Once he had managed to pull his grip from the baby's long enough to scoop him up, Ringabel found himself attempting to wrangle a wriggly, smelly baby on top of the large dresser in the Arriors' bedroom, where a small wicker basket been set aside as a sort of changing area, complete with diapers, powder, and wipes.
Here, he struggled to get the child to sit still long enough for Ringabel to undress him, cursing quietly under his breath (the last thing he needed was for Toivo to pick up a new word from him before he'd even spoke his first!) He'd watched Tiz and Agnès both change diapers plenty of times, had even coached Barras through changing a diaper or two! But it was different now that it was in his hands. How did they make it look so easy?
"Stay still, please," he begged the child as he tried once more to pull the smock up over of his head. It too, needed to be changed, but Toivo was tearing up again, his face crumpling. And when he teared up, he kicked, trying to roll to his front. In his haste to keep the boy in place, Ringabel knocked the clean diaper of the end of the counter to the floor.
Ringabel didn't dare take his hand off Toivo's belly and risk the child falling.
"Edea!" he called. He knew she was within earshot, if not only because the cabin was small. Tiz had been talking about expanding it, but he'd wanted to wait a couple of years until Toivo really needed his own space. "I need help!"
She peeked around the side of the door. "I thought you had this?"
"I will," he insisted. "But the diaper on the floor… please get it," he all but begged. The last thing he wanted to do was take off the existing diaper without the replacement close at hand. He'd heard things. He'd seen things. He wasn't prepared for that challenge yet.
To his relief, his wife did as asked and though her nose was crinkled due to the smell of a dirty diaper, she swooped in and handed the clean one to him. Then, she sat back on the bed to watch him continue to struggle with the baby, folding her hands over her knees.
Carefully, slowlyyyyy… Ringabel unpinned the diaper and watched Toivo's face as he unfolded the diaper. The child watched him back. Ringabel stuck his tongue and Toivo laughed. Edea smiled.
In far too many minutes later, the child was successfully changed, both in diaper and in a fresh clean smock. Ringabel passed the boy to Edea, who took him readily, and collapsed beside her on the bed. "I'm tagging out," he said with a loud sigh, pressing his face into the comforter.
Edea leaned back onto the bed, lifting the boy above her head cautiously. She'd seen Tiz get thrown up on more than once doing this same thing. "Tired already? It's been less than an hour!"
Ringabel rolled over to his side to watch her as she lowered the baby, pressed her nose to his, and then lifted him back up effortlessly. Of course she did. He knew for a fact that she could bench press more than the baby weighed. "I can't keep him all to myself, can I? You have to watch him too."
"I am watching him," Edea replied, and there was a smile on her lips because Toivo was laughing with glee at the game they were playing. "See? He's playing!" With a whooshing noise, she maneuvered him through the air, steering him this way and that.
Ringabel draped an arm over her stomach. "I see that. You're playing, too."
"Duh. Babies can be fun, when they're old enough to be interesting."
He propped himself up on an elbow so they could talk more properly, his eyes on her face. "You don't like the idea of caring for a newborn?" He knew that while Edea had spent time with the Arriors soon after the birth of their first child, most of her visit had been helping Tiz around the farmstead along with Yew. Magnolia had been the one who had been at Agnès's side most of the day, he'd heard, though of course Edea had her fair share of being with her best friend.
"They're so small," she said, now lowering Toivo to sit on her stomach next to Ringabel's arm, where clutched here hand. "So small, and they can't do anything for themselves, not even eat or sit up. What if you break one accidentally?"
He laughed. "You can't just break them accidentally! Don't worry so much, Edea. You're doing fine. Besides…"
"Is this the part where you say something weird like "it's different when it's your own"?" She gave him a Look that made him smile uneasily back at her.
"No," he lied. "I was going to say that they grow up so quickly that the 'boring' stage isn't very long at all. Look at Toivo, for example. Tiz told me that last month he couldn't even stand on his own feet. Now he can walk if he's leaning on something. Soon he'll be running on his own. That's just how kids are."
