So far, so good.
It was 10 am and the babies were happily playing.
Rhiannon and Faye were playing with their handmade dolls, a gift from their grandmother Sandra for their first birthday, Virginia and Zaneeta were making a "castle" with the blocks their mother packed in their diaper bag, and JoJo was causing chaos.
The boy had his rattle and he would come up to his first and last sister when they weren't looking and he would smash his rattle into the block tower and make it fall. The girls would whine and the boy would cackle with laughter.
Ned was signing paperwork with his dad while the babies played. He would occasionally look up to make sure the babies were occupied, but mostly to keep an eye on them in case they decided to crawl towards the balcony outside.
"How about this one, Dad?" Ned asked.
Ed didn't answer. Ned looked up and saw that Ed was occupied. JoJo had toddled to his grandfather and was reaching up to him, saying "up, up, up."
Ed scooped up his grandson and gave him cuddles.
"You're being naughty." Ned said as he took his son in his lap when JoJo reached for him after he was satisfied with his grandpa's hug.
"Grandpa and daddy have work to do. Why don't you color?" Ned suggested as he found a pack of crayons in the diaper bag and he handed a stack of paper to the kids. All 5 babies sat in a circle and they scribbled on the paper.
A cool breeze came in through the open space next to the balcony, which caused a document on the desk to fly off and land next to the babies.
Rhiannon noticed the paper and figured it was tossed from their pile of coloring paper, so she put it back in the middle.
"Let's color on this one!" Virginia said as she saw the funny print on the paper Rhiannon just set between them.
Zaneeta wasn't sure. "I dunno, guys, it doesn't look like paper we can draw on."
"You worry too much!" Faye said as she picked up a pink crayon and started to scribble on it. Soon, the other four, including Zaneeta since it felt weird to not color, picked up various colors of crayons and went to town.
"Dad, where's that assignment sheet for the daycare workers?" Ned asked, searching through the mountains of paperwork.
Ed looked too. The important paper seemed to disappear.
Until the two men heard 5 little baby giggles.
Their eyes wandered to the kids coloring on a page. Ned had his suspicions and he walked over to where his children were.
He knew right away that was the paper they were looking for.
"Uh, dad?" He said.
"Yes, son?" Ed said, searching through the trash to see if it had fallen in there.
"I'm no detective, but I think we've got 5 little suspects." Ned picked up the paper, now scribbled with crayon.
Ed looked and saw the paper, looked horrified, but looked at his grandkids.
JoJo started to cackle and it melted Ed's heart.
"Oh, there it is! I guess JoJo was signing his first document. How wonderful." The mayor said, smiling.
JoJo smiled and looked up at his dad, who looked at him with a look of disapproval. JoJo tried to look innocent again.
"Very naughty." Ned said.
"Bye bye, little ones. Daddy will be right back." Ned said as he closed the door, leaving his dad and Vonfrood in the office with his 5 children.
After the whole "coloring page" incident, Vonfrood had come into the room to ask for something, and Ed had an idea.
"Ned, I want you to leave the room."
"What? Why?" Ned asked.
"JoJo needs to get used to new people and this is a great opportunity for him. Vonfrood, stay, Ned, go." Ed said.
Vonfrood looked discouraged, but decided to stay.
Ned gulped and went for the door to leave his children behind.
Immediately, all 5 began to kick their little legs and cry. All 5 one year olds stood up and ran for the door. They wailed for their dad to come back.
This little test broke Ned's heart. Even with the door closed, he could heard each child's crying. Even a few said a pitiful "Dada", which tore at his heartstrings. This was supposed to last 5 minutes, but it felt like hours.
Ned didn't care if his children liked Vonfrood or not, his dad was controlling. Ned turned the knob and saw all 5 kids quiet down and reach up to him, wanting to be held. Ned knelt down and scooped up all 5 toddlers into his arms.
"It's okay, my little pumpkin pies." He said, earning quiet sobs from his son and daughters.
"You ruined the test! How can JoJo get used to being in the same room as a council member if you are in the room with him?" Ed asked, his brow furrowing.
"He's my son, not yours! I'm their dad, not him!" Ned pointed a finger at Vonfrood, who looked surprised at the mayor in training's outburst. He didn't even want to be a part of this little experiment.
"Let's try this again."
Now the men and babies were all in the meeting room. Miss Yelp had the babies in another room. The girls liked her.
Ned held JoJo in his arms. Ed took his grandson out of his son's arms and pointed to the door.
