A/N: Fluffy aftercare the next day.
"Mommy, mine tushy hurts." Gracie whimpered while Mommy was getting her dressed for the day. Olivia looked at her sympathetically.
"I know it does, Gracie-baby. It will stop hurting by tomorrow, I promise. Do you want Mommy to rub more arnica on your little tushy before I put your diaper on?" Olivia offered lovingly.
"Yes, peeze. Why we no go work?" Gracie asked as she rolled over onto her belly so that Mommy could rub more arnica on her bottom. It wasn't quite as red and sore as it had been last night while she cried herself to sleep in Mommy's arms, but it was still as bright as a fire engine and very tender. Grace had woken up in her big girl form feeling very fragile but prepared to go to work and tough it out, only to be informed that she and Olivia were staying home again today. One look at the immense relief in Grace's dazzling blue eyes told Olivia that she had made the right decision, followed by a tight hug when Olivia informed her that she was allowed to be little all day.
"Well, yesterday was a very hard, yucky day for my Gracie-baby, and Mommy thinks my good girl deserves some extra special loving up all day today. Gracie gets to tell Mommy what she wants today; whether she wants to do finger painting at the kitchen table, or have chocolate milk in her sippy cup, or cuddle on Mommy's lap with storybooks, or have popcorn and a movie marathon, or get belly tickles, or play Candy Land, or play hide and seek, or anything else she wants to help her feel special and help her remember that she's a good girl and Mommy loves her so very much."
"I has mac an' cheese for brake-fast, peeze?" Gracie asked excitedly, her dazzling blue eyes lighting up happily, and Olivia couldn't help but laugh. She normally wouldn't allow such a thing, but she would allow it today. Grace could make up for the lack of nutrition tomorrow
"If that's what my baby wants, that's what my baby gets." Olivia agreed indulgently.
Gracie sat at the table babbling happily about all the things little girls love to talk about while she enjoyed her bowl of mac and cheese, her diaper providing sufficient padding for her tender bottom, while Olivia sat next to her eating a bowl of cereal. When breakfast was over, Olivia gently cleaned Gracie's face and removed her bib. Gracie suddenly jumped to her feet.
"Can't catch me, Mommy!" Gracie quickly darted out of the kitchen, giggling wildly.
"Mommy's gonna get you! Here I come!" Olivia teased as she chased after her.
Olivia chased Gracie around the apartment until finally she managed to catch Gracie around her waist and sweep her off her feet. Olivia carried Gracie over to the couch where she sat down and cuddled Gracie on her lap, lifting Gracie's shirt to have access to her belly.
"I see Mommy has a silly baby girl today. You know what Mommy has to do to silly baby girls." Olivia teased, slowly wriggling her fingers. Gracie giggled happily as Mommy tickled her belly.
Their tickle session ended up turning into a cuddling session with Gracie cuddled in Mommy's arms while Mommy rocked her, stroked her face, and showered her with gentle words of praise and comfort while Winnie the Pooh played on the TV in the background. Frannie jumped up on the couch with them and licked Gracie's toes in greeting since that's all she could reach.
"Doggie tickles!" Gracie giggled.
"Is Frannie getting those little feeties?" Olivia teased, reaching down to tickle Gracie's feet.
"Mommy, I has appah juice in mine sippy, peeze?" Gracie asked through her giggles.
"Good girl, so polite. Yes, you can have apple juice. Up we go." Olivia guided Gracie to sit up and settled her comfortably on the couch while she went to the kitchen to fetch the requested drink. Gracie happily cuddled Jewel in her arms and watched Winnie the Pooh while she waited for Mommy to return.
