work!"
Ned smiled as he lifted JoJo into his bed and tucked him in. "Now it's time for all good little readers to get some sleep."
JoJo rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Daddy, can we do this again tomorrow?"
"Of course we can." Ned kissed his forehead. "Goodnight, JoJo, sweet dreams."
"Goodnight, Daddy. I love you." JoJo said before his eyes closed.
Ned smiled and went to the door. "I love you too, son." Ned said as he closed the door.