Daddy was watching his baby girl sleep the next morning. He had carried her back to bed the night before and she had been sound asleep ever since. Surprisingly, he had even woken up before her which almost never happened. On a typical day, she was his little alarm clock, alerting him that their day was beginning whether he liked it or not.
He looked at the time. Sofia had been born at 2:08 p.m., meaning that in about eight hours, he, Callie, and Arizona would officially have a two-year-old. Every parent warns new parents of how fast time passes once you have a little one, but their words hadn't meant much back then. When Sofia was first born, they prayed for the days to pass quickly. They couldn't wait for her to gain weight, to breathe on her own, to take a bottle, to heal, to come home, and to finally catch up to the developmental stages of other babies her age. They had rushed her along to help her hit each of these milestones. Obviously it was worth it, since all of that had probably done a lot to help Sofia, but now they wanted time to slow down. It seemed almost impossible that such a tiny girl could have already become a two-year-old.
Daddy took the opportunity his sleeping girl was giving him to start making breakfast. Pancakes with blueberry smiley faces were on the menu today. Sofia always got a kick out of anything edible that wore a smile, which is the part that he got a kick out of. It was so much fun to watch her enjoy such simple things as if they were some big deal.
Callie and Arizona came over. "She's not up yet?" Callie asked. "Mark, it's quarter after six."
"I figured she just looked far too peaceful for me to wake her."
"Aw," she smiled.
Both ladies walked right back to Sofia's bedroom; they couldn't help themselves.
"I said I didn't want to wake her," Mark told them.
"We're not," Arizona said as she and her wife stood watching the little lady.
"Yes, we are," Callie replied as Sofia's big brown eyes opened. "Good morning, Birthday Girl!"
"Babows," she said, wanting the rainbow blanket she had been promised last night.
"It's at our apartment," Arizona said. "After breakfast, we can get it."
"Oh."
"Daddy's making pancakes," Callie told her. "I think with smiley faces!"
"Eat that?" she asked as she sat up in bed.
"Well, yeah you get to eat them," Arizona laughed. "They're yummy, right?"
"Yeah."
"What day is today, Sofia?" Callie asked.
"Uh…"
"It's your second birthday!" Arizona said, holding up two fingers.
"Happy birthday!" Daddy smiled as he came in the room, too. "How's it feel to be two?"
"Does it feel good?" Callie asked.
"Yeah."
"Do you feel older?"
"Oh, yep," she nodded.
They all laughed.
"You're such a funny kid," Mark told her.
"Eat?" she asked.
"You want your pancakes?" he asked. "Sure. Daddy'll finish them up."
"Say 'thank you, Daddy!'" Arizona smiled.
"How about 'Gracias?'" Callie asked when the toddler said nothing.
"Gratus," she said, not quite able to pronounce it.
"Good girl," Arizona praised her.
She lifted her out of her toddler bed and Sofia squirmed because she wanted to be put down, so that she could go get her pancakes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Callie said. "Let's get a new diaper on first."
"Oh."
"How's that smiley face, Miss Sofia?" Arizona asked as they ate.
The birthday girl was a mess. There was syrup and pancake bits all over her and it was clearly going to take a good long bath to get her clean again. That didn't matter, though. She was having so much fun and all she was doing was eating breakfast. It was worth it.
"Good," she said, with a full mouth.
"Good," Callie smiled. "Daddy did good?"
"Yep," she nodded.
"I'm glad you think they're good," Mark said.
"What do you want to do today, birthday girl?" Callie asked.
They had had Sofia's birthday party a couple weeks ago because Arizona's parents weren't able to be in Seattle for her actual birthday, so they had made a special trip out a little ahead of time instead. This meant that Sofia and her parents could spend the day together just the four of them. It was a rare treat that all three of them had the day off of work, so they wanted to take full advantage of the occasion and have some quality family time.
