"I can take Max and you can stay here with Katie. Or, we can all go," Sheldon suggested late one Saturday morning when their daughter was about two and a half months old.

Amy shook her head at her husband, "It's only an eye doctor appointment, Sheldon. We won't be gone all day. I have to take him because I also have an eye exam." Noticing he still seemed to be on edge, Amy led him to sit on the couch. "What's going on with you today? Why are you so hesitant for me to leave this afternoon?"

"This will be my first time completely alone with her," he reluctantly shared. "There have been other times you've gone out and left her home with me, but Max has been here, or it's been when one of the guys is over."

"I just nursed Katie; she'll probably sleep the entire time we're gone," Amy tried to reassure him. "You'll be fine. You know how I know that?" Seeing Sheldon shake his head, she continued, "Because you're a wonderful father who loves his daughter. She might not even be three months old yet, but she knows who you are and she feels safe with you. You were the first person she smiled for and can always get her back to sleep much quicker than I can in the middle of the night."

Sheldon shrugged while looking at the floor in front of him. "I guess you're right."

"Like I said, she just ate, so she'll probably nap the entire time we're gone. She might wake up for a diaper change, but maybe not. If she does wake up, that's okay. She's perfectly content in your arms while you're at your dry erase boards. I've heard you explaining your work to her. Just teach her some physics until Max and I get back. Don't forget, everyone's coming over for dinner tonight. Max and I really need to get going or we're going to be late. You'll be fine. I love you."


Sheldon checked on his daughter not long after Amy and Max left and found her still asleep for her morning nap. He reached down into the crib and touched the top of her head. "I'll be right next door if you need anything. I love you," he said before picking up the baby monitor and double-checking the camera above the crib gave a clear image of the sleeping infant. In the next room, Sheldon looked around for a good place to set the baby monitor so he could have an unobstructed view of it from his whiteboards in the office/guest room.

After staring at the boards in front of him for twenty minutes, Sheldon heard noise from the monitor. He picked it up for a closer look and found Katie was awake and starting to cry. Sheldon set down his marker while calling out, "I'm coming. Just a second."

"Hello, Katie Beth. Did you have a good nap? It's just me and you right now. Momma took your brother to the eye doctor. Do you know this is the first time it's been just the two of us without anyone else around?" He talked to the infant while lifting her out of the crib. "Woah. Smells like you need a new diaper." Sheldon turned around and set her on the changing table. It was when he reached for a clean diaper that he saw the mess all over his hand. "Oh, god. It's on me," he exclaimed while picking Katie and seeing the blowout going up her back. He glanced in the crib and saw the sheet was stained as well. "Guess you're getting a bath and not just a clean diaper. I can get a lot of stains out, but I don't know if there's any salvaging this onesie." Keeping the baby in her clothes, Sheldon carried her at an arm's length into the bathroom.

Sheldon spread a towel on the floor to set his daughter on while he filled the baby tub. Once he filled the tub and checked the temperature with his bath thermometer, he began the process of stripping the baby. "I don't understand how you managed to get poop everywhere, Katie Beth," he commented.

Realizing he should have brought the baby wipes with him to clean some of the mess off his daughter, he carried the now naked child back to the nursery across the hall to retrieve them. Sheldon proceeded to clean most of the mess with the wipes before setting Katie in her baby tub. As he cleaned her with a washcloth, a smile spread across her face. "Did you do this just so you could get a bath?" Once the infant was clean, Sheldon smiled, watching her splash in the water for a few minutes before saying anything again, "I never got to do this with Max. He didn't need someone to bathe him by the time I knew I was his dad. I don't know how your momma did everything by herself when he was your age. She worked all day, then came home and took care of him without any help. I doubt I'd be able to do this if it weren't for her." The almost-three-month-old stopped splashing while Sheldon spoke and stared at him. "Let's get you dried off and into some clean clothes. Then we'll attempt to get those stains out."


"Do you like the glasses I picked?" Max asked as he and Amy were walking back to her car from the optometrist's office.

Nodding, Amy unlocked the car and climbed in while answering. "I love them. I've always known you're smart, but those glasses make you look even smarter. Everyone will know how brilliant you are."

"I know I'm smart, but I'm not as smart as you and dad," the boy suddenly doubted his own abilities.

"Hey, where's this coming from? You don't have to compare yourself to anyone else. You are smart in your own way. Yes, you might not have started college at eleven like dad, but I know you'll do brilliant things someday," she reminded her son before changing the topic. "How's school? Do you still love having a little sister?"

"Yeah," Max responded to both of his mother's questions. "School is good. There was a fight during lunch yesterday and both kids got suspended for an entire week. Having a little sister is better now than when she was first born. All she did then was eat, sleep, and poop. Now she can at least play a little. I can't wait until she's even bigger so I can really play with her."

Amy chuckled. "Everyone is always excited about a new baby, but I guess they aren't all that exciting at first, are they?" Thinking back to when Max was a baby, she continued, "You've got a few more months before Katie starts to be a lot of fun to play with. She's growing each day, but you were a few months older than her before you became more interactive."

"When do you think I can babysit Katie?"

"I'm not sure. I don't go back to work for another month, so probably not before then, but dad and I can talk about it."


Amy and Max entered the house to find Sheldon sitting on the end of the couch in his spot, with his feet resting on the coffee table and Katie lying on his chest. "Hello," Sheldon greeted them while shifting to sit up.

"I have to get glasses, dad. Mom says they make me look really smart. They have to order them, though. We should be able to pick them up next week. Can you take me when we have to pick them up? Mom took a picture of me with them. Show him the picture." Max excitedly rambled at Sheldon.

Looking at the picture on Amy's phone, Sheldon nodded in agreement. "Your mom's right, you do look even smarter with them."

"I'm gonna finish my homework so we can play video games later," the seventh-grader stated before running upstairs.

Sitting on the couch next to Sheldon, Amy rubbed Katie's back. "Hi, sweet girl. I missed you. Were you good for daddy?" Turning her attention to Sheldon, she continued, "How'd it go being alone? I see she's had a wardrobe change."

"She napped for another half an hour after you left and needed to be changed when she woke up, like always."

"You know, you can change just her diaper. You don't have to change her entire outfit," Amy interrupted Sheldon's story.

"You would want to kill me if I hadn't changed her outfit. It was everywhere, Amy. There was poop practically up to her armpits. It was on the crib sheet. I had to give her a bath. There was no way I would have been able to get her completely clean using only wipes. I've got her onesie and the sheet soaking right now. These might be the first stains I'm unable to get out," Sheldon admitted possible defeat.

Amy smiled watching her husband with their daughter. "That would explain why she's so cuddly right now. She's always extra cuddly after a bath."

Sheldon twisted to face Amy. "You were barely gone for two hours and I felt overwhelmed by everything for at least an hour of the time you were gone. How did you do it by yourself with Max? I can't imagine doing this on my own."

"I did it because I had to," she shrugged. "No, I did it because I wanted to. I wanted to be a mother more than anything, that's why I went to the sperm bank. I'm so glad I did that every time I look at Max. Sure, there were times that it wasn't easy and I had second thoughts if what I was doing was the right thing, but there were so many moments that made it all worth it. Every time he smiled at me, or called me momma, or looked at me and said I love you before going back to playing, I was reminded that I was doing something right."