A/N: I'm going to be gone on a camping trip for a few days, so I won't be writing or updating. And then after that I'll be getting ready to move, so I might not be able to update for a while. Sorry! I promise I am writing in my head though. And as always, anything you'd like to see or ideas you have, let me know. I love giving readers a little something special like that.

"I need more cereal!"

"Where's my backpack?"

"Fruity Pebbles please mama!"

"I can't find my shoes either."

"I would take Cocoa Pebbles if that would be faster!"

"Ahhh! My diaper spilled!"

The shouts from downstairs were drowned out by the giggling coming from upstairs.

"Do you think this is going to be big enough for a bathroom?" Lindsay chuckled, trying to get away from Adam's wandering hands.

"I think so. It'll look different once they start working on it," he replied, checking out the two by fours that framed the room for now. "And it will definitely be big enough if you get off the idea of having a claw foot tub. We already have one downstairs.

"I know, but that's going to be the kids bathroom. I want one for me."

"They'd have to reinforce the floor or you'd fall into Avery's room when you filled the tub up."

She giggled and he grabbed her around the waist, pulling her out of the unfinished room.

"Think we should go downstairs and get the kids ready for-"

"My diaper spilled!" Avery yelled again, panic obvious in her voice. "Please help!"

"I think she mentioned that she wanted daddy to help her."

"Yeah, and she added that her mama really needs to get cracking on this potty training thing."

"Hey!"

She smacked his arm and he headed out of the room, knowing that the teasing had earned him diaper patrol.

"Well there you are finally!" Ben said as Adam made it into the kitchen. "I need some Cocoa Pebbles."

"I gotta take care of your sister's cocoa pebbles first."

Ben and Colton erupted into laughter while Avery whined in embarrassment and followed Adam into the other room to get cleaned up.

"Hey Cole, could you get me some more cereal?"

"Yeah. But there's no pebble kinds left. What about these Grape Nuts?"

"I've never had grape cereal before! Go ahead and put it in my milk!"

Colton poured a generous helping of the cereal into the bowl and Ben took a huge spoonful, cramming it into his mouth.

"Oh gross! This doesn't taste like grapes at all!"

He spit it back into the bowl and made a face, wrinkling his nose.

"What kind of crazy person would eat that stuff?"

"I would," Lindsay chuckled, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. "They're better hot."

"That sounds even more grosser. I'm not hungry anymore. Time for school?"

"Not quite. You still need to get your shoes and socks on and find your backpacks."

"Wanna race, Ben?"

"Sure! On your mark get set go!"

They raced up the stairs while Adam came back into the room with Avery who was crying.

"What's the matter baby?"

"Daddy mean!"

"Daddy's not mean, Averylin. What happened?"

"We had a talk about her love of diapers and I told her that once this pack of diapers is gone she doesn't get any more and she wasn't too happy about that."

"Avery have diapers. Daddy take them away."

"I don't know Adam, maybe we should talk about this."

"You want to talk about it but you don't want to do it," he sighed, sending Avery upstairs to get her shoes.

"Are you saying it's my fault?"

"I'm saying that maybe if you actually tried, I wouldn't have to be the bad guy."

"If I tried? Adam I don't know what to do with her! I've tried everything I can think of and nothing has worked."

"Every kid gets potty trained at some point."

"So it's all up to me?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you're blaming me for it. That's fair."

"Linds."

"I don't want to have this fight."

"Okay, so you wanna have it when she's three? Four? Getting told she can't go to kindergarten because she's not potty-trained?"

"I think they call that a slippery-slope fallacy," she snapped, turning to go back into the kitchen.

"I don't care what it is! You tell me when this ends and I will stand behind you in it, but you've got to come up with a plan here babe."

"Why do I have to come up with a plan?"

"Because you've shot down every plan I've had. We have to stand together on this. So you make a plan and I will support it but you've got to do something."

She ran her fingers into her hair then rubbed at her temples, frustrated at this turn of events.

"Linds, do you really want to be changing diapers anymore? No."

"We're fighting about potty-training. Twelve years together and we're arguing about the bathroom habits of our kid. When did this happen? When did we stop fighting about whose turn it was to hold the remote?"

"When we got two remotes."

She gave a half amused snort and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her as much as she would allow.

"I'm sorry I put it all on you babe. I guess I keep comparing her to the boys and maybe that's not fair, but I don't want her to be behind."

"I don't either."

"So how shall we potty-train our strong-willed child?"

"We become strong-willed parents."

"By jove…"

"Let's do the no more diapers thing and get ready to wash lots of clothes."

"Can I get a fist bump on that one?"

"Let's see how it goes before we rush into anything."

"Isn't that what you said when we started dating?"

"Yeah. Look how well that turned out though."

