Angelica's Birthday

Drew shook his head, picking up the card Angelica had tossed on the ground. "Angelica, that wasn't very polite."

"But there was no money in it!"

He sat down on the bed. "But your grandma picked out this card because she wanted to make you smile. Do you think it would make her happy to see you toss that card away without even reading it?"

Angelica considered that. She wanted to point out that getting money would make her smile but she supposed her daddy wouldn't like that. And… Grandma was really nice to her…

"That's something you have to remember, sweetie… you are getting older so you need to act like it."

"What do you mean?"

Drew considered his words carefully, remembering what Dr. Jasper had said during their last appointment. Angelica had a problem with feeling like she should be pampered and waited on hand and foot and honestly it was Drew and Charlotte's fault; Angelica was their miracle baby and they had just wanted her to be happy. It had taken so much effort to get pregnant, with Charlotte always fearful she was going to miscarry… when they'd finally gotten to hold Angelica it had been the happiest moment of their lives. But they'd coddled her a bit too much and done too much for her and it had made her, well, a bit spoiled.

'But her birthday is the perfect way to deal with that,' he thought as he hit on an idea.

"You see sweetheart, when people get older they are expected to do more around the house. A few more chores, that sort of thing."

As predicted Angelica gasped at that. "That doesn't sound fun at all!"

"Maybe… but by doing that you also earn the right to do things you haven't been able to do." He looked around her room before grabbing a doll; not Cynthia, another doll. "See how Melody here has little plastic shoes? Tommy couldn't be trusted with a doll like this because he might eat the shoes."

"Because he's a baby."

"That's right. And a few years ago I couldn't have trusted YOU with this doll because you were a baby too." He reached over and handed her the doll. "But because you showed that you were old enough to be careful with your toys you earned the right to have her."

"…so I might have to do boring chores and things… but in exchange I get to do fun stuff?"

"Exactly!" Drew said. "Now, I think it would be really nice if you and I wrote a thank you note to grandma." He paused, seeing that Angelica wasn't quite sure about that. "When Tommy had his birthday he didn't even get to suggest what to write. But I'll write down every word you say…"

Drew did feel guilty using Tommy as a scapegoat to get Angelica to take on some more responsibilities. But, no pun intended, baby steps were needed.