It took a few weeks but the small family was able to move into the bigger two story house, and were able to begin their new routines with a much more accommodating space to make it easier to move about. There were three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor, a bathroom and a study on the ground floor, the livingroom was large and the kitchen was more spacious compared to the old house. Having selected the house with the swimming pool Connor busied himself with applying a safety gate all around the pool to ensure that once Hannah was mobile she couldn't possibly get too close to the pool with Connor or Hank nearby.
Sumo was watching Connor work from the glass sliding backdoor and wagging his tail while Hank was carrying Hannah up against his chest as he gave her a tour of her new house. Taking her upstairs Hank showed Hannah her new bedroom that was set up across from Connor's bedroom, and gently put her down into her crib so she could get used to the space.
"What do you think, Hannah-Banana?" Glancing about the room that was furnished with the white crib, a small dresser, changing table, a rocking chair in the corner, a small bookshelf and a lidless toy box in the opposite corner, Hank smirked a little. "This is all for you."
The small four month old baby was laying on her tummy and watching Hank through the white wooden bars of the crib. She had a purple pacifier her mouth and her small hands were pulling at the soft material of the yellow blanket under her touch.
"We'll get ya' a soft rug and play-mat for the floor once you start crawling, and walking around. Until then," peering over the edge of the crib and down at his granddaughter Hank gave her a kind smile. "you'll have to put up with me and your daddy carrying you around."
Hannah smiled around her pacifier and reached her hand up toward Hank as if asking to be picked up again.
"Come on." Scooping her back up and into his arms Hank kept his smile on his face and carried her into Connor's bedroom across from her own. "This is where your daddy will sleep." Connor's room had a queen sized bed, a loaded bookshelf, nightstand with a lamp and little else. "His room isn't as fun as your own room, huh?"
Stopping next in the bathroom Hank turned on the light and showed Hannah that the bathtub was loaded up with toys, towels and baby shampoos and soaps all just for her.
"This is all for you sweetpea. I'll use the ground floor bathroom so you can have as many toys as you want in here."
Showing her his own bedroom to help her get a sense of the new house's layout, Hank then took Hannah back downstairs and showed her the second bathroom on the first floor, and then the study. The study had a desk, a small red sofa and two bookshelves packed full of useless information to be used in the event either Connor or himself had to work from home.
"This is even less fun that daddy's room, but I imagine you might find him in here quite a bit."
Strolling back down the hallway and into the kitchen Hank showed Hannah her new highchair and checked to make sure the small plastic safety bowls and utensils for small hands were already washed to be used later on.
"Soon you'll be able to join me for breakfast, lunch and dinner without one of us holding your bottle for you. I can't wait to have some new conversations with ya' that don't revolve around work or New Jericho. You can babble to me about anything."
Heading back into the livingroom to relax for a while Hank watched as Connor slid open the backdoor in the kitchen to let Sumo inside, and then followed after the massive dog as he plodded into the livingroom to lay down on his pillow in the corner. "The safety gate has been finished."
"Good work." Many of Hannah's soft toys and blankets were downstairs in the livingroom, as was her little swing. The house was already feeling like a home, and all it needed was a few more days for the family to get really settled in. "She'll be crawling before you know it, so it's good you got that taken care of as soon as you did."
"Yes, Hannah is showing marked strength in her arms and legs already. I suspect she'll be crawling within the next five weeks or so."
"Sounds about right." Passing Hannah over to Connor to hold for himself Hank stared at Connor's now bare right temple and sighed a little. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss that little light."
"...You do?"
"Yup. Without it you just look like a kid trying to raise another kid all by yourself."
"I kept my L.E.D. and I will not throw it away. As I stated before if society becomes more accepting of deviants then I will return it to my person."
"Good. Don't hide who you are just to placate bigoted ass- buttholes."
"I'll remember to do that." As he adjusted Hannah in his arms Connor smirked as his daughter pulled first on his shirt collar with her tiny fist, then felt her reaching her hands up toward his blank right temple curiously. As he hands explored Connor's face she let out a small and discontented noise. "...What's she doing?"
"She misses the light, too."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, yeah. She's known you with that light her entire life. Of course she misses it."