"Fighting about the bathroom habits of our child."

She laughed and hugged him, glad their disagreement was short lived and that she always knew he was well intentioned.

"Okay can we go now? I wanna see Dunner before school!" Ben asked as he jumped off the last step.

"Yes we can go. And after today you will probably never be this excited to go to school."

"Yes I will silly daddy. Yes I will."

"I go school too," Avery said, walking carefully across the line in the floor. "Go tumblin' school."

"Oh that's right you do," Austin chuckled, pulling the little girl into her arms. "Mama and I will come and watch you while the boys are in school."

"Au'tin I show you how I pepper-salt. And the cartwheel."

"Oh, I can't wait to see that sweetie."

Avery smiled and skipped back down the hall, turning around halfway to walk across the line towards them again. The classroom wasn't open yet, so Ben and Junior were sitting on a small bench outside the door. Junior was very nervous, kicking his legs back and forth and staring at the classroom door as if he was about to go to the doctors office.

"You know somethin' Dunner? It's gonna be okay. I promise you will like school. I will show you the ropes."

"Ropes? Do they tie us up?"

"No Dunner, that's a phrase what means I will show you how it works."

"Oh. But Binyin, I don't think I'm ready to leave my ma. She needs me, you know."

"Yeah I know. But eventually all the little birds gotta leave the nest."

"I'm not a bird Binyin."

"It's another phrase what means something else."

"Oh. I am just pretty nervous. I wish my dad was here but he took the girls to their classrooms."

"It's okay Dunner. This is going to be a great day. And if you start feelin' like it's not great, then just look to the side and I will be there next to you. That's what Cole told me about life and how he will always be my big brother. So this is about kindergarten and how I will always be your best friend."

"I feel better thinkin' about that Binyin."

"There's somethin' we need to talk about. I don't think that we should call each other by our nicknames anymore. Least not at school."

"How come?"

"Because it's not our names. And we don't wanna get maked fun of for still usin' the names what we called each other when we were babies."

"So what do we call each other?"

"You can call me Ben like everyone else does. And I will call you Daniel? Or Junior?"

"Call me Junior. Only my ma calls me Daniel. Because usually that's the name she uses when she's upset with my dad."

"Okay. I will call you Junior and you will call me Ben, but when we are at home we can be Dunner and Binyin again."

"Sounds good Biny- I mean Ben."

"I agree Junior. Do you think we will get to sit next to each other in school?"

"I hope so! That would be fun! Hey ma, do you think me and Ben will get to sit next to each other?"

"Maybe so. You'll have to wait and see."

Junior seemed much happier at the prospect and the boys fell into a quiet conversation for the next few minutes until the classroom door opened.

"Yay! Let's go Dunn- I mean Junior!"

They held hands and stepped through the door together, Avery shrieking and following them.

"Wow, kindergarten is just like Cole said it would be!" Ben marveled, looking at all the pictures on the walls and buckets of toys. "Hi teacher! Remember me and Junior?"

"Of course I remember you," the teacher said with a smile, coming over to greet them. "Are you boys excited for today?"

"I am! Junior is almost. He would like to know about snack time."

"We will have snack time in about an hour. How does that sound?"

"I like that very much. My ma packed me a snack in this lunchbox."

"That's a neat lunchbox!"

"You like the Yankees too?"

"Well of course I do."

"You're a good woman, teacher. We will get along just fine. Hey ma! You could leave now. Me and teacher are friends because she likes the Yankees too! I'm in good hands!"

Austin chuckled and leaned down to hug him tightly.

"Why don't we find your desk and get you all settled before I go."

"Alright! Teacher, you put my name Junior on my desk right?"

"Yep, that's what you asked to be called. I put you boys right next to each other for now."

The boys both shouted with happiness and raced over to the desks she indicated.

"Look I got dinosaurs on my name!" Ben hollered. "Look sissy!"

"Oh wow!" Avery giggled. "Dan-yo have baseballs!"

The boys sat down and began to unload their backpacks into their desks as other kids filtered in. Ben greeted them all with a friendly smile and Junior just nodded along when he was introduced as Ben's "bestest buddy." They seemed happy and ready to do this on their own but neither one of their mothers really wanted to leave. They stayed and stayed until the last moment, most of the other parents had left.

"Okay Ben are you ready?"

"Of course mama! I done pre-school, I am sure this will be easy-peasy!"

"Okay. We'll be back to pick you up after Avery's tumbling class."

"I know. Now shoo mama. It's time for me to learn."

She smiled and hugged him tightly, then kissed his full cheek before taking Avery out into the hallway. Austin took a little longer to say goodbye and when she joined them her eyes were teary.

"Aust?"

"He's my last baby. You don't understand, you get to do this again!"

