Once again, thank you for the encouraging reviews. I'm glad people are enjoying it! I'm only going to address this once; to those who find it boring I really don't know why you're wasting your time reviewing lol This isn't meant to be ground breaking literature…
It was getting close to Christmas and little Emma Swarek was eight months old. She's what you would call a 'chatterbox.' She would talk to anyone; herself, Boo, Sam and Andy, strangers…. even the wall. Sam always said that it was a direct trait from Andy, which she didn't mind. She loved that her daughter was a happy little social butterfly who never stopped smiling or talking…it was cute!
It was a Sunday night in December and Andy was just finishing putting up all the Christmas decorations. Sam hadn't been much help; he was more interested in playing with Emma than strategically placing Christmas tree ornaments. He tried once and Andy chastised him for "not following the theme she had started." So Sam just let Andy handle the Christmas decorations.
Emma was a master crawler but she had not yet learned how to pull herself up. She was getting closer everyday but still hadn't quite gotten the technique down.
"Emma look, Emma over here. Look at the pretty lights," Andy said trying to get Emma's attention.
Emma looked over to Andy and let out a happy squeal. She crawled over to Andy and the tree and started playing with the ornaments near the bottom of the tree. Andy had purposely not placed any delicate or glass ornaments near the bottom, for this very reason.
"Emma sweetie, don't put that in your mouth you're not going to like it" Andy said as she eyed Emma trying to put a branch in her mouth. But in typical Swarek fashion she didn't listen to Andy and the outcome was not pretty.
"Oh sweetie, no, that's what happens when you put fake branches in your mouth," Andy said softly as she picked up a crying Emma.
At the same moment, the front door opened which revealed a cold Sam and a wet Boo.
"It's getting seriously cold outside. But Boo didn't seem to mind," Sam told Andy as he dried off Boo and took off his coat and boots.
"Well Sam that might be because you're still wearing your leather jacket when it's negative 15 degrees with wind chill," Andy joked as she put Emma back on the ground.
Boo came over to Emma to see what she was doing. Boo started playing with Emma and would run around her. Emma loved playing with Boo and would frequently let out high pitch squeals that were bordering on screams.
Sam and Andy laughed as they watched Boo interact with their daughter. They were always a little worried that Boo would get too rough with her, but he never did. He always seemed to know the difference between gentle fun and rough housing. Sam would get him going when he would play with him, fake biting and more running but Boo never got that way with Emma.
At eight months, Boo was Emma's favourite person other than Sam and Andy. Boo would even nap with Emma most days, they were inseparable.
"Hey baby girl, you helping mama with the decorations?" Sam asked Emma as she put her head down on Boo's stomach with a soother in her mouth.
"She was tasting the tree," Andy laughed before leaning over and giving Sam a quick kiss.
"Oh yeah, it probably didn't taste very good. That prickly fake tree taste isn't very appetizing," Sam said as he sat on the ground to be closer to Emma.
Emma smiled and crawled over to her father and sat down between his legs so Andy and Boo were both in sight. She might have only been eight months old but she knows what she likes and she likes it when she can see everyone.
One hand was holding onto Sam's finger and the other hand was placed on Boo's back, gently griping his fur. She looked at Andy and started telling her all about her day as if Andy hadn't been there for its entirety.
"Oh yeah and then what did you do?" Andy jokingly asked her daughter who replied with more gibberish and happy squeals.
"That sounds like a pretty fun day, baby." Andy said as she smiled at her daughter.
Sam couldn't help but laugh and smile at his baby girl. He was so lucky to have them in his life.
"Ok baby, gotta get up and make dinner for mama." Sam said as he placed Emma on her play mat with Boo.
Sam and Andy were in the kitchen making dinner together and Emma was over in the living room constantly making noise so they knew she had not wandered off, not as if Boo would allow it.
But then it went quiet for a few seconds and Andy looked over the kitchen island to see what was going on. She looked over to see Emma trying to pull herself up by holding onto the couch and Boo nudging her bum to help her with the support.
"Omigosh Sam! Sam look!" Andy whispered loudly to Sam who facing the stove. "She's doing it! Crap, where is my phone," Andy said as she grabbed her phone from the kitchen table. Emma was making a few huffing noises as she managed to fully pull herself completely with the help of Boo pushing her bum up. She squealed so loudly and started bouncing in her place. She looked over to the kitchen to see her parents looking over at her, which just made her smile more.
"Good job baby. You finally did it," Sam said as they walked over to her and Boo.
"Omigosh Emma you did so good! And you too Boo, always helping out," Andy laughed as she picked up Emma and hugged her tightly. Boo knew this was an exciting time for whatever reason and sat there wagging his tail.
Emma was now eating baby food most of the time, but still nursing on occasion. Boo loved this new trick where Emma would throw her food on the floor and start laughing hysterically. Tonight was no different, Sam would try and catch her before she did it but Emma always seemed to find a moment when Sam wasn't looking.
Emma started laughing when Boo ate her mashed potatoes off the floor.
"Sweetie no, Boo has his own food," Andy said lovingly as she tried to explain to her daughter but Emma wasn't having any of it and just threw more food on the ground for Boo.
After dinner and the massive mess on the floor and on her highchair, Sam cleaned up and joined Andy on the couch with Emma and Boo.
Even though Emma was pretty independent for a baby, she still loved cuddling with Andy especially after dinner.
After dinner they all sat on the couch together. Emma lying right up against Andy with her little foot touching Boo and still holding onto Sam's finger.
"I've never been so happy in my entire life," Andy whispered to Sam as she stroked her daughter's soft head.
"I know, who would have thought that all those years ago that this is where we would be now," Sam replied with a kiss to Emma's knuckle.
"We've been through a lot together, but it was all worth it for moments like this. Chilly winter nights snuggled up on the couch with our baby girl and her guard dog," Andy giggled as she looked at Boo and then back at Sam.
They stayed on the couch for a little while longer watching the soft snow fall to the ground.
"Ok time for bed, back at it tomorrow morning," Sam said as he stretched and stood up from the couch. "Come on Boo, we're going upstairs." Not like he had to tell Boo, wherever Emma went he went.
"Goodnight sweetheart, we love you," Andy said as she kissed her daughter and laid her down in her crib.
"Night Boo," Sam quietly laughed as they left the nursery with Boo taking up his place in front of the crib.
If anyone has some scenarios they'd like to read, leave it in the reviews. I'm open to more ideas.
Thanks for reading!
