Don't Get Mad—Get One Up
"Oh! What a darling little girl! Such beautiful red hair—and such a sweet smile!"
Ducky and I stopped midway between Pier One and Starbucks and exchanged glances. We get halted a lot when out with Alexandra; on the cuteness scale, she's off the charts. (I'd say we're biased, but we hear that a lot. So it must be true.)
The woman made googly noises into the stroller. "Is she your first?" Before I could answer, the woman added, "Grandchild, I mean?"
I sighed. Not the first time for that mistake; probably won't be the last time.
Ducky answered first. "No, she's not our granddaughter." She started to make a flustered apology. "She's my baby sister." With a pleasant smile and a polite, "Have a lovely weekend," he placed a hand on the small of my back and propelled us forward. It wasn't until we turned into the food court and were out of eyesight (and earshot) that we gave way to the giggles.
"This is a pawn. It can only move forward and only one square at a time. Well—on the first move, it can advance two squares. And they move diagonally when they capture another piece, so that's a trifle confusing. This… is a bishop. It can move several squares, but only on the diagonal. Kitty-corner."
"Charlie? Honey?" I dug yet another toy from under the couch (how can one kid who doesn't even walk yet scatter toys from the attic to the basement?) and blew the hair out of my eyes. "She's only three months old. She can barely chew on the pieces at this age." (Ducky had childproofed the house months before Alexandra was born. The chess set was soft, semi-squishy plastic and even the pawns were 4" high.)
Alexandra drooled happily and reached for the chess piece in Charlie's hand, which Charlie willingly surrendered.
"True. But I only learned to play this past year." Charlie's brow creased. "I'd hate for my only niece to be at such a disadvantage."
Already bored with chewing on the bishop, Alexandra flung it aside. (Answers the question of how toys get under the couch.) As aerodynamically designed as an Atlas missile, it made a nice arc, causing it to cover more distance than her chubby arm should managed… and landing square on Cooper. He yipped, leaped to his feet and stared around in confusion.
Charlie looked at Alexandra in approval. "Wow. Good arm. Let's work on softball, next."