Natalie
While making small talk with a neighbor, I noticed Charlie running into the house with a very upset Rachael. Her eyes were red. Worried, I ran to catch up to him. The thought of something happening to my baby made my heart skip a beat.
"What happened?" I asked over Rachael's wailing. Poor kid!
"She fell and scraped herself." Charlie replied. We were now in the house and on our way to the bathroom.
"It's okay baby!" I stroked her head. She always found it soothing. "mommy's here."
Charlie held her, while I cleaned and bandaged the affected areas. Rachael, while good at walking, hadn't gotten the running thing down. Her ability to move around by herself had been a great joy, and a bit of a stress as I had to worry about her getting into danger. Soon I was done, and I got her from Charlie, after saying thanks. She still whimpered and had a few tears on her little face. I sat on the floor with her on my lap. She put her head on my chest and sucked her thumb. When I felt that she was ready to go back, I wiped her face, fixed her hair, and we all went back out.
The party was going better than I expected. Rachael wasn't getting overwhelmed and the costumed folks were doing a good job. All the kids seemed to like the mini houses, and the tunnels. My husband is the ultimate host. This party has confirmed my theory that Alan would be very successful professional party planner.
"There ya are!" Alan said. He must have been looking for me. There seemed to be some undertones of annoyance in his voice.
"Rach scraped her knees and elbows."
"Maybe some cotton candy will make ya feel better?"he offered sweetly to Rach. She stretched her arms to indicate that she watned him to carry her.
"Cotton candy?" I didn't remember seeing the machine used to make it.
"One of Stan's kids has a cotton candy maker. She's coming soon" Alan got her from me. Rach was turning into a bit of a daddy's girl, though he did try to be firm with her when needed.
Our daughter squirmed to be let down, and soon she returned to the play area. Things had slowed down a bit and decided to discuss what I had on my mind.
"You need to talk to Charlie about what he did" I told my husband. While I appreciated the guy's help, I wanted Rachael to always see a united front among the adults in her life.
"I will, but things are kinda crazy right now" he assured me.
"You could have told him something right then"
"Let's talk about this later" he left to mingle.
Sighing, I deciding to check on Rachael in the kids' area. Before I knew it, Mom joined me. We both watched Rachael play and talk in her own fashion with other kids.
"She certainly takes after Alan"
"yeah..." I agreed with my mother.
"Enjoy these years while you can" she advised. "Before you know it, Rachael will grow up and be your age" She was right. Time did fly. For that reason, I had recently made it so that I had the first and third wednesdays, plus every Friday off.
"Dad's wondering where you are" Don said after joining us.
"I was just checking on Rach" I explained to him. "She just fell"
"Charlie told me."
With that,I went to continue my hostess duties.
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Eventually, it was time to sing happy Birthday, and for Rachael to blow the candle. When I took her to the cake, she tried to reach for the lit candle.
"No!" I got her hand and put it by her side, but she tried again, and tried to get on the table. All that cotten candy was starting to get to her. It took Alan and me a while to get her to pose for some photos. Everyone sang, and she attempted to blow out the candle, but failed. I discretly helped the second time she tried.
"Bapa!" she said with a smile while everyone clapped.
Cake was eaten, and presents were opened. After a while, the small children started to get cranky. Rach was no exception. Alan picked her up and took her inside to take a nap. By and by, guests disapated from the party and cleanup began.
"Why don't you start picking up the plates from that table?" Alan suggested. I had started from the middle.
"It's fine..." I insisted.
"That was a wonderful party, Alan!" my mother told him, and added with a smile "Maybe when one of my grandchildren get married, you could arrange the reception!"
"Glad you had a good time" he said.
"Rach seemed to have enjoyed herself" I remarked, putting some more dirty paper plates in a large, black trash bag. Hosting had been hard and stressful, but worth the effort.
By the time we finished most of the work, it was very late and time to go home.
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The following Friday, I spent the day with Rach. I took her to a petting zoo, one of the few decent ones. The animals had a large enough space, good food, clean water, and seemed to be in good health.
"This is a rabbit" I told her, while guiding her hand. Little children tended to look at animals as soft toys and handle them roughly.. Layla and Rocko had both at one time or another hissed or growled at her. I never left them alone with my daughter.
"NaGa!" she replied. Rach then got to pet a goat, llama, and a very old horse. Afterwards, we went to the bookstore so that I could get some books to read to her. I even found a guide on how to teach toddlers a bit of sign language!
I loved spending time with Rach and seeing the world through her eyes. For her, everything is new and worthy of curiosity.
I saw Don, when she and I were at the park. From several feet, he acknowledged us, and said hi when he was close enough. His new haircut made him look like a man who had been released from prison some weeks before, especially on the sides. A part of me felt tempted to ask 'What were you in for?', but my good judgment vetoed that.
"It's your day off, right?" he asked, then said to Rachael in a playful voice "How's my girl?" Megan, who was with him, also said hi to both of us.
"Yeah...I got her some new books" I informed him. "And a how-to on how to teach kids sign language." We got along much better, and Don was great with Rachael, though I got kinda annoyed at him when he visited so often when Rach was first born. Visitors are the last thing someone who feels overwhelmed, and has post partum depression need.
"Yeah?"
"It's supposed to help language development" I explained quickly, as his 'yeah' sounded like a concerned one.
"Has she gone to the doctor lately?" he continued.
"Yeah, for some boosters"
"It'll be nice to know what she's saying, for a change" I joked.
We all made some more small talk, and they had to go.
A while later, Alan called.
"I've arranged a play date for Rach" he announced.
"Play date?" I repeated.
"It's a great way for her to meet kids her age" he said.
"I don't know..." A part of me worried about her going to the houses of strangers. " isn't that what preschool is for?"
"The play dates will take place at a park!" He told me.
"Okay..."
"I'll take her" my husband promised.
"Okay..." I agreed. Alan, would get along much better with fellow parents.
"Well, I gotta go to a meeting. Cya tonight?"
"yeah...love ya"
"You too"
With that, the conversation ended. I hoped that Rachael's first play date would go well.
TBC
