“Dank you, Sam.” Julie sat up grabbing for the box.
“Can you watch her long enough for me to change my shirt?” Brooke held out the soiled garment from her body as she looked up into comforting green eyes.
“Sure,” Sam nodded, then held out her hand for Julie to take. “Come on, Julie, we’ll go color while your aunt gets herself cleaned up now.” The blonde watched as Brooke headed for the stairs.
“Can I color you?” Julie rose to her feet and started walking toward the dining room with her hand in Sam’s.
The blonde chuckled at the question, “I don’t color too well but the white paper will.”
Undaunted, the baby just kept talking. “I’m gonna color da baby.”
“No…no coloring the baby.” Sam unconsciously put her hand over her stomach and rubbed it soothingly, “Let’s draw your mommy instead.” Sam reached down and boosted Julie into the chair where she had already placed the crayons and paper at the table.
“Otay,” the tot looked up at her with one squinted eye and nodded.
Sam pulled out a chair and watched the young artist at work. The intense look on Julie’s face relayed the thoughtfulness of her artwork as she moved from one color of crayon to the next. Her scribbling seemed to be methodically balanced between fast round circles and slow, deliberate straight lines as she moved over the sheets of white paper. The blonde sat back in her chair, amused by the whole scene as she was occasionally enlisted to choose a color or two for the budding artist to use. There was definitely a cockeyed approach to the world as seen through a child’s eye.
“You’re very talented Julie, just like your Aunt Brooke,” she complimented the young artist.
“Wook Sam, dis picsures for you.” The child held it up proudly.
“Hmm…” Sam studied it for a few seconds, “That’s nice. Is that you, there?” The adult pointed to the small squiggle and line on the side of the much larger one.
“Yep,” the child nodded. “and dat’s Aunt Brooke…and dat’s you…and dat’s da baby.” Julie looked up to see Sam’s face as she pointed each item out. “See da star? It’s purple.”
“That is nice.” Sam smiled at the rendition of the scene from last night by the French doors. “Can I put that picture on the refrigerator? I want to look at it when you’re not here and remember how you saw us. Okay?”
“Otay,” Julie smiled. “You can have it to put on da frigigador. I can draw you a bigger one,” the child offered.
“Thank you, Julie. I’d like that.” The young woman leaned in and kissed the child on her forehead, then turned to look as Brooke entered the hall, while Julie shuffled through the blank pieces of paper looking for the next canvas to be graced with her child’s view of the world.
“Hey, Baby.” Brooke winked at her lover. “I’m all fresh and clean and ready for the next round. Speaking of which,” Brooke frowned, “I found poor Mario hiding under my bed and he won’t come out.
“It figures,” Sam got up to stand by her lover in the doorway, “…he’s not used to a three year old.”
“Hmm…I wonder how he’ll act around a baby, full time?” Brooke pondered out loud.
“I guess we’ll have to hope for the best and treat him special. You know, make a fuss over him, too.”
“I wonder how we’ll act around a baby?” Brooke let her mouth turn up into a smile and gave off a little naughty laugh.
“I think you’ll do just fine, Dear.” Sam wrapped her arms around Brooke’s waist and gave her a hug and quick kiss. “Just fine,” she reiterated.
“Mmm…I hope so.” Brooke savored the kiss.
“I know so. You do just fine for me,” Sam winked as she patted Brooke’s chest. “Ain’t I your baby now?”
“You,” Brooke kissed Sam on the lips, “…will always be my baby.” The two women stared into each other’s eyes until the small voice disturbed their moment.
“Sam? I made it bigger.” Julie tugged on the woman’s pants to get her attention.
“Bigger, Julie?” The blonde asked as she smiled at Brooke then turned to look down at Julie. The large, expanses of color behind the child caught Sam’s eye as she let her gaze drift from the child. It was a larger scaled rendition of the wishing star scene she had seen a few moments earlier. “Oh, my…” Sam slapped a hand over her mouth and turned to look at Julie’s aunt standing beside her. Sam watched as shocked blue eyes roamed the lower half of the dining room wall and the artwork that now graced it.
“You had to say bigger, didn’t you?” Brooke glanced at Sam to see the mouthed, ‘Sorry,’ and then the tall woman covered her eyes with her hands. Feeling the tug on the leg of her jeans, Brooke moved a finger or two to look down into a smiling, little face.
“I wuv you.”
The morning seemed to be moving by faster than either adult thought could be possible. The constant levels of activity not the norm for a weekend together. Sam looked over to the clock on the counter and considered that they still might be lounging in bed had it not been for the child that she could hear running toward her.
“Sam…Sam…” Julie stopped, doing a little dance as she entered the kitchen. “Need potty…need big girl potty.”
Pleased, Sam smiled at her young charge and moved over to take Julie’s hand as she headed for the stairs. “Hey Brooke,” Sam yelled as they started up the spiral staircase, “We’re going potty.”
“Oh yeah?” Brooke emerged from the living room with a big smile on her face. “Need some help?” She asked as she followed up the stairs behind them.
