Growing Up
4– First steps and words
Thank God Ranma slept all night. All the other residents of the dojo actually woke up earlier than him.
"So, today he will be two years old", Soun nodded as he held the morning papers in his hands. "It's time for him to start growing fast."
"Sure. That means there's a lot of things to come up, maybe even today; talking, crawling and walking... and getting potty trained", Genma sighed. "I remember those horrible days of potty training... But at least he will grow up from wearing diapers in a day or if everything goes as planned."
"And that 'as planned' mean it's You, Mr. Saotome, who teaches and encourages him to do those things", Akane wagged her finger.
After having his morning coffee, Genma walked to the living room. Well, what do you know – Ranma was awake, but not crying. He sat in his crib, hugging a sheep plush toy, sucking his thumb. And right after he saw his father, he got on his feet, leaning against the cirb's bars, smiling... there were a few small teeth in his mouth! Genma smiled, grabbed his son from his armpits and placed him on the floor on his back. The boy kept smiling, rolled on his stomach... and started getting up, slow and shaking. There he was, standing on all fours.
"Oh!" Genma chuckled. "Good, son!" he clapped his hands.
"Huh?" they heard Akane's voice call from the doorway. She stared at the Saotomes for a while. She started smiling.
Ranma stared at his father, smiling like an angel. Then he crashed on the floor on his butt.
"Da-daah!" he clapped his hands, got back on his all fours and crawled to his father.
"Heh", Genma opened his arms for the baby, who crashed against his chest.
"Say, Genma..." said Soun, who just arrived in the room. He stopped beside his daughter at the doorway. His eyes widened. There he saw them. His best friend Genma, holding his son in his arms, stroking his hair, which had clearly grown from last evening. Akane sat down on her knees beside the Saotomes, the man stroking the baby's bangs. Soun smiled and followed her, kneeling down.
"He can't show it now but... How will he act when he starts growing up enough to tell what, like, happened yesterday, when yesterday he was younger than then? If you get what I mean..." Akane mumbled, petting Ranma's head.
"You don't need to worry about that", said Kasumi, who just walked in to the room. "You see, lets say we reach the day when he turns 12. That morning when he wakes up, he will remember only what has happened a few ago in that form. And this goes on all the way since the morning he turns 16..."
"So, you mean, his last memory will be the evening he ate the berries?" Genma asked. Kasumi nodded with a smile. "Ahh", Genma sighed and leaned back against his arms behind his back.
Ranma seemed to get better at moving around by the minute. Genma sat on the living room's floor, following his son take steps, crashing on the floor, and back again.
"Here we go!" shouted Soun, who came to them, with a cardboard box in his hands. He put it down beside Genma and opened it. "See? My daughters loved these when they were little!" Soun smiled and took something out of the box – a red Duplo brick. He emptied the box on the floor.
"Son, come here", Genma clapped his hands, and so Ranma slowly walked to him, crashing down in front of the Duplo pile. He grabbed one instantly and started to chew on it.
"Hey-!" Genma was about to stop him.
"Don't worry, we won't be able to swallow it", Soun calmed down his friend.
Ranma didn't really get the point of Duplos – instead of building something with them, he just chewed and licked them. Genma had just gone to the kitchen to get some breakfast for the little one, and now Akane was looking after him. She watched the boy playing with the bricks his 'own style', and wanted to do something about it.
"Listen, Ranma", she said as she crawled to the boy. "Look, you do it like this:"
She took two bricks and piled them on each other. "Here, see? Now you try!"
For a while Ranma just stared at the girl his eyes wide. She handed over the boy two bricks. And so he placed one on the floor, and finally the second one on it.
"Good, Ranma!" Akane smiled and stroked his hair. He closed his eyes from pleasure.
Then Genma came in with a baby food jar and a baby bottle in his hands. Before he even managed to sit down on the floor, he stopped as he could see his son building more piles of the Duplo bricks.
"You could become a kindergarten teacher, you know. Getting a little child understand how to play", he said, now sitting down. "Son, c'mere."
Ranma smiled and crawled to his father. He rised on his knees and opened his arms.
"Da-daah!" he giggled and crashed against his father's stomach.
"That's it", the man said and gave the baby bottle boy to his son. He could hold it by himself already. "I guess this is the last day of infant formula, and tomorrow is the start of 'real food'", he said. "May this be your final milk, son."
After the bottle was empty, it was time for the food jar. It was clear that Ranma was still a bit too young to grab the spoon and eat on his own. Without even sighing, Genma grabbed the jar and the spoon and started feeding the boy.
"And may this also be the last time I feed you. Tomorrow you can do it by yourself."
Akane left the Saotomes alone. Ranma wanted to carry on piling the Duplos, and made it very clear that he wanted his father join him. How weird it was, Genma didn't resist at all. There they sat on the living room's floor, piling the bricks. Genma had built a house, but Ranma had some difficulties. He just did small piles, from two to five bricks.
"...Da-daah..." he seemed disappointed in himself, not being able to do something 'so cool' his father did.
"Hm, son, listen... Would there be any other words you could say?"
"Ma...mama..." he said, but started looking sad. Of course! This was the day when they still lived together with Nodoka, Ranma's mother, and this was his only way to tell his father he did remember things that happened these days of transformation, just like Kasumi had told.
Ranma started crying inconsolabely. Genma took him in his arms.
"Shh, shh... It'll be fine. I'm here", he said with a gentle voice. Ranma nuzzled deeper against his father's chest.
Akane and Soun were peeking in from behind the sliding door leading to the living room, not making a sound. They looked at each other, nodded a grinned.
