Giggles & Softies
The giggles from the nursery was a sweet sound to Calleigh's ears. In the mirror on the wall across the room she saw the reflection of the two.
Nevaeh was sitting on the change table in just her diaper. Eric had taken out a purple and white pyjamas with various Sesame Street characters on the top.
"Give me your right foot," Eric said to the baby.
Nevaeh lifted her left foot.
"Not that one, silly," Eric said.
Nevaeh raised her other foot.
"There you go," Eric said, slipping the pants on the child's legs, standing her up and pulling them up. He sat the baby back down. "Put your hands up," he said. His daughter put her arms up, giggling. Eric smiled. "You know that one, don't ya?"
Daddy topped off the outfit with Neaveh's white bunny slipper since they were going to play for another little while before bed. Putting the girl in her pyjamas was a cue to her it was soon time to settle down. When Nevaeh was dressed for bed earlier than bedtime helped her go to bed easier. "We'll leave your buddy here since you're not going to sleep yet," Eric referring to the bear Horatio had given the girl when she were days old. Nevaeh wouldn't sleep without it. Anytime the bear had to take a trip through the washing machine, like the day before when his child decided to "share" her chocolate pudding with him by dipping his nose in it, it was in a laundry sack. This proved to be extending the life of the toy. He still looked pretty new.
Eric saw his wife when he carried their daughter out of the room.
"Do you want mami to play with us for a while?" He asked Nevaeh.
She nodded. "Si," she said.
"You're the best dad, you know," Calleigh said, snuggling into Eric's bare chest when she got into bed that night.
Eric smiled. "She makes it easy."
While Eric didn't doubt how much he would bond with his child, even before she were born, just how much she meant to him could bring tears to her father's eyes. For the most part, he and Calleigh were firm about no baby in their bed after she were weaned from the breast, unless Nevaeh was sick but daddy was weak to Nevaeh's calls of "dada!" in the middle of the night. Sometimes he were able to ignore her and after only a few moments the baby would soothe herself back to sleep. Other times Eric would give in immediately. Both knew that the majority of the time there was nothing the matter with the little girl; she had just woke up and now wanted attention.
Nevaeh almost never called out to mom; she knew mom would only check on her and if nothing was wrong, mom would leave her in her crib to put herself back to sleep.
"You're a wuss, you know," Calleigh smiled sleepily at her husband after he got back into bed after being up with Nevaeh for twenty minutes at 3:00am. "And she knows it, too."
Eric smiled. There was anything wrong with Nevaeh. As mommy predicted she just wanted attention because she were awake. Eric had picked her up and sat with her in the rocking chair. He stroked Nevaeh's back with his fingertips as the baby hugged into his chest, her short legs around his waist. She was snoozing again in moments.
"Oh really?"
"Really. Why do you think she only ever calls out for you? She knows I'll leave her there."
"If we ever have a boy, we'll see what happens to you," Eric teased back.
Even if it was three in the morning, she just wanted a cuddle and she's only a little baby, Eric's softie daddy side reasoned.
Even though all their family and friends were asking when they were going to have a second child now that Nevaeh were almost two, the couple still couldn't think of that yet. Oh, they definitely wanted more children, maybe even more than two but they had plenty of time. Calleigh refused to admit it but she knew she would probably be a softie with a little boy as Eric was with their daughter.
