"Here's your juice, Tyler."

"Thank you, Mommy!"

Haley watched from her highchair as her older brother grabbed his red plastic cup, bringing it to his lips and drinking eagerly from the edge. As she was gazing on, the baby was lifted out of her seat by her mother, who was holding a bottle full of the same juice in her hand.

"Okay, Hal-bell!" Hilary crooned. "Time for you to have some juice, too!"

When she moved the bottle near the baby's mouth, however, she whined and turned her head away. Humming confusedly, Hilary tried again, but still Haley refused to accept it.

"What's up with you?" Hilary asked softly. "You love it when you get to have juice!"

Haley grumbled and reached up with her little hands, eyeing the bottle wantonly.

"Mama…" Haley squeaked, wiggling her fingers.

"What is it, sprinkle?" Hilary murmured.

"I think she wants to hold the bottle, Mommy!"

Hilary looked down at Tyler, who was beaming at her. She then turned her attention back onto Haley, who was mumbling nonsense to herself.

"You think?" Hilary breathed.

"Yeah!" Tyler laughed. "She wants to be –pendent!"

"You mean independent," Hilary giggled.

"That too," Tyler chirped before downing more of his own juice.

"Hmm…you might have a point, buddy," Hilary murmured before smiling. "Hal-bell, do you want to hold your bottle yourself?"

"Baba?" Haley repeated, her hands still outreached.

"Yes, baba!" Hilary giggled. Carefully, she handed the purple bottle off to Haley, making sure the young girl had it securely in her little hands before letting go of it herself. With that settled, Hilary watched as the baby squealed excitedly and stuck the spout of the bottle in her mouth, tilting her head back slightly as she began to drink the juice out of it.

"I told you!" Tyler bragged.

"You did, didn't you?" Hilary chuckled. "Wow, look at Haley go! She really likes giving herself a bottle, huh?"

"Maybe she wants to feed herself, too!" Tyler suggested.

"I don't know…" Hilary murmured. As much as she didn't want to admit it, because it made her sound selfish, Hilary didn't want to see Haley become so independent. She was the baby of the family, after all, and Hilary loved treating her that way. She didn't really want Haley to grow up, even though it was inevitable.

"Come on, Mommy!" Tyler urged. "I wanna see what she does!"

"Alright…" Hilary sighed, still sounding hesitant. She sat Haley back down in her highchair and watched for a few short seconds as the baby giggled and stuck the spout of the bottle back in her mouth, eagerly drinking the juice out of it. This brought a smile back to Hilary's face. Since Haley was still very young, she could only have juice every so often. It was still a fairly new treat to her, but every time she was given a bottle of it, Haley never hesitated to down the entire thing. Tyson liked to joke that she was like his friends when they went out together, but with a "different kind" of juice.

Hilary always smacked him for that one.

"Mommy, give Haley bananas!" Tyler yelped.

"Why bananas?" Hilary asked curiously.

"Because when Haley eats bananas, she gets it all over her face and her clothes, and it's really funny," Tyler giggled.

"Which is exactly why I should not give Haley bananas to feed to herself," Hilary hummed with a smirk. "Besides, I think you're forgetting that you were once a baby ready to feed himself, little guy! I know exactly what to give Haley."

Tyler watched as his mother pulled out a box of cereal, the same kind she often gave him in the morning with milk or fruit.

"Mommy, Haley can't chew that stuff!" Tyler cried.

"She doesn't have to chew it, sweetheart," Hilary giggled, walking over to the highchair. "Haley drools so much that these will just melt in her mouth!"

Opening the top of the box, Hilary shook out a few of the little round oats so they were scattered across the white tray of the baby's highchair. Haley watched on in amazement, refusing to even move her head until the last piece of cereal stopped rolling. Once they were all settled, she looked up at her mother with wide eyes, as though silently asking for permission to put the strange new things in her mouth.

"Go ahead, Hal-bell," Hilary encouraged. "Eat one!"

Haley glanced back down at the tray and clumsily picked up one of the cereal pieces with her chubby little fingers. Examining it for a quick second, the baby popped the circle into her mouth and began animatedly moving her mouth up and down to dissolve the piece. Hilary watched on with a tearful smile, while Tyler was not quite as enthralled.

"That's it?"

Hilary looked over at her son, whose brow was furrowed.

"What do you mean, sweetheart?" Hilary giggled.

"All she does is stick the cereal in her mouth and eat it," Tyler mumbled.

"Well, yeah, she's feeding herself!" Hilary laughed. "What did you think was going to happen, dear?"

"I thought you were gonna give her a bowl of mashed up stuff, and she'd put it on her head or throw it on the floor," Tyler grumbled.

"Oh, so you just wanted to see your little sister make a mess," Hilary breathed.

"Well, yeah," Tyler replied as though it were obvious.

"Tyler, what am I going to do with you?" Hilary sighed, smiling softly as Haley giggled before sticking another piece of cereal in her mouth.

"I don't know," Tyler innocently replied. "But you should give Haley a big bowl of mush and see what happens!"

At this, Hilary's sweet smile turned back into a sardonic smirk. "Not gonna happen, little man."