Toivo was now attempting to gnaw on her hand, trying to draw it up to his mouth. Edea did her best to keep her fingers down and away from his gums.
"It still takes months," she pointed out, but there was a slight smile on her face all the same. "And he's awfully small for being nearly a year old."
"Tiz said he was a small child as well," Ringabel said, sounding thoughtful. "Though it begs the question if any child of ours would inherit my height or yours. Perhaps your father's, as well!"
The look Edea gave him was nothing short of pained. "Ringabel…"
She cut off with a gasp when Toivo suddenly spit up, spewing across her hand, covering his freshly changed smock in the process. Ringabel's hand snapped behind the child, keeping him from falling onto his back as Edea sat up, pulling her dirtied hand away.
Toivo, startled by the sudden motion, starting crying. Edea stared with dismay at his red, scrunched up face, feeling guilty. It wasn't the first time she'd been spit up on, considering all the times she had held and played with him, especially when he was small. It had just startled her, was all.
"I just changed him!" Ringabel commented unhappily, but he was already picking up the child to change him again, using the hem of the smock to wipe his face. Edea held her hand out gingerly as she carefully got off the bed.
"I'll be right back," she said, swiping her other hand down her stomach - it was clean and not wet - as she slid out of the room to go to the restroom, leaving the crying child behind.
As soon as she had washed and dried her hand, she came back to the sight of her husband cuddling the baby to his shoulder, rubbing his bare back as the baby continued to cry, wailing at the top of his lungs. Ringabel had removed the dirty smock once again but had yet to replace it with a new one in favor of trying to calm the child first before he made himself sick.
She could barely him over Tovio's cries, but recognized that he was humming, a tune that sounded familiar, though she couldn't place it. His eyes were closed as he moved slightly in place, his hand gentle on the baby's back as he attempted to calm him down. Edea watched for a few moments, biting her lip and trying not to picture Ringabel holding the baby in one of the rooms that was currently connected to their own, one that was currently used for storing their extra clothes.
She sighed.
Ringabel jumped when Edea placed her hand on his hip. He opened one eye to look at her. "What's wrong?"
"I'll take him," Edea said. Toivo was still crying, but he had by now gone down a few decibels, comforted by Ringabel's movements. "Didn't you say it takes a woman's touch?"
"You also said it was sexist," he pointed out, but he was already transferring the baby into her arms, both of them grimacing as Toivo's cries started anew as he was moved from one person to another.
"I think he likes me more," Ringabel whispered, his mouth very close to Edea's ear in order to be heard.
She tried to ignore the burning in her cheeks as she let the baby cling to her, his wet face pressing into her neck. Instead, she focused on bouncing him slightly, rubbing her cheek against his head. "It's because you're so alike."
Ringabel laughed, but his arm wound around her and he held her tightly, one of his hand lifting so that he could continue to rub Toivo's back as Edea held him. "You never hold me like this when I cry," Ringabel said after a moment.
"And when was the last time you cried?" Edea asked, her voice quiet. Toivo was no longer screaming, but he was still distressed, his small body shaking. She kissed the top of his head.
"Last week," he reminded her. "That was a particularly moving play."
Edea wanted to roll her eyes. Instead, she leaned against him. "You're scaring the baby." Now that he wasn't flailing about as he screamed, she could lift a hand to run it against his hair. His brown locks were soft and down-light, almost as dark as his mother's, and full of baby curls that Tiz and Agnes had both assumed would eventually grow out but loved all the same.
Ringabel fell silent, and she thanked her lucky stars, closing her eyes as she continued to sway gently with the child in her arms until her arms began to ache. She glanced down at him. His plump cheeks were red but his eyes were closed as he leaned against her.
One of her fingers moved from his head to his nose, bopping it gently. His eyes scrunched but didn't open.
"Is it safe?" she asked Ringabel.
His gaze followed hers. "I think so," he whispered. Edea sighed in relief and attempted to pull the baby away from her so that they could put him in a new smock - but the moment that she tried, his eyes flew open and he let out a wail, clinging to her top. She grimaced and pulled him back.
