"Cassadee!" I called, chuckling, as I raced after the small girl, her blond curls flowing out behind her. I stopped, "Cass, come on, we need to get you ready so you can we can get to your Uncle's."
She stopped abruptly, "Why?"
"Because, I have to go to work." I responded.
"Uncle Mark?" She asked, her pronunciation making me smile. "…Why?" She asked returning to her word of the day.
"So I can pay for stuff and yes, Uncle Mark."
"Why?"
"You sure are asking a lot of why's today." I observed walking over to her.
"Why?" She asked again, giggling at the face I had made at her.
"Well I don't know why silly girl. Now, come on we're going to be late."
"Ok!" She said reaching up for me to pick her up.
"Oh gosh, you're getting so big Cass." I joked; in reality she was smaller than kids her age.
"It's cuz I'm almost four!" She called giggling.
"You're not four for another three months." I said laughing at her upset face. We walked into her room where she immediately ran to get her teddy as I pulled out her close for the day. "What are they Cass?"
"Pants…" She pointed to the small blue jeans I had pulled out. "Shirt…" She said pointing to the brown long sleeved shirt. "Sweat shirt!" She said happily, she loved her black hoodie. "Chaqueta?" She asked in Spanish, having picked it up from when we spent time with her cousins in Spain.
"Yeah baby, it's getting cold outside." I said looking out the small window to see the early December snow already falling. "What is it in English, baby?"
"Jacket!" She said happily, raising her arms up.
"Good job, now lets go take a bath." I said grabbing the clothes and dropping my hand for her to hold.
When we were in the bathroom, I started running the bath, took out the pigtails from her hair and took her pajamas off. Once that was done, the water was all filled up and she got in. "You can't take a long one today baby, we're running late, no toys." Of course that didn't stop her from playing in the tub; she substituted her toys for splashing, making them both laugh.
Twenty minutes later I had managed to finish her bath, get her dried off, dressed in her clothes, both of our teeth brushed, her hair back up in pigtails, and breakfast in both of us. We left the apartment, grabbing her backpack of stuff, and headed towards the car.
"Come on, Cassy." I said dropping her hand and picking her up to tuck inside my jacket, hoping to keep her a little bit warmer.
"Snow!" She said happily observing the light flakes falling.
"Yeah, maybe tomorrow we can go sledding." I told her, worried about what that'd mean.
"Really?!" She asked happily, looking at me, her dark brown eyes large with excitement.
"Maybe, depends on if the snow sticks." I told her as we approached the car. I strapped her in, putting the blanket we had in the car to keep warm when the heater wasn't working, and headed towards my seat. "What'd you want to listen to baby girl?"
"You're song!" She said happily not taking her eyes off the snow.
"Alright." I said watching her for a moment in the mirror before I pushed in the CD, allowing 'Your Eyes' to fill the small car. The song played and brought back to me all of the feelings I tried so hard to suppress, bringing a few tears from my eyes.