Amy finished putting together Max's lunch for school while three-week-old Kathryn was content in her bouncer chair sitting on top of the table. "Do you have your stuff together? You need to leave in ten minutes to have plenty of time to walk to school," she pointed out on Max's first day of seventh grade.

"Aren't you dropping me off?" he asked, dropping his spoon in the empty cereal bowl in front of him.

"I wasn't planning on it. You've been looking forward to walking to school since we moved."

Max's face dropped. "Oh. It's just you've always dropped me off on the first day of school, even after we moved to dad's apartment and I started taking the bus to school. I thought you were still going to drop me off today and I'd start walking tomorrow."

"Max," Amy sighed as she looked at the newborn, content after her morning feeding. "I will drop you off today, but I need to get dressed. Take your sister and get her in her car seat for me, please?" Max quickly stood and lifted his sister from her seat and carried her into the living room where the infant carrier had been left the day before. Sheldon was still in their bedroom and was surprised to see Amy hurriedly pulling clothes from the dresser. Sensing his curiosity, Amy explained, "Max is insisting I drop him off at school since I've always taken him on the first day, even when he was going to daycare before school or he was taking the bus."

"I know it's something you've always done, but do you want me to drop him off? I'm going back to work today, so you'd have to take Katie with you," he pointed out.

Amy shook her head, "It's fine. I was a little bummed I wasn't dropping him off this year when he was so excited about being able to walk to school. I just wish he had said something more than ten minutes before we need to leave. Kathryn loves car rides, she'll probably fall asleep and honestly, I'm okay with it if she takes a long nap this morning. I'm having lunch with Penny today; I'm sure the little bit of a schedule we've gotten her on is going to be all thrown off."


Four hours later, Penny was sitting in Amy's living room holding Kathryn while Amy held Rory. "I know Rory's only a month older than Kathryn, but she seems so tiny compared to him."

"Kathryn was almost three pounds smaller than Rory when he was born, so that makes a difference, too. She was barely six pounds while Rory was almost nine. What were you thinking for lunch? Do you want to go somewhere or get something delivered?"

Penny shrugged, "I don't know. Delivery would be easier. We'd have to take separate cars or move one of their car seats to drive together."

Amy looked at the infants in their arms. "I hadn't thought of that. Sheldon might finally go crazy if I take Kathryn's car seat out. He must have spent over an hour making sure it was installed correctly. Sounds like delivery it is!"

The mention of the physicist piqued Penny's interest. "How's he been doing since you and Kathryn came home from the hospital?"

"Honestly, I'm surprised he willingly went back to work this morning and I didn't need to call the guys to drag him out of the house," chuckled Amy. "I know he was unsure of himself taking care of a newborn, the youngest kid he's ever spent a lot of time with was Max and he was almost three by the time he met him. He never spent a lot of time with Halley and Michael. He's been super attentive, getting up when Kathryn wakes up during the night, offering to give her a bottle so I can eat dinner with both hands, reminding me I'm not doing this alone this time." Rory began to wail, causing Amy to study his face for a moment. "I think this guy is hungry." Penny accepted her son from her best friend, while Amy took Kathryn back. Getting Rory situated to eat, Penny watched as Amy made faces at her daughter. "You know, I'm glad we get to do this together. Especially with Leonard and Sheldon both back to work and Max starting school again, it's nice to have someone to hang out with the help break up the monotony of the day."

The women spent the rest of the afternoon eating their delivered lunch, watching television, and cuddling the newest members of their group. "I should probably get going," commented Penny as she stood from where she had stretched out on the couch. "I'm sure Max will be home soon, which means the guys won't be far behind."


"Hi, mom," Max greeted Amy when he entered the house with three other boys following him not long after Penny left. "We're going up to my room."

"Kathryn is sleeping. Please keep it down," she called after the group of preteens who were already running up the stairs.

Sheldon arrived home less than an hour after Max and his friends returned from school. "How was your day?" He asked, placing a kiss on Amy's cheek while she prepared dinner.

