The Aislin Chronicles
Part XXXVI
A/n: Happy December! (I know it's a little late) It's about time I got a niiiice long break from school without much homework hanging over my head. Enjoy!
10-6-03
7:14 PM
So, I'm completely excited. We're going to start setting up the nursery in that little bedroom next to Mom and Dad's room soon. Yay! Apparently they ordered a crib, because one was delivered to our house yesterday. We haven't really discussed any plans for it, but the idea has been expressed that they want to start working on it soon.
Well, today they started to discuss painting it. It's just white right now, and they were figuring out whether they wanted to change it, and if so what they would change it to. Obviously what comes to mind is like, light pink and baby blue. But, well, what would help is for them to know the gender. I used this argument to my advantage. Dad suggested a neutral color, but Mom wasn't feeling it. Then I so persuasively added, "You know, this would be a lot easier if you guys knew the gender. Just imagine a sweet little girl with pink walls, or an adorable little boy with baby blue walls…"
I drifted off and let the image sink into their minds. Mom had this happy nostalgic-like look on her face while gazing into the future, but Dad's face was like, 'No… Will…. Not… Succumb… Must… Not… Listen…'
I just hope I got my point across. Well, I have to finish my math homework. Or really, pretend to finish it. What the heck is this slope crap? Lines are lines, they don't need equations!
10-7-03
3:44 PM
I guess I failed yesterday. I mean about the baby thing, not the math. Although I'm pretty sure I fail at that too. What I mean is, we won't be painting. Dad had the day off today and he went out and bought non gender specific wallpaper. It's really cute though, I have to admit. It's Winnie the Pooh themed, drawn old school style like the book. And it's got the other characters too. I like it.
…But I wish they wanted to paint it a gender oriented color, damn it! I need more stereotypes to persuade them by!
3:51 PM
Okay, Dad wants me to help him put up the wallpaper and surprise Mom. I asked him if that would be a good idea, because, I don't know, she might get all mad and emotional as she tends to get, but he said they were talking last night and this was exactly what she wanted. So I'm going to go help him. Bye!
10-9-03
4:01 PM
I just experienced the weirdest things ever. So I walk in the front door after school as I always do, and I closed the front door and turned to go upstairs to my bedroom when I saw Ava Lampi scurrying through the foyer and into the kitchen.
Pause for a WTF?
I set my backpack down on the foot of the stairs and slowly made my way into the kitchen; slowly because seeing Ava in my house put me into a bit of a shock and I maybe did not want to know what else was dwelling in the kitchen at that moment. I bit my lip and stepped in, only to find my parents and Caleb playing with play dough as Ava clambered around the kitchen.
They seemed to take no notice of me. "Um, hi." Mom looked up and smiled. Dad was working far too intensely on a play dough volcano. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Aiz-in!" Caleb greeted/shouted.
"Oh! Jeff's uncle is in the hospital up in Sacramento. They don't think he has much time left, so they think they'll be up there for a few days. Stephanie was worried about bringing the kids with them, and normally they stay with her sister, but she's on vacation all this week and next."
Mom set Caleb on the floor and he ran over me to and pulled me to the table. I pulled him up into my lap. "So they're staying with us?"
"Yup." Her eyes wandered away. "Uh-oh, what did Ava find on the floor…?" She marched off somewhere, Caleb struggled to reach his mass of red/blue play dough, and Dad was still working furiously on his volcano when the realization hit me: Ava was going to be living with me for a few days. That meant this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow morning, after school, and all over again until God knows when. I might just actually go crazy. I might actually become a truly crazy person.
I promptly excused myself to go do homework (of course after helping Mom pry something inedible from Ava's death grip) to try to calm myself. That's really too bad about Jeff's uncle, though. At least he's getting some time to say good-bye, you know, gain some closure. Sometimes I wish I had… Well, nevermind.
I guess I better face the monster of homework before I face the monster of Ava. Which one do you think is worse? I can't decide. Ahhh I hear her shrill little scream downstairs! Homework is far, far more tame than she is. I'm going to need some seriously help surviving this next week.