"Why don't you lie down with him?" Ringabel suggested, his hand steady on the baby's back. "I think he'll like that. Maybe he misses his mother."
In this moment, Edea missed his mother too. Surely she would know how to handle her crying baby. His screams had grated her nerves, but also worried her. Babies shouldn't cry that long, should they?
"Alright," she agreed, and kept the baby cuddled to her chest as she carefully climbed onto the master bed, rolling onto her back. He let out a squawk, but otherwise did not react. Ringabel paused to remove his boots, then reached over for hers.
"What are you doing?" she asked, though she lifted her foot to help him. It wouldn't be nice to get dirt on the clean comforter.
"I'll lay down with you," he said, smiling. "At least until he's actually asleep."
Edea groaned. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate Ringabel's company - she did, she had married him after all - but she was already having to cuddle a baby. She didn't want to think what she might feel if he were to join them. It'd be like they were a family. "You don't have to."
"I know."
That was about as much as she would protest. Edea sat propped up against the numerous pillows with the infant on her chest, letting him continue to cuddle into her. Ringabel lay beside her, on his side facing her, his hand on the baby's back. Watching her husband's face, gentle and caring, as he looked over their charge made her stomach twist. She could very easily imagine him doing this with a child of their own, perhaps soon after birth, and…
Edea swallowed. She waited until the baby's breathing was a bit more even. "You're enjoying this too much," she said to Ringabel, turning slightly to face him. The baby's fist once again clenched her top but otherwise he didn't stir.
Ringabel grinned at her. "You're just so cute like this."
"What?"
"All cute and cuddly with a baby," he started, and she cut off him, trying not to squirm.
"Ringabel, don't…"
"I know," he said. "I know that you're worried about having kids together. I want them, and you're still unsure."
Edea bit her lip, but decided not to say anything. Of course he knew. They'd talked about having children just a few months ago, right after their wedding. At the time, she'd told him it was much too early, considering that they were newlywed and still trying to iron things out in Eternia. She'd promised to talk about it later. Did this count as later?
He continued after a moment when she didn't speak, his hand slowly stroking the sleeping Toivo's back. "I married you because I love you. Not because of any future possible children."
"You've always wanted a family," she recalled.
Ringabel grinned at her. "And I already have one with you, don't I?"
Toivo let out a soft noise, nestling further against her chest in his sleep. Edea glanced down at him, then back to Ringabel. "Of course you do." This wasn't really the ideal time or place to be having a heart to heart conversation about the possibility of expanding their family, though. Now that he was asleep, Toivo really was very precious. She didn't mind continuing to cuddle him… and didn't mind the idea of cuddling a baby of her own. No, no. She needed to think about this in a more… unbiased location. Turning slightly to her side, she attempted to roll the baby onto his back between Ringabel and herself, supporting his head carefully so that he didn't wake himself up with any jarring movements.
To her relief, he stayed asleep, tired out from his exciting day and from his screaming earlier. Ringabel had to reach over and help remove his grip from her blouse, but in just a few moment's time, the baby was sleeping on his parents' bed, his godparents watching him from either side.
He kicked one little foot.
"We should cover him," Ringabel said, and he cautiously climbed out of the bed to fetch one of the many baby blankets strewn around the room. Edea watched him, nodding. There was no way that they could possibly dress the baby without waking him, but she didn't think his parents would appreciate it if they let him lay around with only a diaper on.
When Ringabel returned to drape the blue blanket over the child's form, tucking him carefully, she sat up. "Do we leave him here?" Edea asked.
Ringabel nodded. "We may as well. As long as we check in on him every so often, he should be fine." To be on the safe side, they surrounded the child with pillows, to keep him from falling off if he were to roll over, before retreating back to the doorway, watching him all the way.
"Sleep tight," Ringabel called, throwing a kiss at the child's still form before he closed the door nearly all the way, keeping only the slightest gap open.
Edea elbowed him in the side. "Just remember to keep quiet so you don't wake him up."
"Me? Be loud? Never!"
As they moved away from the doorway, beginning to bicker, Toivo stirred.