"Ned, I want you to go check on the girls for 5 minutes." Ed said.
"But what about my boy?" Ned said, looking at JoJo, who was amusing himself with a rattle.
"He needs to learn how to separate from his sisters and how to be alone with a stranger. Now go."
Ned hit his lip, but turned around, occasionally looking back and taking a look at how JoJo was reacting to his absence. Surprisingly, JoJo didn't seem to notice.
So, Ned left the room.
As soon as the doors closed, Ed shoved JoJo in Vonfrood's arms. The green man's first reaction was to hold the infant as far away from him as possible.
It was no surprise that Vonfrood didn't like babies. Not only were they crying, wetting, drool machines, they were just so dirty. What with the diapers, the drool, the snot. Vonfrood almost gagged.
"Don't be shy, take a look at him. He's actually very sweet." Ed said.
Vonfrood eventually took a look. JoJo widened his eyes to make himself look cuter. But the 1 year old had an evil plan. The chairman gave a smile. Surely this stupid little baby couldn't do a thing to him.
"Hello, there. When you grow up, you're going to have everyone looking down on you." He said with a sickening sweet tone.
JoJo smiled. He looked at his rattle, then at the funny looking green man. He giggled and then...
BAM!
Vonfrood reared his head back after JoJo whacked him with the rattle. Vonfrood was in such shock that he almost dropped the toddler.
"Let's see how you like it, you big bully!" JoJo said, but his grandfather and the green man didn't understand a word he said.
JoJo gathered a few tears as the man holding him made a mean face.
Vonfrood started to panic when the child he was holding started to wail.
Ned peaked his head into the doorway and watched the scene. He smirked. He thought to himself.
'Lets just see how wrong dad was when he learns it's not a good idea to question my authority about my kids.'
Another wail broke his thought. JoJo was wiggling, trying to get away from the chairman.
"Mayor, he's crying! What do I do?" Vonfrood asked, trying to shove the baby back into the mayor's arms.
Ed stepped back. "Comfort him. Try bouncing him gently."
Vonfrood shook the baby up and down, hoping that the motion would quiet the boy.
Ned stepped into the room and walked a little bit towards the trio.
JoJo still wailed, but his stomach was starting to hurt. He only wanted to stress out the green man, but now he was being shaken up like when mommy makes his bottle of milk.
Ned watched for the show to begin. He should stop Vonfrood before it was too late, but he wanted to teach his dad a lesson.
Too late.
JoJo's cheeks puffed up before...
BLARGH!
White and beige colored baby puke expelled from the baby's mouth, all over Vonfrood's chest. Vonfrood instantly put the baby on the ground and ran out of the room to clean himself up.
And maybe vomit too, based on the gagging sounds Ned heard as his coworker rushed passed him.
Ned came up to JoJo, who was finishing up with his crying. He noticed his parental figure and toddled to him, reaching up to him as he smiled. Ned walked up to his child and scooped him up. "It's okay." He said, comforting his son.
With JoJo safe in his arms, Ned looked at the little mess he made. There was undigested oatmeal and foul smelling baby formula surrounding his son's mouth.
"Aww, poor little boy." Ned said as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his handkerchief. He wiped the goo from his poor child's face before planting a kiss on his now clean cheek, earning a whine of disapproval from the tot.
Ned shot a look at his dad, who looked surprised at his son's look.
"Maybe that will teach you to not question me as a father, dad." Ned said. Ed followed him.
"JoJo needs to learn and it's never too early to show him the ropes."
"JoJo is 13 months old, all he cares about right now is his milk, naptimes, his rattle and who changes his diapers. Don't you, champ?" He asked his baby son as he readjusted him to a more comfortable position.
JoJo's response was "Bah?"
"Well I didn't know he was going to vomit his breakfast on the Chairman." The mayor tried to argue.
"Maybe we should wait for JoJo to learn his ABCs before teaching him the basics of running a city." Ned said while looking down at JoJo. He stopped playing with his rattle and now was trying to see if his foot was edible by shoving his toes in his gummy mouth.
"I guess you're right."
"And since you ignored my authority, TWICE, you get to change this little future mayor's diaper." Ned shot back.
Once his dad was out of earshot, Ned looked at JoJo. "Did you do that? Did you puke on the Chairman?" JoJo, who seemed to be listening, smiled and said "dah?"
"Good job!" Ned said and he held up his hand for his son to do a clumsy baby high five. Ned tried to hide his laughter as the thought of his son throwing up on the Chairman went through his mind. No doubt this was the best part of the day.
