Vanessa grimaced as her father roughly pulled her bright auburn hair back. He wasn't doing it on purpose, and certainly wasn't meaning to hurt her. He didn't even know, in fact. Vanessa didn't want to say anything. She was still pretty young, but she worried about upsetting people, especially her father. He was really sweet and loved her so much, and the thought of hurting his feelings made Vanessa feel really bad. Besides, all he was trying to do was put her hair in a ponytail. He said he could. Hilary had seemed wary, but Tyson insisted it was easy.
"I've seen you do it a hundred times," Tyson had assured his unsure wife. "I can put Vanessa's hair up no problem!"
Tyson was usually a very gentle brusher, so Vanessa didn't think it would be so bad. As it would turn out, however, Tyson seemed to think that when it came to forming the actual ponytail, he needed to pull her hair back as tightly as he could. Which, naturally, was hurting the little girl.
"Almost finished!" Tyson crowed, causing Vanessa to quietly sigh in relief.
He gave her hair another yank, enough to pull Vanessa back as her eyes widened. She felt him wrapping the elastic around her hair, and within a matter of seconds, his hands had released her newly formed ponytail.
"There, all set," Tyson breathed. "I think it looks great!"
Vanessa got to her feet and scurried over to a nearby mirror, gazing at her reflection. The ponytail her father had made was pulled almost comically high and set too far to the side. If she moved her head a certain way, it would swing right in front of her eye, blocking her vision.
"How's it going in-oh, no. That's not happening."
Tyson groaned as Hilary walked into the room, Vanessa lifting her head up to watch as her mother approached her.
"What's wrong with it?" Tyson demanded.
"That's not a practical hairstyle, Tyson," Hilary sighed. "It's hanging in Vanessa's face!"
"I didn't think it was so bad…" Tyson grumbled.
Hilary looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. "You tried your best. I appreciate it! You just need a little more practice is all."
Tyson finally dropped his pout and returned Hilary's smile. "Alright. Guess you'll have to give me some more!"
"Gladly," Hilary giggled. "Why don't you go check on Alan for me? I think he might need some help with brushing his teeth."
"If by 'help' you mean 'forcing,' then sure," Tyson replied wisely, getting to his feet. "That I can do!"
Hilary nodded as he left the room, gently pulling the elastic out of Vanessa's hair. The little girl's bright locks fell to her shoulders, the pressure in her head instantly dissipating.
"This was in so tight…" Hilary muttered, glancing at the elastic. "Was that ponytail hurting you, Vanessa?"
The girl quickly nodded her head, causing her mother to frown. "Why didn't you tell Daddy?"
"I didn't wanna make him feel bad, Mommy," Vanessa squeaked.
"It's not hurtful if it's the truth," Hilary patiently reminded her daughter.
"I guess," Vanessa murmured. "But still…I don't ever wanna make Daddy feel bad!"
"Aw," Hilary crooned, kneeling down and pulling Vanessa into a hug. "You're such a sweet little girl! Much sweeter than Mommy was…" Hilary pulled away and beamed at her pleased looking child. "You really are my little dream, Vanny."
Vanessa giggled at her mother's comment, not fully comprehending it. Hilary seemed to understand that, and gave Vanessa a quick kiss on the forehead before turning the girl around so she could get to work on a new, neater ponytail.
"We have a lot to do today," Hilary reminded her daughter, gently brushing the girl's hair. "Right? We have to go to the farmer's market, find some new sneakers for you and Alan, visit the Spare Parts shop-"
"Is Daddy coming?" Vanessa interrupted.
Hilary smiled sadly at the inquiry. "No, Daddy has to work."
"Oh," Vanessa mumbled, frowning.
"Don't worry," Hilary promised. "You'll see him tonight! Daddy promised me he'd come home early so we could all have dinner together and play for a bit. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Vanessa nodded her head, resisted slightly by her mother pulling her hair up.
"And I already took a break for the day," Hilary continued, finishing up Vanessa's ponytail and spinning the girl back around. "No one is going to take me away from my babies today!"
Vanessa giggled and threw herself onto her mother's lap, gleefully gazing up at the woman.
"Alright, you silly little thing," Hilary teased, picking Vanessa up by her sides so her crochet trimmed, mint green tank top rose up to reveal her belly button. Once she stood the girl up, Hilary pulled down her shirt and continued, "We have to get a move on! Should we go see if Daddy got Alan to brush his teeth?"
"Yeah!" Vanessa laughed wildly, excited by the prospect that her little brother might be causing trouble. Hilary smirked and stood back up, walking out of Vanessa's bedroom as the girl trailed her. They both stopped at the open doorway of the bathroom across the hall, peering in just in time to see Tyson wiping at Alan's face with a dry wash cloth.
"Oh, you succeeded!" Hilary crowed.
Tyson narrowed his eyes as he glanced over at Hilary. "I think it might be easier to cage fight a tiger than getting Alan to brush his teeth."
The young boy grabbed at the wash cloth with his little hands and yanked it away from his face, tilting his head back to look up at his father. "No fun, Daddy!"
"Neither is having your teeth rot out of your head," Tyson teased, gently poking Alan's nose.