"You could always get knocked up again."

Austin made a face and Lindsay giggled as they made their way out of the school.

"I didn't know it was possible to drop the f-bomb without saying a word."

"Seriously, Lin?"

"Your face for all the awards."

Austin rolled her eyes as they made their way to the car. Avery was singing to herself about her tumbling class and before she climbed into her seat, she stripped her jean skirt off to reveal her leotard.

"That was a quick costume change," Austin chuckled, wiping her eyes.

"Are you ready to tumble?" Avery shouted, clapping her hands while Lindsay tried to buckle her in.

"Is that how you get yourself all psyched up for it?"

"Yep!"

Lindsay got in and started the car and soon they were on their way to Avery's gymnastics class. She was quivering with excitement once she saw the building and by the time they got out of the car she was nearly dancing.

"Au'tin I show you my class. Come inside."

She grabbed Austin's hand and pulled her towards the doors, running almost at full speed.

"Here we go! Hello! Avery's here!"

The rest of the kids looked up from their pre-class game of tag and waved at her, asking her to join them. Happily, she hopped onto the mat and joined the game, falling several times when she tried to run, but laughing and getting up to try again.

"Do you think she's really that popular or is it just that she won't be denied?"

"The second."

"I never thought I would see that girl this excited over anything but food," Austin mused.

"I know. She really loves it. We thought it would just be a summer thing but I think we're going to keep her in until she stops liking it."

"That may be a while. Look at that grin on her face."

Even though the kids were being made to sit in a circle for the start of class, Avery looked beside herself with joy.

"You gonna be okay, Aust?"

"What, with letting my youngest fly the coop?"

"He didn't fly the coop, he went to kindergarten."

"Yes I'm fine. It's just that he's always been my baby. Sarah's been in school for two years, so that's two years I've had him home with me most of the time. I didn't get that with the girls really. It's different. I'm having a harder time with this one."

"It will get easier I'm sure."

"You just wait until you have to take Avery to school. You're going to be a blubbering mess."

"Well according to Adam that might be a long time because she's not potty-trained yet and he suspects they'll reject her from school if I don't get on the ball."

"Oh, so you two had a fight and that's why you didn't kiss him goodbye this morning."

"We made up but I wasn't all that fond of him still."

Austin smirked and watched as Avery took her turn on the bars.

"Maybe you need to leave it up to her. Don't say anything about it anymore. That's what we did with Isa."

"Oh that's right. But wasn't that the reason she would leave dirty diapers in weird places and you wouldn't find them for days?"

"Okay so in theory it's a good idea."

"In theory and you are a cop, not a scientist."

"You're just stacking the cards against me, you realize that right Lin?"

"I guess."

"I'm glad the boys got to sit next to each other today," Austin said, changing the subject. "Daniel was really worried about it."

"He gets your puppy-dog eyebrows when he's worried. It's cute."

"That's pretty much all he's got of mine. Otherwise he's just like Danny."

"He's like you in a lot more ways than just your eyebrows Aust."

"Like how?"

"He doesn't cry. Not that you never cry. Just that he puts on a brave face a lot. I think at his age it's good because it shows him that things do get better. Whereas Ben bursts into tears at the very slightest thing."

"Well, as he says, he's a very sensitive boy."

"They make a good pair. Ben learns to toughen up a little and Junior can see that it's okay to feel things."

"I used to think that Isa and Colton's friendship was just like ours, but I think it's the boys."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Of course I don't think the boys will make a habit of sharing blankets on the couch and watching John Hughes movies when they're bored."

"And if they do, well at least maybe we could join."

"Mama, so many things happened today! I think my desk doesn't like me much because one time I standed up and it flipped over. Then the other time I was tippin' in my chair and all my stuffs come crashin' down all over me!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't have been horsing around."

"It sure maked all the kids laugh though. Even the teacher smiled when I said that the desk was treatin' me unfairly."

"What else happened today?"

"Me and Dunner maked some new friends! Some boys named Derek and Micah and Mason, and a little girl called Rosie. I think she is going to be my first girlfriend."

"Oh you think so huh?"

"Yep. We got lots in common. She likes Batman like I do."

"I'm glad you made some friends."

"Me too but I missed sissy really much."

"She missed you too. She couldn't wait until it was time to pick you up and now she's all tuckered out from her class."

Ben nodded and reached over to pat Avery's back.

"I will play with her when she wakes up. Can we go home and have lunch?"

"Yeah. Let me put all this stuff back in your backpack and you can go ask Austin and Junior if they want to come over for lunch."

"Okay! Hey Austin and Dunner! Wanna eat at our house?"

He galloped off across the hall to them while Lindsay fought all his papers back into his bag and tried to keep a hold of the sleeping Avery.