"Penny came over. We ordered lunch and spent most of the day hanging out. I can't wait until the babies are old enough to actually play with one another and not just lay next to each other on the floor. I need you to talk to Max after dinner. He showed up after school with three of his friends. He got home about half an hour after Penny left and Kathryn hadn't been asleep that long when they went running upstairs. Luckily, they didn't wake her up, but he completely caught me off guard. He never said anything about bringing friends home after school. I could have been nursing Kathryn. I know it's a completely natural thing, but I still like to cover up when there are other people around," Amy rambled as she stirred the pot on the stove.

"What do you want me to talk to him about?" Sheldon was struggling to understand what Amy was unhappy with.

Taking a step back, she looked at him. "Please remind him he still needs to check if it's okay for a friend to come over after school. I don't like the idea of a bunch of kids being here unsupervised, especially if their parents don't know there isn't an adult around. I know that they're old enough to not need to be watched all the time, but there should still be someone here in case something happens. I'm still on maternity leave for another two months, but what if I had gone over to Penny's today and wasn't home when they got here?"

"I'll talk to him after dinner. I'm going to let him know I'm home and that his friends need to leave before dinner. I'll bring Katie down with me and finish making dinner. It sounds like you've had a stressful afternoon and could use a few minutes to yourself," suggested Sheldon.


Max's friends left before dinner and he happily chattered about his day at school and his new classes. Amy was quiet throughout the meal, focusing on her daughter. They finished eating and Amy excused herself to take a quick shower, leaving the infant with Sheldon and Max while they cleaned up dinner. "Is mom okay? She barely said anything during dinner," Max asked while rinsing the dishes before loading the dishwasher.

"She asked me to talk to you about bringing your friends over after school. You know you're always welcome to have friends over, and it's even easier now with walking home from school, but your mom was caught off guard when three kids came home with you today. She's not exactly mad at you, but she is frustrated. We've always asked you to ask before inviting a friend over. That's even more important now with Katie," explained the physicist as he wiped the table.

"Okay," the twelve-year-old agreed. "There's one thing, though. I don't have a way to call you or mom to ask if a friend can come over. We can only use the phone at the school office for an emergency, like if we get sick. I guess I could ask one of my friends to use one of their cell phones. Should I apologize to mom?"

Sheldon shook his head, "I'll talk to her before she comes downstairs and let her know you want to talk to her."


Amy jumped when she exited the master bathroom and found Sheldon sitting on the side of the bed, staring at the bathroom door, holding their daughter. "What are you doing? You scared me. I thought you'd still be downstairs. Is Kathryn okay?"

"Katie's fine," he answered as he stroked the infant's head, resting against his shoulder. "I talked to Max while we were cleaning up from dinner. He wants to apologize to you for not asking before bringing his friends over. Max mentioned that students are only allowed to use the phone in the school office for an emergency or if they get sick. He doesn't have a way to easily contact us to ask if he can bring a friend home."

"Okay?" Amy questioned.

Sheldon rolled his eyes. His friends used to say he wasn't able to pick up on subtleties or read between the lines of what someone was telling him, but Amy seemed to be struggling with it right now. "I think it's time for Max to get a cell phone. He's in seventh grade, most of his friends have one already, I think he's responsible enough to handle it. Of course, we can set rules, like he isn't allowed to have it after a certain time so we know he's not up all night texting, but I don't think we'll have to worry about him too much with it."

Nodding slightly while drying her hair with a towel, Amy agreed with him. "I had that thought this afternoon, too. I don't want him to think we're rewarding him for this, though. We won't go running out tomorrow to buy one. We'll wait until this weekend or even next week. I could go during the day while he's at school and you're at work. It will give me a reason to get out of the house for a little while."

"So, we're in agreement? Max is getting a cell phone? I say we wait until the end of next week to give it to him, but you can go earlier in the week to pick it up if you want to get out of the house with Katie for a little while."

"Sounds good to me. I'll find Max and let you have some Kathryn time since you didn't get any all day," Amy started to exit the room to find their son before turning around. "You know, Sheldon, for someone who didn't like the idea of calling our daughter anything but her full name, you're the one calling her Katie the most."

Placing a kiss on top of his daughter's head, Sheldon smirked. "I know."