Oh, and by the way, Mom absolutely adored the wallpaper. We almost made her cry, which would almost make me proud, except she can cry quite easily, so… Not so much.
10-10-03
10:20 PM
Good day today. Choir was fun, we have a concert coming up, I'm excited! I like the songs we're singing. Jess and Krissy are going to sing a duet. Which will be great because they have such amazing voices. Also, Ian and I sat together at lunch today, and he helped me understand this slope thing. I think I'm kind of getting it. It helps that I can pay attention to him, unlike Mrs. Schlesinger who is too quiet. I also get to make fun of him, notice how cute he is, and… Hmm. Okay. Maybe he should be my full time math tutor! I'll tell him that Monday.
When I got home from school I was kind of surprised that no one was home, but then again Caleb and Ava are still going to day care so I Mom and Dad picked them up coming home from work. They got home somewhat early, and the kids wanted to go swimming, so we all changed into our bathing suits and headed over next door into their pool.
Caleb was having fun swimming around in his orange floaties and splashing Dad (Caleb doesn't often talk to Dad, it's funny, but he always interacts with him somehow, it's really cute). So he would splash him a little and swim away giggling. Then Dad would swim underwater and try to tickle his feet. Meanwhile Mom was dipping Ava in and out of the water, who was actually being surprisingly good.
I guess Mom was going on about wanting hanging flower baskets. "Plan on putting those hooks in soon on the overhang?"
"I'll… get to that…"
"Yeah, dad. You were supposed to do that awhile ago. Oh! And when are you gonna assemble the crib?"
"Yeah, Vaughn, when?"
Then Caleb added a, "Yeah, Vaughn!" which was quite hilarious. That kid is too cute for words.
Well, they got bored of the pool eventually. We had dinner, and then I abandoned them to go to the football game. They haven't had a home game in a few weeks. Is that why it's called Homecoming? Because they've had so many away games that they're finally coming home? There was a parade too. That seemed a bit extreme. Hm. Maybe I ought to ask someone, I can't be right about this.
10-11-03
11:14 AM
I received a really cute wake-up call this morning. I was in that state where you're not really sleeping, but if you open you're eyes you're like, "Oh my gosh, need more sleep!" And I rolled over in my bed so I wasn't facing the wall. I think I heard someone walking around in the hallway; I think I might have drifted off to sleep again. The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and not an inch away were these big brown Caleb eyes. He was so close that it startled me a little bit and I jumped back.
"Wake up, Aiz-in," he told me.
"No…" I groaned and hid under the covers, prompting him to jump up on me/my bed. Then I started tickling him from under the covers, and then I got tired of that, so I came out and sat up against the headboard. He slid back next to me, leaned his head against my shoulder, and heaved this sigh like he'd seen so much trouble in his little, little life. It was so cute that I kissed him on the cheek. He started to giggle but said, "Ew!"
We just kind of sat like that in my bed for a few minutes because I was still trying to convince my body that I was, indeed, awake, not asleep, though it seriously wanted the latter. Then Mom came upstairs and peeked into my room and said, "Oh good, you're awake. I have to go work now; Dad should come back around noon to check on you guys, okay?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Aislin–"
"All right, I'm up!"
I knew Mom was frowning at me in the hallway, but I seemed to convince the youngin' that I was truly awake, so he got excited and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of bed and down the stairs. That made Mom smile. Evilly. Meh.
I had just made the two of us bowls of Cheerios when Mom handed me Ava and went on her way. I reluctantly made a bowl for her, which she massacred, no joke, then commenced to clean the kitchen while the kids chased each other.
Ay, it's been a long morning. I've discovered Ava has taken a liking to chewing on things that she certainly shouldn't be chewing on. Why, Ava, why? Caleb's being a little rambunctious, but otherwise his cutely adorable self.
Uh-oh. Someone's crying. I'll be back.