They had learned to define "family" differently than most people did. Callie and Arizona were a happily married couple with a daughter. They were a family. Mark and Callie were biological parents to this amazing girl. That made them a family. In many peoples' minds, this is how it was. The two families coexisted, but somebody was always on the outside of the bubble. However, Robbins, Torres, and Sloan viewed their family differently. They felt just like their daughter saw things: from Sofia's perspective, all three of them were a part of one family. Sure, they had had some rocky times, but what family hadn't? Mark, Callie, and Arizona felt like their foursome was the only complete way to describe their family. They all had a mutual respect, friendship, and love for each other now. It had taken some time to get there, but things were better than ever.
"Um, pay."
"You want to play?" Arizona asked. "Would you like to go to the zoo?"
They had had this planned for awhile, but letting Sofia think it was her idea was generally a better approach.
"Yeah, Mama."
"Sofia, what's at the zoo?" Callie asked.
"Dada," she answered.
Arizona laughed. "Daddy's at the zoo? I don't think so!"
"Animals are at the zoo," Callie said. "Lions, monkeys, giraffes…all kinds of animals."
"Yay!"
"Should we go visit the animals today?"
"Yeah."
"Sounds like a plan, ladies," Mark smiled.
"Sof, do you see the baby elephant?" Arizona asked as they watched the elephants interact with each other. "The littlest one is just a baby!"
"Big," she disagreed, looking at her Mommy like she had lost her mind.
"Well, it is big, but it's still a baby elephant," she explained.
"Doin'?" she asked as she watched the baby elephant walk over to one of the bigger ones.
"It wants to play with its mom," Mark said, lifting her up so she could see better.
"Mama?" she asked.
"That must be its mama," Callie decided, not having a clue if this was actually the case or not. It satisfied her little girl and that was all that mattered.
Sofia pointed to another elephant. "Maday," she said.
"That's Baby's Madre?" Arizona smiled.
"Yeah," she said. "Madre, Mama, Dada."
"She has a madre, a mommy, and a daddy?" Mark asked. "Just like you!"
It had yet to occur to Sofia that her family wasn't the norm. To her, every baby must have had three parents. It was all she had ever known, after all.
"Yeah, Dada."
"I see," he smiled.
They let Sofia watch the elephants a little bit more before they moved on to see a group of some very energetic monkeys. Sofia loved watching them "pay" as she called it.
"They're just like you, Sofia," Callie teased. "Too much energy! Do you think their parents get tired chasing after them all day, too?"
"No," she said.
"No, huh?"
"No."
Taking Sofia to the zoo corresponded perfectly with the gift that her parents bought for her. Sofia was really into pretend play these days, so they had decided to buy her a complete set of zoo animal toys. She would get hours of enjoyment out of it.
They let her open it when they got home.
"What is it?" Callie asked as she ripped off the paper.
"Beples!" she said, trying to say "peoples."
"Are those people?" Arizona asked.
She laughed.
"What are those guys called?" Mark asked.
"Mimimals."
"I think that was supposed to be animals," Callie said. "Yes."
"Which animals do you see in there?"
"Suck," she said, meaning "stuck." She was examining the top of the box and clearly trying to figure out how to get her newest little friends out of their box.
She knew she had to open the top of the box, but she wasn't totally sure how. Her attempts failed.
"They're stuck in the box?" Daddy asked.
"Ask for help," Arizona prompted her. "Say 'open my box, please!'"
"Do that," Sofia said, pushing the box closer to Daddy.
"Is that nice asking?" Callie asked her. "We say what? Pl-"
"Pease!" she yelled.
"Tell Daddy," Arizona replied.
"Pease," she smiled.
"Let's get them out," Mark said as he opened the box.
He passed her each individual animal as he removed them and she gave it a name. Some of the names were actually the names of the type of animal, while some were just her creative choices.
"Lion," she said as Daddy handed one over. "Roar!"
"Lions do roar," Arizona nodded. "Smart girl!"