"Hawwy haw a tooth fall out, but it wasn't…um…wotteded," Alan replied, watching as his father placed his small red toothbrush back in its holder.
"Well yeah, it's okay if your tooth falls out naturally," Tyson chuckled. "But if it falls out because you didn't care of it, that's not good!"
"Oh, okay," Alan chirped before taking a flying leap off of his step stool. "Mommy, am I gonna get new fneakewf?"
"You mean sneakers? Yes, you are," Hilary confirmed, smirking when she saw Tyson's stunned face.
"How come I can't keep mine?" Alan asked, tilting his head.
"Because they have holes in them," Hilary explained. "Remember your toe started sticking out of one?"
Alan laughed at the memory. "Uh huh! That was funny!"
"Yeah, hilarious," Hilary snickered. "Come on, let's go downstairs and get ready to head out."
Alan squeezed past her and started chasing after Vanessa, who shrieked loudly and started to run herself. Hilary sighed tiredly and whipped around, watching the two over her shoulder. "Don't run down the stairs! I don't want either of you falling and getting hurt!"
Tyson chuckled and strode up to Hilary, playfully winking at her. "They'll be fine! They run down those stairs without a problem all the time."
"That doesn't mean I want them to do it!" Hilary groaned. "All it takes is one slip…"
"Might as well trail them then," Tyson replied, shuffling sideways to pass Hilary. "I'm probably running late at this point."
"You're going to tell me they're not used to that by now?" Hilary quipped, walking back into the hallway.
"They are," Tyson refuted. "But I at least try my best to be on time after a weekend. Then I just look really lazy."
The young couple made their way down the stairs, which Alan and Vanessa had already managed to do without incident.
"Whoa, lots of energy in here," Tyson whistled. "I hate to interrupt playtime, but we're going to be later for work," Tyson sighed.
They both whined in disappointment, causing their father to frown.
"I'm really sorry, guys," Tyson apologized. "I know how much fun you were having! But you can play again once I come home tonight."
Neither kid seemed placated with that arrangement. Tyson still felt guilty for breaking up the game, even though he really didn't have a choice. Hilary, however, was keen to her husband's feelings, and quickly stepped in.
"Don't worry, we have to get going too!" Hilary reassured the pouty kids. "And the quicker we get all of our errands done, the sooner we can go to the bakery and get some cookies!"
That perked the kids up. With high pitched giggles, the two of them bustled towards the front door, grabbing a hold of their shoes and dropping to the floor in order to put them on.
"You sure know how to get them to cooperate," Tyson laughed.
"It's easy enough to figure out," Hilary calmly replied, although she was sporting a rather boastful smirk. "They're your children, so a good way to get to their hearts or their heads is through their stomachs."
"Really?" Tyson sounded incredulous. "Even Vanessa?"
"She may be a dainty eater, but she's still a kid," Hilary giggled. "She can't turn down things like sweets!"
"Mommy, I'm gonna weaw these!"
Hilary turned her head and grimaced as soon as she saw that Alan was holding up his ratty blue and black sneakers.
"No, Alan, those are destroyed, you can't wear them," Hilary groaned. "That's why we're going to get you new ones."
"Buf I like them," Alan droned.
"I know you do, but they're falling apart," Hilary reasoned with him. "Give me those. You'll just wear sandals for now."
Frowning, Alan trudged over to his mother and reluctantly handed over the worn sneakers. Hilary thanked him before he headed back towards the front door, and then held up the sneakers to examine them. They were, just as Hilary had said, completely trashed: dirty and covered in holes. The bottom of one sneaker was even beginning to tear away from the rest of the shoe.
"I feel like I have to buy Alan a new pair of sneakers every three months," Hilary grumbled. "I can't tell if it's because they're making these things flimsier, or if he's just that rough on them."
"Probably a combination of both," Tyson chuckled. "I went through a lot of sneakers as a kid too, but not nearly as many as Alan does."
Before either Tyson or Hilary could process it, the kids had managed to pull their sandals on, and both were reaching up for the doorknob, trying to pull the door open.
"Alright, looks like you're both raring to go!" Tyson remarked, regaining Alan and Vanessa's attention and earning big grins from the two of them. "Guess we can all walk out together."
"Sounds good to me!" Hilary chirped.
Tyson reached forward and unlocked the front door, pulling his hand back as Alan quickly grabbed for the doorknob and began twisting it open.
"I got it!" Alan called as the door swung open. He and Vanessa both ran outside, bolting down the walkway as they overflowed with excitement.
Hilary exhaled and she tilted her head back. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long day."
"Yeah, but you got it," Tyson replied. "I believe in you!"
Hilary scoffed, but still showed off a smile. "Alright, you'd better get going. Or else Dickerson will have your head."
Instead of firing back with his own comment, Tyson bent down and gave Hilary a kiss. Once they separated, he looked towards the kids and called, "you two behave for Mommy, alright?"
They nodded excitedly, causing Tyson to laugh. "Great! See you guys later!"
"Later," Hilary replied, watching as Tyson walked towards the car. She then moved closer to the kids, who were standing hand-in-hand and chattering away to one another. "You guys ready to get some stuff done?"
"Yeah!" They both cheered.
"Good energy!" Hilary complimented, placing her hands on her hips. "Let's see how long that lasts…"