Summary: Maemi Hamada is a great mother. Caring for her firstborn, Tadashi, made her feel like an expert parent. However, nothing could prepare her for the whirlwind toddler that is Hiro.
000
Thud!
Maemi jolted awake from her sleep. Her normally smooth auburn hair was frizzing up. Her green eyes read the red numbers on the clock.
2:45 am.
Being a mother of two little boys, Maemi was no stranger to waking up in the early hours of the morning. Normally it was to the sound of her youngest, 2-year-old Hiro, calling for her. But tonight, the monitor was quiet.
Motherly instincts kicking in, she quietly got out of bed and left the room, trying her best not to wake her husband, Tomeo.
She tiptoed into Hiro's room, turning on the desk lamp on top of his dresser. Maemi stepped over the toys strewn all over the floor as she approached his bed.
"Huh?" She whispered, noticing the lump under the blankets. It truly looked like Hiro had pulled the blankets over his head, still sleeping soundly. But Maemi wasn't fooled.
She pulled the blankets off of the bed, and instead of finding her toddler son, she found his plush snow monkey. She turned on her heels.
"Hiro." She growled under her breath. Every day she would have people asking her what it was like to have a genius toddler, and every day she would say the same thing: "It's both a blessing and a curse." Today, it was a curse.
She made her way downstairs and walked into the kitchen. Hiro always tried to weasel his way into getting a midnight snack, and would get huffy if he was told 'no'. By the sounds of cereal crunching under her slippers as she reached the pantry, Maemi concluded that Hiro took matters into his own hands. She finally found the light for the pantry, and gasped at what she saw.
The pantry was in total chaos. Flour, sugar and cocoa powder littered the shelves and floors. No cereal box was left unopened, and their contents spilled on to the floor. Maemi picked up a box of instant rice, taken aback at the fact that something, or someone, chewed it open. Every toaster pastry in the house was opened, and every single one had a bite taken out of it.
After what felt like hours, she stepped out of the pantry and checked the rest of the kitchen. The fridge was left wide open, with only a few water bottles out of place and a pudding cup missing. And someone raided the silverware drawer. She sighed, turning around and walking towards the living room.
She saw something in the dark, the shadows on it's back being brought out by the light of the television. The little creature didn't even turn around, engrossed in the cartoon on the screen in front of him. The wild black hair was a dead giveaway to what, or whom, is was.
Maemi stared into the back of the little creature's head, before turning and walking away, a smile on her face.
"Tomeo." Maemi said, shaking her husband's shoulder. "Wake up."
"Wha-?" He said. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, hair standing up in every direction.
"No time to talk, love." Maemi said, putting a video camera and Tomeo's glasses case in his lap. "Put on your glasses, turn on the camera and meet me downstairs. Your son is about to make us internet superstars."
Tomeo did as he was told, and Maemi started her little rant to the camera.
"So, I woke up at 2:45 to a loud thud," she spoke to the camera. "And I went downstairs to investigate."
She lead Tomeo to the pantry. "I came down to see that my pantry has turned into a warzone." She pointed out the mess. "Flour, sugar, and cocoa powder everywhere. Cereal all over the floor. Every single toaster pastry was opened."
She picked up one of the treats and held it up to the camera. "And every single one has a single bite out of it." She picked up the box of instant rice. "The little creature that got in here even managed to chew open a box of instant rice."
The two made their way towards the end of the kitchen. "The fridge is wide open," Maemi noted, "and look, a pudding cup is missing." She pointed to the silverware drawer. "Silverware out of place."
Finally, they got to the living room. "And this," Maemi whispered, pointing to the small figure sitting on the floor, "is where I found the little creature. Sitting in the living room, watching cartoons with a big bag of gummy bears and a pudding cup." She reached for the lightswitch, "And this little creature is none other than-"
She snapped on the lights. The little creature was illuminated. He had messy black hair, and wore a blue onesie. The sudden change in light started him. He looked behind him. Big brown eyes met the camera's lens, and his face was covered with chocolate pudding.
"Hiro!" Maemi cried, pretending to be shocked. "What are you doing?"
Hiro stared at the camera, and began to giggle.
"Did you make that mess in the pantry, Hiro? Did you go get a pudding cup out of the fridge?"
Hiro shook his head no, still giggling.
"Don't lie to me. There's still pudding all over your face, and I can see you holding the spoon!"
Hiro looked at the spoon in his hand. He threw it, and then began to wipe the pudding off of his face with his sleeve.
"No don't-" Maemi had enough. Hiro wouldn't listen to her anyway. "Hiro, you are in big trouble. Go to your room!"
Hiro looked his mom in the eye, and laughed. Maemi sighed and faced the camera.
"This is what I deal with on a daily basis." She motioned towards her young son. "If Tadashi woke up in the middle of the night, the worst he would do is get a cup of water and maybe leave the glass sitting on the counter when he's done. But when Hiro wakes up, as you've seen, he goes all out."
She looked at her son, who was now popping gummy bears into his mouth, and said.
"This is why I basically run on coffee."
000
"This is why I basically run on coffee."
Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Go Go and Fred all tried to contain their laughter. Cass had just showed them a hilarious video that Hiro's parents took of him. Hiro had begged his aunt to not show the video to his friends, but she didn't listen. Now he stood there, covering his face with his hoodie.
The group only lasted for thirty seconds before erupting into laughter, making Hiro more distraught.
"Seriously guys!" Hiro cried out, "It's not that funny!"
As the laughter died down, Fred piped up. "It's funny because we all did something like that when we were toddlers, dude. I mean, I destroyed a priceless piece of art by drawing on it with finger paint! My mom was so mad."
"I once tore up the backyard with my big wheel after my dad put down new grass." Go Go said before taking a sip of her coffee.
"That's nothing." Wasabi said. "Two-year-old me destroyed 300 dollars worth of my mom's makeup. And colored on the dog with markers." He was trying to stop himself from laughing again.
Honey giggled. "I once had an epic temper tantrum in the middle of a store. My mom even said that I threw a box of baking powder and that it got all over the floor."
Wasabi couldn't contain his laughter any longer. The rest followed suit. Even Hiro started to chuckle.
"What we're trying to say," Wasabi said, finally able to get a grip. "Is that we all made mistakes as kids. It may seem embarrassing to think back so far, but in reality, what we did as kids is pretty funny."
Hiro smiled. "You know what, you're right. It is pretty funny. Too bad my brother was so much of a poster child that he never went through 'the terrible twos'."
Cass looked at her nephew. "Don't be so sure." She said.
"What did he do?" Honey asked.
"Tadashi was spending the evening with me, and the two of us were making a cake." Cass said, smiling fondly. "He was about two and a half years old at the time, and I had to walk away for a bit to take a call. I was only gone for two minutes, and when I came back to him, he had gotten cake batter everywhere."
Cass paused to snicker a bit. "It was on the windows, the floor, the fridge, there was even batter on the ceiling! He was sitting on the floor, absolutely covered in chocolate cake batter, and he looked at me with the 'I shouldn't have done that face' that toddlers do when they're in trouble. He was silent for a few seconds before saying 'uh-oh'."
Cass began to laugh, "That was the last time I ever left a toddler alone for more than a couple seconds. Give them time and space and they'll ruin the place!"
The whole group laughed with her, and continued to reminisce in their childhood mishaps.
