It was a sunny morning in early May. Amelia and Owen were sitting at their kitchen table, sipping coffee and waiting for their almost-three-year-old daughter Isla to wake up. They glanced at each other and grinned excitedly when they finally heard her little footsteps on the stairs.
"Daddy!" the girl squealed as she hurled herself at her father and climbed up in his lap to wrap her skinny little arms around her neck.
Owen kissed her forehead and ruffled her wild, strawberry blonde ringlets. "Did you have sweet dreams?" he asked as she nuzzled into his chest.
Isla nodded. "Yeah! I was…" she began before noticing a brightly-colored gift bag sitting in her spot at the table. "Hey! Is dat for me?" she asked, her big blue eyes sparkling with excitement as she hopped off her father's lap and went to inspect the package. "I-s-l-a," she spelled out as she checked the tag. "That's Isla! Is it my birfday?" By now she was hopping from foot to foot and grinning from ear to ear.
"Not yet, baby. Remember we talked about it yesterday? Your birthday is in eight days, and grandma and your aunts Nancy, Kate, and Liz are coming from New York -"
"Yeah! An' Auntie Addie an' Uncle Jake are comin' wif Henry an' Diana" Isla squealed. "An' Auntie Meredif, Uncle Nafan, ZoZo, Bailey, Ellis, da twins…"
Amelia laughed. "Yes, they're all coming to your party too. And this is one of your presents, but you get to open it now because we're going somewhere special and you need it today." She pulled the toddler into her lap and plastered her rosy cheeks with kisses before handing her the bag. "Happy early birthday, baby."
Isla snatched the gift bag. After tossing aside wads of pink and yellow tissue paper she pulled out a little white jersey with navy pinstripes. Her mouth fell open before breaking into an ecstatic smile. "Mommy! It's da Yankees!" she shrieked.
"That's right! It's a Yankees jersey." Being from New York Amelia was a diehard Yankees fan, and not even years of living on the opposite coast could change that. She watched their games whenever she could and Isla was already taking after her mother. Even at her young age she could identify most of the players and watched the games intently, seeming to have a decent understanding of what was going on. "And where do you think you should wear your new Yankees jersey?" Amelia asked, hinting at the other part of the gift.
"Ummmm...to see da Yankees?"
"That's right! We're going to watch them play today," Owen said brightly. While he, too, enjoyed baseball he was not a Yankees fan, but he knew sitting through a game would be worth it, just to see the joy on his little daughter's face.
"Oh, we're goin' to New York?" Isla asked, knowing that the Yankees played in New York. Amelia had taken her by the stadium when they went to visit her mother and sisters, but they were usually in the city for the holidays so there were no games going on. "Are we gonna see Gramma too?"
"No, we're not going to New York to see them. Someday we will," Amelia promised, "but today they're in Seattle. They're playing the Mariners. And guess what! Auntie Meredith, Uncle Nathan, Zola, Bailey, and Ellis are coming too! Won't that be fun?"
Isla just squealed and jumped up and down, her little body unable to contain all the excitement. Finally she threw herself at Amelia and hugged her legs. "Come on! Let's go!"
"Not so fast," Owen said with a chuckle as he scooped her up. "The game isn't until later this afternoon. We'll go after your nap. But right now it's time for breakfast."
"No no no, I see da Yankees now," Isla protested as she tried to wiggle out of Owen's arms.
"No, right now you're going to go potty while mommy gets breakfast ready, then you're going to eat and take a bath," Owen said firmly as he tightened his grip on the child and headed to the bathroom.
"Okay," Isla reluctantly agreed. Her smile quickly returned when Owen removed her nighttime diaper. "Look daddy, I didn't go peepee! I get a star!"
"Yes, you do." He let her pick one from a sheet of stickers and watched as she put it proudly on her potty chart.
"I only need one, two, free more!" the girl squealed as she counted the boxes on the chart. "An' den, no more diapers, right daddy?"
"That's right," Owen confirmed as he picked her up and sat her on the toilet. Although Isla had been daytime trained since shortly after turning two, she still wet the bed at night. However, she insisted she was a big girl and cried every night when her parents tried to diaper her. Finally they came up with the potty chart and told her if she went 30 days with no accidents, she could stop wearing them, which seemed to placate the toddler. There was still a bit of pouting at bedtime, but at least there hadn't been any meltdowns over if for a while.
By the time Isla was done going potty and washing her hands, Amelia had breakfast ready. Owen strapped her into her booster seat and she hungrily dug into her bowl of oatmeal while Amelia poured the last of the milk into a sippy cup. "Don't forget to stop and get some on the way home tonight," she told Owen as she rinsed the hug and tossed it in the recycling bin before refilling her coffee cup and sitting down to eat. She watched her beautiful little girl eat neatly, careful not to spill one bit on her pajamas or the table, and couldn't help but wonder how they'd gotten so lucky. She caught Owen's eye and smiled. "What on earth did we ever do to deserve this?" she mused, amazed even after almost three years that two screwed up people could create something so perfect.