Later, Gracie and Mommy played Candy Land and Gracie giggled when she beat Mommy three times. After that, they played checkers, Skip-Bo, and Go Fish, and Mommy patiently showed her the difference when Gracie got confused between the six and the nine card. Gracie asked to order Chinese food for lunch and Mommy willingly obliged, glad that Gracie had chosen something relatively healthy since there would be vegetables involved. When she finished all of her food, Gracie received high praise and a popsicle as a reward. After lunch, Gracie insisted on no nap today, but she ended up falling asleep on the couch anyway while she was watching Beauty and the Beast. Olivia smiled when she walked in and found Gracie asleep on the couch with her pacifier in her mouth, having known full well that Gracie would fall asleep eventually after lunch since that's what her little body was used to. Olivia turned off the TV and decided to just let Gracie sleep on the couch, so she covered her with a light blanket and bent down to gently kiss her temple. Gracie smiled softly in her sleep. Frannie jumped up on the couch and settled down for a nap of her own beside the sleeping human and wagged her tail when the other human petted her head as she walked by.
"Owie!" Gracie woke up about an hour later and yelped in surprise when she immediately fell off the couch, having forgotten that that's where she fell asleep. Olivia hurried in when she heard Gracie's body hit the floor.
"Are you okay, baby girl?" Olivia asked, gently guiding Gracie to her feet.
"I's okays. Da four bited me. Naughty four." Gracie pouted.
"Do you want Mommy to spank the floor for you?" Olivia teased, making Gracie giggle.
"Mommy, I's wet. I has diaper change and mo'e c'eam on mine tushy, peeze?"
"Yes, you can have both of those things." Olivia agreed, picking Gracie up and carrying her to her bedroom.
"Mommy, we stays wiff 'Manda fo'evers?" Gracie asked while Mommy rubbed arnica on her bottom.
"Well, not forever, we just haven't found the right place for us yet. Do you remember all of the apartments we have been looking at online?"
"No wike dem." Gracie wrinkled her nose cutely.
"Mommy didn't like them either, that's why we only went to walk through two of them so far. We will keep looking for the right place for us, and we will find it soon." Olivia gently changed Gracie into a fresh diaper.
"Wiff a ow-sigh?" Gracie asked hopefully.
"Yes, my baby girl will have her own yard to play in as much as she wants, and a special room for a nursery, and if you want to we can go to the store and you can pick out a brand new comforter for your bed."
"Purple!" Gracie cheered happily.
"Any color you want, sweetheart. Okay, let's see here; dry diaper, check. Pacifier, check. Kitty cat, check. Now let's put some sockies on these cold little feeties."
"Lello duckies, peeze."
"Yellow duckies coming right up." Olivia gently slipped the requested socks over Gracie's feet and Gracie lifted her legs to look at her socks and play with her feet, suddenly fascinated by them.
"How many duckies are on your sockies, baby, can you count them?" Olivia lounged next to Gracie on the bed.
"Uhn, two, fee, foe, fie, sis, seben. Ducky tushy!" Gracie giggled as she pointed at the back half of a duck on the hem of her sock.
"Are there the same number on this sockie?" Olivia gave Gracie's heel a gentle tickle with her index finger.
"Uhn, two, fee, foe, fie, sis, seben. Is da same." Gracie counted again.
"Good girl, so smart." Olivia praised.
"Mommy, cuddles an' 'toons, peeze? An' a red pah'sicle?"
"We can do that, sweetie. Do you want to keep watching Pooh Bear or do you want to watch something else?"
"Um… Mickey Mouse, peeze."
"Good girl, so polite." Olivia praised.
"Mommy, why I sees da lello duckies, but I not sees da red c'erries on mine pink sockies?" Gracie asked, still fascinated by her feet.
"Because my sweet Gracie-baby is colorblind. That means sometimes you can't tell the difference between certain colors. One time my big girl couldn't tell the difference between a red apple and a green apple and made a silly face when her apple was sour instead of sweet." Olivia explained.
"Mine eyes is b'oken?" Gracie asked with mild alarm, putting her legs down.
"Not at all, lovey. Your pretty eyes aren't broken, that's just the way some people are born. A long time ago before Mommy became a detective, I knew someone else who was colorblind too. It's just a little detail that makes you special."
"No doctor?" Gracie asked.
"No, you don't need to go to the doctor." Mommy assured her kindly.
"I not wike da air puffer." Gracie said seriously, referring to the machine at the eye doctor that puffed air into her eyes.
