Faire Play
Tommy frowned, reaching up and adjusting the little plastic knight helm his mommy had put on him. It was a fun toy and he liked it a lot, just like he liked the outfit she'd put him in that looked like armor. There was a lot of stuff going on at storybook world place his mommy and daddy had taken him too but there was something missing.
His friends.
"What's wrong with the little guy?" a woman with her own child, a five year old dressed as a princess, asked.
"Oh, normally we take all his little friends with us when we go to places like this," Didi said, bouncing Tommy slightly to try and get him to smile. But while there were a ton of cool and exciting things to see it wasn't much fun without Chuckie and Phil and Lil there. He bet there were just hiding… as soon as he could he was going to go find them! Then they could go on an adventure! "But my husband got hired to make the dragon for the faire so him and his father will be focused on that. Four babies is way too many little ones for me to keep an eye on and it doesn't seem fair to Tommy to just drop him off at the daycare."
"That makes sense," the other mother said, neither she nor Didi realizing that Tommy was now focusing rather intently on the conversation. "And with this crowd it would be easy to lose 4 babies."
"Exactly," Didi said with a grin. "No, my friends and I have been talking and we think that unless everyone can go we need to begin being more careful about group trips. Stay at home if its one parent with four babies."
Tommy's eyes went wide at that. No more trips with his friends?
"And besides, now Tommy and I can be together the entire day!" Didi said, lifting Tommy up and giving him a kiss on the nose.
The one year old… didn't know how to feel. Yes, he loved his mommy and he enjoyed it when she cuddled with him and played with him… but he also loved his friends and exploring!
Tommy resolved that he'd spend a bit of time with his mommy but otherwise the first chance he got he'd go on an adventure!
But his mommy never even let him go! And yes, they got to see a lot of amazing things… but he never got to explore on his own! As a result he got cranky rather quick.
"What's wrong with Tommy?" Stu asked as they packed up for the day; his dragon robot had worked wonders thanks to him doing plenty of testing on it.
"Oh, I think he's getting to that stage where he just wants to stay at home. Sometimes babies just get homesick quick." Didi shook her head. "Guess we won't be going out as much anymore."
Tommy, realizing his mistake, began to cry.