A Whole New Stu

"One second champ," Stu said as he began to spin Dil around. The 4 month old squealed in delight, having finally stopped crying, but Tommy sadly began to wander away, head down.

"My daddy used to play the helebopper game with me… now all he does is play with Dil."

"Aw, don't feel bad Tommy," Phil said, "your daddy just, uh, thinks Dil is more fun."

"Hey!" Chuckie complained. "Tommy is the funnest baby I know!"

Tommy smiled at that only for it to drop. "If that's true why doesn't my daddy play with me anymore?" He sniffed, only to blink as Stu lifted Tommy up.

"Hey Champ!" Stu said, bouncing Tommy once up in the air. "I'm really sorry about that." He'd noticed Tommy looking rather upset and lonesome and Stu had felt instant regret at focusing only on Dil. "Hey, why don't you and I have a little chat, okay?" He carried Tommy over to his chair, Tommy noticing that Dil was asleep in his carrier. "Listen… I know its rough having Dil around. You're used to it just being you and me and your mom, huh?" Tommy looked at his father, loving getting to sit with him. It was almost as fun as playing a game. "So sometimes that means that I have to spend time with Dil. But…" he reached out and gave Tommy a tickle, the baby giggling, "that also means I am going to be playing with you, just the two of us. And sometimes it will be Dil with us but… you're older than him which means we get to do a lot of things Dil can't do!"

Tommy's mouth opened at that and he stared at his daddy in wonder. Did… did he mean big boy games!? Was that why his daddy didn't throw him in the air or give him helebobber rides anymore? Because they were for babies? He thought about Angelica… she didn't get helebobber games but she did do other fun things with his daddy…

"Soon I'll be teaching you how to ride a bike and how to play catch and it will be Dil who has to wait til we are done. He'll have to nap while we go for hikes or play basketball or race. All I ask is you try and understand." He smiled at that. "I promise I will NEVER forget about you." He bounced Tommy up and down on his knee. "Not sure if you even understand-"

He stopped when Tommy pitched forward and gave him a hug.