…There were a million things wrong with this, General Michael Holden realized.
He was a General for God sake; he should have the capability to handle any situation. In or out of uniform. But sadly, he seemed to recognize that that was not how things tended to work.
Just because he wore a camo uniform with two stars on it didn't mean he had any skill of taking care of an infant. So basically…he was screwed.
The crying started…again, tearing Michael from his thoughts about how he should be able to care for an eight month old. Groaning, the General picked his screaming grandson up from his highchair.
The big, tear-filled blue eyes of the eight-month-old Carson Lee Sherwood stared up into Michael Holden's as he felt himself being rocked gently against his grandpa's big chest.
Michael held the whimpering baby against his warm body, rubbing the little boy's back soothingly. The General was beginning to think that his daughter Emmalin really didn't have a "FRG thing" to tend to but really was looking for an afternoon of silence. Oh well, Michael thought, he had volunteered.
Emmalin Sherwood (nee Holden) had delivered Carson last September and he was his momma and daddy's pride and joy. And how could he not be? With his big blue eyes (that he inherited from his very own Grandpa Mike) and his charming smile. Little Carson was the spitting image of his Daddy, Sergeant Jeremy Sherwood, except for his pretty sky blue eyes.
The eight month old was normally the sweetest and best-behaved baby in the whole world; he almost never cried, he ate like a champ, and he slept like…well, he slept like a baby. But today the little boy must've been feeling out of sorts because he'd done nothing more than cry ever since he'd been dropped off to spend the day with Grandpa.
"Hush, Carson, hush. I don't know what's gotten into you today. Now come on buddy, let Grandpa know what's wrong." Michael cooed to his grandbaby, bouncing him up and down in his arms.
Carson fisted his tiny hands in his Grandpa's shirt as he (finally) stopped crying. Michael carefully dabbed at the baby's watering eyes, clearing his little chubby cheeks of any salty trails, his full apricot-colored lips trembling.
"Tell Grampy what's wrong?" The blue-eyed Two Star asked the little boy. Stroking the now mostly-quiet Carson's cheek, he noticed the baby let out another cry when his finger gently brushed against his lip.
"Is that what's wrong? Your mouth hurts?" Slipping his long finger in-between the baby's pouting lips, he pulled Carson's mouth open and proceeded to take a small look inside. The contents surprising him.
On his bottom gum, just behind his lip, Carson had his first ever tooth coming in. The very beginning of a small, pearly white stub poked painfully out of his rosy pink gums. So small that it must've surfaced just that day.
"A tooth? You've got a tooth, buddy! You're getting to be a big boy now!"
"You know, I might have something that's gonna make you feel all better, kid." Carrying the baby from the living room into the kitchen, Michael pulled open the freezer door. He dug through the contents of the freezer until he came upon a long yellow box, an unopened cartridge of frozen waffles. Hastily, although careful not to drop or hurt the infant in his arms, he pulled out a frozen waffle. Cooing at his grandbaby as he placed the ice-covered breakfast food in the microwave for fifteen seconds.
When the timer rang, the General examined the waffle. The trick was to get the ice off the waffle without unfreezing it completely. If this was going to work it needed to be cool but not freezing, so that it would maintain the perfect balance of soft and hard.
Reluctantly, he placed the square-shaped waffle against Carson's lips. Waiting patiently for the boy to open his mouth and accept the waffle. The baby gingerly took the waffle from his grandpa's hand and began sucking on it, occasionally chewing to relieve the pain coming from his bottom gums.
Smiling Michael ruffled the baby's soft, dark hair lovingly. He had used the amazing waffle trick on both his girls when they had begun to grow their teeth.
"See, that feels much better doesn't it? It's amazing all the different things a waffle can be used for, huh? Breakfast, dessert, and a teething ring all in one! And the built in drool cups aren't bad either." He kissed the baby's forehead softly as he walked them back over to the living room, taking a seat on the comfy indigo-colored couch.
"Now how's about you and your new chew toy sit on Grandpa's knee and listen to some stories to distract you from that little tooth?" Bouncing the eight-month baby up and down on his lap as he thought of a story to tell. Smiling, he began to reminisce about what he could tell Carson.
Michael loved to put his one and only grandbaby down for a nap while telling him a story. And Carson loved it too, listening to his Grandpa Mike's deep voice as he told a story never failed to lull him into dreamland.
"Let's see…what should I tell you about? I know, you wanna hear about how I tried to chase your Daddy away when he was courting your Momma? I happened to have played the role of 'loving, protective Dad' and I personally think I should've been nominated for 'Father of the Year'." Michael laughed as the infant in his lap looked up at him in wonder, holding his waffle in one tiny hand and gripping his grandpa's shirt with the other.
