Ten month old Nate Summers sat in his playpen, watching his big sister, Rachel, talk to some of the other big kids. His two friends, two year old Katelyn Wagner and 17 month old Brooke Drake, laid, sleeping, in the other room. Already he had been wake for five whole minutes without anyone to pay attention to him, so you can imagine how bored he was.
Nate really wished Katelyn was awake. She could talk to the big people enough to tell them what he needed when he cried. He thought she was great.
Brooke was okay, but she was just a little older than him and she liked weird things, like Barbies. Personally, he only liked them because their heads came off so easily. He thought they looked better that way, but for some reason Brooke always cried when he tried to remove the unneeded body part.
He decided he would try to get his sister's attention with his inside voice. Nate wasn't very good at it yet, but Sister and Mama always seemed to hear him.
He called out and watched as Rachel turned toward him and smiled.
"Hold on, guys. I think Nate wants out." She came over and picked him up. Nate laughed happily. "Hey there, kiddo. How long have you been up?" She carried him back to where she had been with the big kids.
In the group of kids were the twins (Jason and Jenny LeBeau), Laura Munroe, and Aaron Drake, all of whom smiled when Rachel brought Nate over.
"Okay, so where was I? Oh yeah..." Sister continued to talk to the big people. That was one thing Nate liked about Sister; the others listened when she spoke. One time he heard Daddy say she was the 'leader'. He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he thought it had something to do with talking a lot. It seemed like Sister talked all the time, so he thought she was probably a really good leader.
Nate looked around the room and spotted one of his toys on the floor. It was his teddy bear. Mama had named it Boo. He really liked Boo. The problem was, he didn't know how to get it, though. He didn't know how to pick it up with his inside voice like Sister and Mama did and he was pretty sure he couldn't reach it from where he was. He reached for it, anyway, just in case he might be wrong. Nope. Still not big enough.
Jason saw him try for it and bent down to get it for him. He handed it to Nate. "Here you go, kid." Nate laughed and hugged Boo.
He thought Jason was pretty good. Sister liked him a lot, anyway, and anyone Sister liked, Nate thought had to be at least okay.
He really wanted to say thank you, the way the big people would, but he didn't know how yet. He tried to form the words with his mouth anyway. "Hhhaaaayyyy...."
Sister got real quiet and looked down at him.
"Hhhhaaaaayyyy...."
Okay, so maybe that word was too hard. He could try a different one. What was Sister's name again? Oh yeah, Rachel. "Rrrrrraaaaayyyyy...."
It was a little easier, anyway. "Rrrrraaaaayyyyy...."
Maybe Mama's name. "Mmmmmeeeemmm... mmaaaa... Mamama..." He saw Sister and the other big kids' eyes light up and figured he had gotten it right. "Mama! Mama!"
He heard Sister call Mama and Daddy using her inside voice. -Mom! Dad! Get here, quick!-
-We'll be right there, Hun- He heard Mama reply. Mama and Daddy suddenly came in through the kitchen door.
"What is it, Rachel? What's wrong?"
"Mama! Mama! Mama!" Nate cried, happily. Mama's eyes widened and suddenly he was whisked out of Sister's arms. Daddy smiled.
He snuggled to Mama for a minute and then reached out for Daddy. "Da! Dada!"
Daddy came and hugged him, too. Nate put his hand on Daddy's face and felt something wet. Why was Daddy crying? It was hard to tell, because Daddy already had red eyes, but he was crying. He could feel Mama and Daddy's happy feelings through their inside voices, so he guessed it didn't matter.
He liked them happy. Maybe soon he'd be able to talk a lot like Sis and Katelyn. Then maybe he could learn to pick up Boo with his inside voice. Who knows, maybe one day, he could even stand up on his own...
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R/R