"Mama they said yes! Let's go, I'm starvin'!"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the doors, looking across at the playground where the older kids were having recess.

"Hey Cole! COLE!"

Colton looked up from the game he was playing with some friends and ran over to the fence with a smile on his face.

"Hey Ben! How was your first day of school?"

"It was great Cole! I will tell ya all about it when you come home okay? Where's Sarah and Isa?"

"Playin' with some kids in their class. They get to share a class this year like me and Sarah did last year. But this time I'm left out."

"That's too bad Cole."

"It's okay, I made some other friends. Did you?"

"Yep, me and Dunner maked four friends. We're gonna go have lunch now."

They waved goodbye to each other and Ben and Junior joined hands, skipping along to the car.

"I think they're going to be just fine, Aust."

"Today our teacher told us that we were going to have elections for a class president," Colton said with a yawn as Adam tucked him in. "The class president gets lots of jobs like taking attendance and getting to run errands to the office. Also the class president of our class gets to go with the class presidents of the other third grade classes and they get to learn how to be crossing guards and some other stuff. And I really wanted to do it. But then I was thinking about it and I decided to let someone else do it. Because like mama says, I am growing up but that doesn't mean I have to do every grown up thing all the time. So I decided that I didn't want to take on this responsibility. And I thought that was a very grown-up decision to let myself be a kid."

Adam chuckled and hugged his son.

"I think that was a good idea buddy. There will always be other opportunities too."

"That's what I thought. Goodnight daddy."

"Goodnight Colton."

Adam moved over to the other bed to tuck Ben in again, then left the room, making sure the door was just barely open.

"Mama, it my diaper," Avery whined softly from the other room.

"I know. But once they're all gone, you don't get any more."

"I want them!"

"That's too bad. It's time to go on the potty like a big girl."

"Why?"

"Because daddy and I said so."

Avery whimpered and wiped at her eyes while Lindsay rocked her slowly in the chair.

"And now it's time to go to sleep."

"'Morrow, I play with Ben."

"Yes, you get to play with Ben tomorrow."

"Dan-yo come too?"

"I can't remember if Junior is coming over tomorrow or not. I'll let you know in the morning."

"Mama, kiss me."

Lindsay chuckled and kissed her, then stood up from the chair and took Avery over to her bed.

"I be in your bed in morning?"

"You can come upstairs and get in bed with us when the sun comes up."

"Okay mama. I sleep good. I love you."

"Love you too Averylin. Goodnight."

She tucked her daughter in a little tighter then slipped out of the room, joining Adam in the hallway.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They were quiet for a moment before he reached over and took her hand.

"Wanna go upstairs?"

"No."

"Not for that! I thought we could pick paint colors."

"Oh. Well in that case, I'll go find dessert."

He rolled his eyes at her and she went downstairs for ice-cream while he went up to their bedroom and found the magazine they'd gotten from the hardware store that had different paint colors in it. They hadn't had time to thumb through it before but he knew she wanted to have a plan for the bathroom as soon as possible.

"I like the green one," she said, closing the bedroom door behind her.

"Which green one?"

"Page three. That green color with the cream trim."

"It's nice."

"You don't really care do you?"

"As long as it's not neon purple, no, I really don't mind."

"That was my second choice."

He chuckled and took one of the bowls of ice-cream from her while she climbed onto the bed next to him.

"You know, I think the whole house could do with some repainting."

"No."

"What?"

"No way. The paint is only three years old and none of it needs changing."

"What about the outside of the house?"

"I like that it's all chipping and gross. Makes burglars believe we got nothin' in here."

"Chipping paint is your security system."

"You sometimes forget I grew up in the country, don't you?"

"Well what's going to happen in a few weeks when we finish building that fort out back and it's painted nicer than the house?"

"Then we move into the fort."

"Babe, the boys would never let us do that."

"Okay, we'll paint the house next summer, but we're hiring someone."

"Deal. Now, back to the bathroom."

"I decided against the claw foot tub, but I do want jets."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Do you know you're spoiled?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll price jetted tubs but if it doesn't fit or if they're ridiculously expensive, no tub bub."

"Then maybe you could look for something that's big enough for two."

"Did you know you're really bad at flirting?"

She giggled and leaned her head on his shoulder enjoying the knowledge that no matter how bad she could be at flirting, he would still love her. For a moment she started to think about just how they'd gotten here, jumped from being friends to being deeply in love in what seemed like a short amount of time. She'd often wondered if somewhere buried deep down, they'd always been waiting for each other and once they met it was as if there was nothing that could stop them. They really didn't seem to have a choice, and didn't really want one either.

"Hey honey, you done with that ice-cream?"

"Yeah why?"

"Because remember how I said no earlier? I changed my mind."