Usually he told stories about his Army career, but today he felt like telling one about his daughter and son-in-law. Thinking ironically how he had tried so hard to chase Jeremy Sherwood away from his daughter, only to have them get married and give him his new best buddy.
"Hmm, alright, it all started out like this…your Dad came knocking on our door one night asking to see your Mom. He was nineteen back then, and your Mommy was only seventeen. She was my little girl, still is, and I was pretty upset at the idea of this older, troubled soldier taking a liking to my baby." Michael explained as Carson clutched his waffle, leaning against his Grandpa's chest and tummy.
"You see your Dad was pretty wild and rough around the edges when he was younger; he wasn't exactly the kinda guy you wanted around your daughter." He stroked the fine, brown baby hair that coated Carson's head as he explained why he was so reluctant to let Jeremy Sherwood anywhere near his daughter…well either of his daughters, now that he thought about it.
"Anyways, I walk into the living room one night and find this Army Private sitting on my couch, waiting to take my little girl on a date. Now I bet you're wondering why I let your Daddy take your Mommy out that night if I didn't want him near her…well I didn't have much choice, you see your Grandma and your Nana Sherwood have been best friends for a real long time and your Grandma had this little soft spot for your Daddy. She said he was a good boy underneath it all, that he'd straighten up given some time; and then she sort of guilted me into letting your Mom go out with him, telling me how happy he made your Mommy when they were together." General Holden grabbed Carson's baby blanket and began to wrap him in it, taking extra care not to make it too tight or too loose. Carson's blue eyes started to flutter behind their long dark eyelashes, a sure sign of his sleepyness.
"So I pull him into my study and I give him this real mean, scary look and I tell him that if he hurts my baby I'll skin him alive with a Swiss Army Knife!" Michael exclaimed playfully at his grandson, making a fun face at the baby boy, "…and that she better be every bit as innocent when she gets home from their date as she was before she left the house. You see nineteen year old's they only want one thing. One day you'll be nineteen and you'll know exactly what that thing I'm talking about is." Michael lectured, knowing that when Carson got older, he'd make some girl's father just as paranoid as Jeremy had made him. Because no father wants to loose his little princess.
"Your Momma got home from that date as happy as I'd ever seen her but that didn't matter. Because I didn't trust your Daddy and I was willing to do anything in my power to get him away from my baby girl. So I kept giving him all this paper work, which he really hates, and doubling his PT assignments, and giving him extra work. If I recall correctly I even gave him latrine duty in the barracks." Michael chuckled, thinking how useless his out-of-character scheme had been since his daughter married the boy he spent all that effort trying to chase away.
"About a month later your Mom and Grandma found out what I was up to; and they weren't happy, not one bit. They made me ease up on your Daddy, but I still wouldn't give up my hope of chasing him off." He looked down when he felt the small child release his shirt. Carson kicked his tiny footie-pajama covered feet out from under his baby blanket. He squirmed, trying to find a comfortable napping position in the General's lap. Michael pulled the teeny blanket, sown from his Daddy's old shirts, back over Carson's legs.
Carson Sherwood let out a yawn as he dropped his drool-soaked waffle onto his grandpa's lap. His eyes closed and he let out another big, tired yawn.
"Your Dad being the stubborn mule that he is was determined not to give up. He's always been a man who knows what he wants, and right then he wanted your Mommy. Me and him had it out more than a few times while they were dating but no matter what I did I just couldn't seem to get rid of this guy. We even came close to blows once or twice." Michael laughed and stroked the sleepy baby's cheek as he remembered the time he and Jeremy had almost threw punches at each other in the Sherwood living room, all because Michael had mistakenly thought Jeremy was bedding his daughter.
"You wanna know a secret, buddy? And you can't ever tell your Daddy, cause he'd never let me hear the end of it." Michael whispered quietly to the almost sleeping baby, "…I'm glad he didn't listen to me and stuck around. Because if he hadn't, then your parents wouldn't have gotten married and then we wouldn't have you. And you, Carson Lee Sherwood, are the best thing that's ever happened to an old war Vet like me." Michael kissed the now slumbering baby's forehead softly, and then slowly got up to set Carson in the musical swing he liked to sleep in.
Stifling a yawn, the blue-eyed General lied down on the indigo couch deciding that maybe a nap wasn't such a bad idea. Being the 'World's Best Grandpa' took a lot out of him, but hey if he was gonna wear his "Best Grandpa" t-shirt, then he was gonna earn it! On the brightside, it was worth it at the end of the day; even if it meant dealing with a teething, crying baby and running out of waffles for breakfast in the morning.