12:24 PM
Oh for goodness sake. I'm in the kitchen making them macaroni and cheese right now, and after that Ava is supposed to take her nap (please fall asleep, please fall asleep, please fall asleep…). Then I can chill with Caleb and we can do a nice, quiet activity, like coloring. I like coloring. Especially with a kid who doesn't eat crayons. Things have calmed down a bit since dad got here, but he just left a few minutes ago so hopefully things will stay this way for awhile.
About earlier, Ava was crying because she couldn't find her teddy bear. Well did we leave it at home? No. Did we bring down with us for breakfast? Don't know. Has big brother seen it? No, he can't remember. So Ava was just in tears and screaming for it, so we scavenged the entire first floor before I decided she must have left it upstairs. I carried her while she was bawling up the stairs, and I was almost into the guest room (across from mine) where the two are sleeping when I heard the other one start to cry from downstairs.
So with Ava still crying in my arms, and I ran back into the hallway and looked down- there was Caleb holding his head and crying. What happened? More cries. Couldn't understand him. Can we go upstairs? No, we can't. By then I figured out that he had bumped his head somehow, probably climbing up the stairs to see where Ava and I had gone. But at any rate, he wouldn't let me leave his side. Therefore Ava was still crying because I couldn't go back up and find her teddy bear. I was about ready to cry myself.
And then, much like a super hero, dear old Dad walked through the door. I don't know if I've ever been happier to see him. He quickly came to my rescue. Or, well, Caleb's rescue I suppose. I was planning on handing Ava to him, but she had developed a death grip around my neck and during the incessant screams I had failed to notice until then. So Dad went for Caleb.
"Hey, buddy, what happened?"
I tried to sneak away up the stairs. Didn't work. He screamed for me. I stopped half-way up and looked down, but Dad motioned for me to go back upstairs. It was so painful to tear myself away from him when he wanted me, but oh man, Ava NEEDED to stop crying. So I hurried as fast as I could to find the damn bear. I found it too, hiding under a blanket at the foot of the bed. She finally released her death grip when she saw it, and I nearly dropped her, which would have caused another accident.
So she stopped crying right away. I turned around and Dad appeared in the doorway carrying Caleb, who had stopped crying really, but had silent tears still rolling over his round little cheeks.
"He tripped on the stairs and banged his head," Dad explained.
"Aw, where?" Caleb silently pointed over his left ear. "Awww. Do you want me to kiss it and make it better? Is that what Mommy does?" He nodded, so Dad smirked and handed him over to me. I had already set Ava on the floor (where she was, indeed, chewing on the teddy bear's arm), and I hugged Caleb to me and kissed the spot on his head he had showed me. "Better?"
"Uh-huh," he muttered, snuggling up against me. "Miss Mommy."
He sounded so depressed when he said that. "I know, but she and Daddy will be home in a few days."
Dad came up and rustled his hair; meanwhile, Ava had gotten to her feet and came up to Dad. She handed the stuffed animal towards him, so he squatted down and accepted it. "Thanks," he told her enthusiastically.
I guess it was kind of cute, but it made me so mad because we had spent fifteen minutes looking for it and then suddenly she didn't want it anymore! Ugh. Little brat.
Anyway, we decided it was lunchtime then. So Dad helped me get them situated downstairs (how come Ava doesn't squirm when he carries her?) and put on the macaroni. I think it's funny that Caleb is still like, tentative of Dad. He's always really quiet when he's there.
Oh my gosh! I wonder what they would be like around Jack? That would be a fun little experiment to test out. Hm. I just may have to try that next time he's over for dinner… Oh crap, the macaroni and cheese!
A/n: I feel like this chapter took forever to write… Sorry. School was absolutely impossible the last two weeks. Has anyone read Jude the Obscure? I'm pretty sure it killed my soul one page at a time. Completely uninspired me from writing. But I got through it, and then I had to move, so that took two days (without my computer, eek!), but it's okay. I have my new room, and my computer is alllll good. I hope you enjoyed this part; I hope to have another update somewhat soonish. Please review!