"I know you don't like that machine. You don't need to go see Dr. Gold, my big girl went to see him just a few weeks ago for a check up that she had to get for work and Dr. Gold said there are no problems with my sweet girl's pretty eyes. Mommy had to get a check up too."
"No pro'lems?"
"Nope, no problems, Mommy's eyes are just getting old." Olivia smiled and Gracie giggled.
"Mommy not old."
"Well, thank you, baby." Olivia gently tickled Gracie's belly, making her giggle.
"Cuddles now?" Gracie asked.
"Yes, let's go find you a red popsicle, and you and Mommy can cuddle on the couch and watch Mickey Mouse."
Gracie giggled happily from her place cuddled in Mommy's arms while she ate her popsicle and watched the silly antics of Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck, Chip and Dale, and Goofy. They both looked up when the door opened and Amanda walked in.
"'Manda!" Gracie cheered and ran to greet the blonde with a hug.
"Hi, baby. How was your day?" Amanda kissed Gracie's head.
"Is my 'pecial lovin' up day cuz I was brave girl yesserday." Gracie explained.
"From what I heard, you were a very brave girl yesterday." Amanda agreed.
"You're early." Olivia observed as she got up from the couch.
"The phones finally stopped ringing off the hook, so we all decided to call it a day before we got too happy about it and jinxed ourselves."
"Mommy, I's hung'y. We has da pasta an' chicken wiff da yummy white sauce for dinner, peeze?"
"Fettuccine Alfredo?" Olivia guessed.
"Yeah, dat."
"It's still your special loving up day; if that's what you want, that's what you get." Olivia agreed.
"That sounds delicious, but I don't think we have any alfredo sauce. Let me run to the store really fast and get some." Amanda said as she slipped back into her shoes, catching onto the fact that Gracie had been doted on all day and more than willing to take part.
"That's very nice of you, Amanda. What do you say, sweetie?" Olivia prompted kindly, gently stroking Gracie's face.
"T'ank ew!" Gracie smiled happily.
Amanda decided to put Frannie on her leash for her daily exercise and walk to the store just a few blocks away to get the alfredo sauce.
"Mommy, mo'e cuddles, peeze?" Gracie asked when Amanda and Frannie were gone.
"Of course, little one. Do you want more cartoons or just cuddles?" Olivia asked as she led Gracie over to the couch and sat down.
"Jus' cuddles, peeze." Gracie happily crawled into Mommy's lap and snuggled into her arms, breathing a contented sigh as Mommy cuddled her and rubbed her back while they waited for Amanda to return.
"Do you want rose-scented bubbles or lavender-scented bubbles, baby angel?" Olivia inquired when it was time for Gracie's bath after dinner. Fortunately, Gracie liked bath time so Olivia knew that Gracie wouldn't try to use her special loving up day as an excuse to skip her bath, which was good because her baby was in need of a bath.
"Rose, peeze." Gracie replied, having trouble figuring out how to undo the snap on her pants, "Mommy, we has a sit'i'ashun."
Olivia had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing as she finished drawing the bath and walked over to help Gracie undress and guided her into the tub. Once she was properly clean, Mommy let her play in the water for a while longer.
"You can splash as much as you want to, baby, let's just try to keep the water in the tub." Olivia smiled lovingly.
After dinner, Mommy dried her and dressed her, and then Gracie asked to be cuddled on her bed with storybooks and happily snuggled into Mommy's arms while Mommy read to her until Olivia looked at the clock and closed the book they were reading.
"Okay, now it's time for Mommy's princess to get all cozy for beddy-bye time." Olivia pulled back the covers and patted the bed.
Suppressing a tired yawn, Gracie crawled into bed and snuggled down comfortably with Jewel clutched in her arms.
"Mommy, t'ank you for mine lovin' up day. I loves you." Gracie yawned again as Mommy gently rubbed her belly to soothe her to sleep.
"You are very welcome, my baby. Mommy will always love you." Olivia smiled as she watched Gracie's dazzling blue eyes droop and eventually close.