"Choo, choo! Open the tunnel, sweetie! Here comes the train!"

Mr. Harper pushed the spoon towards his 6-month-old daughter's mouth, trying to get her to eat her dinner. Alas, trying is how we describe the father's efforts. Little Deema thought that her puree peas was some sort of fingerpaint, and was getting it all over herself. Barely any of it was inside of her.

"Come on, Deema, open up so the train can come through."

Deema did open her mouth, allowing the "train" to come through... and then spat it onto her daddy's face and continued to play with her food.

Mr. Harper sighed. Deema was a very energetic baby, very different to her more reserved sister.

"Silly, Dee-Dee," Daniela chuckled, watching her father feed Deema as she ate her own dinner. "Food goes in your tummy."

Deema clapped her mushed-covered hands and giggled. Mrs. Harper walk by with a towel and wiped her husband's face. "Give me that spoon, darling," she said with a smile. "I have a way to get our little free-spirit to eat her greens. You just sit down and have your supper."

Mr. Harper nodded, handed the spoon to his wife, and sat down next to Daniela. Mrs. Harper pulled out a dolphin puppet, and said in high voice: "Come on, Deema. You gotta eat your peas so you can grow up big and strong. Please do it for little old Dafne."

And with that "Dafne" made a funny dolphin squeak, which made Deema laugh... and gave her mother an opening for the spoon. The more "Dafne" made Deema laugh, the more peas went into her mouth. Before long, the curly haired Guppy have emptied her bowl.

As little Deema began drinking from her bottle, her mother said, "Sweet Deema, I'm so happy that you ate your din-dins, but boy are you grubby. You need a bath, young lady." Then she turned to Daniela, who was finishing her dinner. "Dani, it's just about your bath time as well," she added.

"Aw, Momma!" Dani whined. "Do I have to?"

"I'll read you and Deema an extra story tonight," her father offered.

Dani thought for a couple of seconds, and then smiled. "Okay, Daddy."

As soon as dinner was over, Mrs. Harper carried her two girls into the bathroom for their bath. She ran the bath water and put in some bubbles. Then she help her daughter undress and gently placed them in the tub.

"Uba!" Little Deema babbled excitingly, popping the bubbles in the tub.

Her mom chuckled as she cleaned her grubby little face. After she wiped off the last of the green mush off of Deema and washed Dani up, Mrs. Harper got up the shampoo and scrubbed it onto the girls' hair. Then she got a pitcher of water and poured it onto them to rinse out the suds. After that, she decided to let her girls play for a while.

Daniela touched her baby sister's curly (and currently damped) hair. "Your hair is so bouncy!" she exclaimed. Deema giggled as Dani played with her locks and tried to do the same with her sister's straight hair by tugging on it. "Ow! That hurts!" Dani shouted.

Hearing that, Deema moved towards her big sister and gave her a hug. Dani smiled and said, "Oh, Dee-Dee, it's okay. I'm not mad. I just don't want you pulling so hard." Then she gave her baby sister a peck on the forehead.

"Anee."

Surprised, Dani pulled away from the hug. "What you say?"

"Anee! Anee!"

And with that, Daniela's green eyes sparkled so brightly, that no star in the sky could ever out shine them. Deema had just said her first word! It wasn't "Ma-Ma" or "Da-Da". It was her sister's name, and Dani couldn't be any more prouder.

"Momma! Momma! Deema said my name!" Dani shouted happily to her mother.

Her mother chuckled. "My goodness. I can see that our little Deema has a lot of love for such an amazing big sister," she said with a smile.

"Anee!" Deema said again, pulling out her arms for another hug, which Dani gladly obliged. She would've hugged her a bit longer, but her mother then said that it was time for the two to get out of the tub.

After getting dried off and putting on her pajamas, Dani excitingly swam out of the bathroom to find her father coming down the hall.

"Daddy! Daddy!" she called out. "Deema said my name!"

"Is that so?" her dad said as his wife exited the bathroom with Deema in her arms.

"Anee!" Deema said, extending one of her arms.

"That's right, Dee-Dee. I'm Dani. Your big sister."

Their parents smiled at their daughters.

"I think this definately calls for an extra bedtime story," Mr. Harper said.

"Come on, Dee-Dee!" Daniela said to her baby sister. "It's story time!"

Deema said "Anee" once more as her mother carried into their shared bedroom.