"I didn't think of that."
"Don't sweat it, kid. Like you said it doesn't have to be permanent."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Why don't you take her into the kitchen and see if you can get her try to some of those fancy purees you made this morning? I'll get my phone."
"Phone?"
"Trust me, son." Flashing the new father a knowing grin Hank made it clear he had an ulterior motive in mind. "Babies trying new food will always be photo worthy.
Connor just shrugged his shoulders a little as he carried Hannah into the kitchen and sat her down in her new highchair. Moving her over to the kitchen table to sit with the other chairs Connor smiled at her and gave her a kiss on top of her dark and somewhat longer hair. "I suspect your Papa knows something I don't. I guess there's only one way to find out."
Opening the refrigerator Connor picked up a small container of homemade applesauce and carried it over to the table for Hannah to try. Removing the lid Connor took a small plastic spoon from the utensil drawer and used it to stir the fresh fruit puree a little before offering it to his daughter to try.
"Hold it." Hank returned to the kitchen with his phone in one hand and a box of baby wipes in the other. "You'll need these."
"I thought the bib would keep her clean."
"Yeah, it'll keep her clothes mostly clean, but not her face or you, for that matter."
"...Oh."
"Where is her bib?"
"Top drawer next to the hand towels." Carefully Connor took the pacifier from Hannah's mouth and put a small amount of the puree on the spoon to offer over to her. "I hope you like this, Hannah. I'd prefer if you enjoyed fruit over sugary snacks."
"Don't count on it." Lightly securing the bib around Hannah's neck Hank took a cautious step back and prepared his phone. "Go ahead, kid. See how well she likes it."
"Very well." Showing Hannah the spoon Connor slowly neared her lips and waited for her to respond. She eyed the offered treat warily and let out a small noise at the sight. "Like this..." Smearing a small amount on her lips Connor watched as the baby tasted the apple puree and she seemed to like it. Opening her mouth Hannah let her daddy offer her more and she seemed very enthusiastic about it. "I think it's safe to say she likes applesauce."
"Most kids do. It's sweet, it has a mild flavor and it isn't too much too soon."
"I wonder what else she likes." Letting Hannah have another spoon and then another, Connor turned to look at Hank and didn't notice that Hannah had grabbed onto the spoon with her hand and ended up smearing the applesauce all over her face. Watching as Hank began to laugh Connor's brow furrowed and he turned back to his now messy daughter's face. "Hannah..."
"See?" Using his phone he snapped a photo of Hannah and laughed again. "Good thing she already has her own bathroom, huh, kid?"
"Yes..." Offering her more of the applesauce Connor sighed and finally realized why Hank was so eager to get some photos taken. "I will make a note to keep finger paints and other messy substances well out of her reach."
"Yeah, you can TRY to do that, but kids have a way of getting into the craziest things the moment your back is turned... I'm speaking from experience."
"How so?"
"Well, when Cole was four years old he found a bottle of glue in Barbara's old arts and craft box and thought it was white paint. He used it to paint the livingroom walls white as much as he could, and then noticed that it was sticky. He then arranged all of his little toy cars, his alphabet blocks and even a crayon drawing on the wall for me to find."
"...How long did it take him to do all that?"
"Long enough for me to go the bathroom and brush my teeth."
Connor's eyes wide at how much of a mess Cole had made in such a small amount of time. "...What did you do?"
"I didn't yell at him or hit him, I asked him where he found the glue, took it from him, put him to bed and gave him a goodnight kiss, and spent the rest of the night cleaning up the walls and floor, and soaking his toys in a warm soapy sink to get the glue off."
"You weren't mad?"
"Oh no, I was mad, but Cole didn't know any better and the last thing I wanted to do was scare him or hurt him. The next morning I told him he wasn't allowed to play with glue and that he needed to ask before he just started 'painting' the walls. He didn't do it again."
"Good to know." As Hannah finished off her applesauce Connor decided to go for a new fruit puree to see how she reacted. "She at that well. I wonder how she'll respond to strawberries?"
"You're going to offer her a brand new red tinted snack to try?" Hank's mischievous grin got even bigger. "This is going to be good..."
-next chapter-
