"Can I still go to Jackson's birthday party today?" Levi asked over breakfast on a Saturday before the last week of school.

Sheldon set his spoon in his cereal bowl, "Of course, you can go. You've been looking forward to it for weeks. Why wouldn't you be able to go?"

"Cuz gramma's coming today."

"She'll understand you're going to Jackson's birthday party. You'll only be there a few hours. She'll be here for four days. You'll be able to spend plenty of time with her when you get home from his party," the physicist explained before noticing the time. "You'd better go get dressed. You're going with Aunt Amy to pick up gramma at the airport, then she's dropping you off at Jackson's party. I'm going to stay home with Theo."

At Sheldon's reminder of his outing with Amy before the birthday party, Levi abandoned his breakfast and rushed up the stairs to get ready for the day. He returned a little while later, gift bag in hand. "Aunt Amy let me pick Jackson's present. I got him Legos so we can build them the next time I go play at his house. Can he come here soon?"

"Sure. Aunt Amy and I will talk to his parents. Maybe next weekend, okay?"

The boy eagerly nodded his head in agreement when Amy walked up behind him. Resting her hand on top of his head, she questioned him, "You excited to pick up gramma and go to Jackson's birthday?"

"Yeah! Let's go!"


"He was so excited, telling me all about his friend and the present he got him," Mary stated, watching Sheldon lift her suitcase from the trunk of Amy's car. "It reminded me a bit of you when you first met Tam."

Sheldon smiled at his mother, "Me too. In fact, that's exactly what I told Amy the first time Levi met Jackson and was talking about him constantly. I was about to start making lunch. Theo's been wanting to play outside. Maybe you could take him out back. I think Theo might love the swing set out there more than Levi."

"There's my little man!" Mary remarked when they entered the house and Theo was waiting by the door. "I'm a little surprised you decided to get a swing set since the boys are only supposed to be with you a little while longer."

"It was here when we bought the house. The swing set was one of the determining factors for choosing this house over the other one we really liked. It was in decent condition; we did have to get new swings for it because the original ones were rusty and didn't seem very safe," Sheldon shrugged off Mary's question. "Halley and Michael love it when they come over. Plus, Amy and I want to have kids of our own someday, we'd probably get them a swing set, so it's one less thing for us to get then."

Turning her attention to the toddler on her hip, Mary asked the boy, "Do you want to show me your new swing set? I bet it's a lot of fun."


Sheldon and Amy began preparing lunch for themselves, Theo, and Mary, occasionally glancing through the window to see Mary pushing her grandson on the swing or catching him at the bottom of the slide. Suddenly a wail filled the air. Amy moved towards the door when Sheldon's hand on her arm stopped her. He already saw Mary comforting the boy in the middle of the backyard.

"It's okay, Theo. Just a little fall. It probably scared you, huh?" Mary wrapped her arms around him.

Continuing to cry, Theo began to fight against Mary's embrace, "No! Mommy!"

"Oh, sweet boy. Your mommy isn't here, but I am. And Uncle Sheldon and Aunt Amy are just inside. They're making lunch, do you want to go inside and see if it's time to eat?" Mary carefully stood, lifting Theo with her, and making her way into the open backdoor. "He's fine, I think he scared himself more than anything."

Theo reached from Mary's arms toward Amy, continuing to cry. Amy held her hands out to the boy and Mary passed him to her. His cries slowed almost instantly as he cuddled into Amy's arms. "How about some lunch, before gramma reads you a story for nap time? Does that sound good? Levi will be home when you wake up and the two of you can show gramma all your toys and books." His tumble outside was quickly forgotten as he enjoyed his lunch while remaining in Amy's lap before allowing Mary to take him upstairs for his nap.


Sheldon noticed his mother had been upstairs for longer than it usually took to put Theo down for a nap, making his way to check on her, only to run into her in the hallway outside the boys' bedroom. "He's so big. It's been just over a month since you brought the boys home for Easter, but I feel he's grown."

"He has. I'm pretty sure Amy's gotten him all new clothes and shoes in the past few weeks. He's bigger than Michael and Michael is four months older than him," he shared as they made their way to the living room.

"You and Amy are doing an amazing job with Levi and Theo. You're going to be an amazing dad when you and Amy do have a baby," Mary watched a smile slowly spread across her son's face after they had settled in the living room. "Any chance I'll be getting another grandchild anytime soon?"

A blush now crept across Sheldon's cheeks. "We discussed it after we got back from Sweden last year, but decided it would be best to wait when Levi and Theo came home with us. But maybe, someday."

"How are the boys doing? Amy's gone to get Levi. Theo's asleep upstairs. There's no one here except for us."

"When we say they're doing well, we mean it. Levi's making friends at school and is looking forward to summer vacation. Theo is learning so many new things every day," Sheldon beamed as he spoke. "There are still times Levi's sad or upset about Missy, but we all have those days. Amy's been amazing, jumping in to take care of them and giving me a chance to take a few minutes to myself when she senses I need it."

"Does Theo ever act like he misses Missy? I know he's probably too young to really miss her and understand everything, but I only ask because when he fell earlier, he tried pushing away from me, saying he wanted mommy," Mary hesitantly shared, worried for her son's reaction. "He only calmed down when we came inside and he was with Amy. I don't know if he was calling Amy mommy or if he wanted Missy."

Sheldon nodded his head, listening to Mary. "He's done that a few times, to both Amy and myself. We don't make a big deal out of it. We say that Aunt Amy or Uncle Sheldon is here, but we never refer to ourselves as mommy or daddy. Levi heard him call Amy mommy once and got very upset, saying mommy's dead and refusing to play with Theo the rest of the day. If Levi's heard Theo say it more than that, he hasn't reacted."

Silence momentarily fell over the pair until Mary reached over and took her son's hand, "I know the plan is for the boys to go back to Ricky, but I think Missy would be okay with the boys calling you mommy and daddy if Ricky isn't able to take them back. After all, she wanted you to take them, so I think she knew it was a possibility that could happen."

"I know. The first time Theo called me daddy, I felt so much love for him. I didn't know it was possible to love a one-year-old that much. We aren't encouraging it, but that doesn't mean we don't love it when it does happen."


It's Thanksgiving week, that means its tech week for A Christmas Carol for me. Long days of rehearsals, but I loved working on this show last year and am hoping this year will be even better.