“Sure, we’re all women aren’t we?” Sam turned back to wink at her lover, “It’s more fun in a group,” she teased. “We’ve got to teach her right from the start that when girls go potty they take the group with them.” Sam laughed at her lover’s pet peeve as she entered the bathroom behind Julie. “Okay, Sweet Pea, let’s get your training pants out of the way.” Sam hoisted the child up onto the commode, then turned to look at Brooke who was sitting on the side of the tub.
“Uh-oh,” the tiny voice whimpered.
“What?” Sam’s eyes came back on the child. “What’s wrong, Julie?”
“I can’t go…it’s too big.” The child shifted her weight on the seat as she looked around at the porcelain pedestal that she teetered on.
Sam laughed as she held onto the child. “It will come. Let’s just sit here and give it a chance.” The blonde thought for a moment then asked, “What’s too big?”
An exasperated little face looked back at her, “The potty. The potty too big.”
The young woman remembered her own childhood experiences with things much taller than herself and lost it. The jiggling started in her midsection, then moved up her body until she couldn’t hold onto the child securely any more and turned to Brooke. “I think this needs an answer from a tall person,” she whispered, trying hard not to laugh but Brooke was already doubled over, laughing so hard that she slid off the side and into the tub. “Brooke, were we supposed to bring the potty chair, too?”
“I don’t know,” Brooke climbed out of the tub and grabbed onto her niece, “Randi and Brian didn’t have it with them.”
“Figures,” Sam muttered as she moved back to let Brooke take over the delicate balancing of the child. “Well, as I see it, we have two choices.” She looked first to Julie, then to Brooke. “One, we forget about potty training or two, you figure out how she’s going to use the tall toilet.”
“Okay,” Brooke nodded her agreement as she settled into a kneeling position in front of the commode. “Julie, what’s the problem, Angel?”
“I got da go, Aunt Bwooke.” Brown eyes drove the point home, “got da go.”
“Okay, Sweetie. Now, what do you need me to do?”
“You don’t know?” Julie put her little hands up to her face, shocked at what she was finding out. “And I dought Mommy said you knew evewything.”
Impressed that her sister Randi would say that, Brooke looked the youngster in the eye. “Well, Punkin, give me a hint.”
“Mommy sings me da song, den I go and we make happy.” Julie clapped her hands a time or two, then stopped and directed, “Now, sing.”
“Song…?” Brooke’s eyes darted back and forth as she thought, “What song?”
Sam hid a smile behind her hand, “Yeah, Brooke sing the potty song. You remember it don’t you?” She taunted her lover.
Blue eyes flashed up to Sam. “They didn’t have potty songs when C.C. was trained.” She watched as the blonde shrugged, then turned her attention back to Julie. “Can you sing the potty song for Aunt Brooke?”
The tot looked up to her aunt with the most serious of faces. “You don’t ‘member? Maybe you need to have Mommy potty drain you again.”
Brooke rolled her eyes at the very thought. “Sam, could you get my cell phone, please?”
“Sure Brooke,” Sam tried to keep from laughing but couldn’t. Within a few seconds she went to the master bedroom and back again with cell phone in hand. “Number two on the speed dial for Randi, right?” Sam asked, then seeing the nod, punched the correct number and handed the phone to Brooke. “I’ll go make some lunch while you take care of things up here.”
“Randi?” Brooke gripped the phone with one hand and the baby with the other. “What’s the potty song?” She asked not waiting for her sister to greet her.
“Hey Sis, how’s it going with the lil’ one? Sounds like you’re having some fun,” Randi chuckled.
“Could you do me a favor, Sis?”
“Sure, you need me to pick up a few Christmas presents for you?” Randi laughed.
“No,” was Brooke’s sharp reply. “I need to know the potty song. What is it?”
“Brooke,” her sister cleared her throat, “There is no potty song. I just make up words to Twinkle, Twinkle to fit the need.”
“You’re kidding, right? Da…” Brooke stopped before the word was fully out and changed it, “Dang it Randi, tell me you’re kidding.”
“Nope, she thinks it’s her song, especially for her.”
“You wouldn’t have an urge to sing it to her now, would you Sis?” Brooke asked hopefully.
“Sorry, can’t right now, it’s a mad house here at the toy store.” Randi paused as she called out, “Hey, that’s my cart.” Coming back to the phone, the lawyer hurriedly spoke, “Oh, and Brooke…you’ll need a few verses. She tends to forget what we’re there for.”
“Oh, God.” Brooke hung her head, took in a deep breath, and then let it out.
“You’re the songwriter, Brooke. It shouldn’t be that hard for you. Talk to you later, Sis. Tell Julie that Mommy loves her. Bye.”
“Yeah, will do, bye.” Brooke hit the end button and terminated the call. She thought for a moment, then slowly started to sing, “Twinkle, Twinkle little one. Now we’re going to have some fun. Up above the water so high, like a cloud up in the sky. Twinkle, Twinkle little one. Now the rain is going to come.”
Brooke held her finger up to her mouth, “Shhh…” she whispered as she stood in the hallway.
The small tyke nodded as she mimicked Brooke to her teddy then held her hand over her mouth.
The tall woman picked up her niece and slowly stole into the kitchen where Sam was at the counter preparing lunch for the small group. She waited until she was almost directly behind the blonde when her deep voice asked, “Whatcha doin, Darlin’?”
Startled by the voice, Sam jumped, then leaned against the counter and shook her head. “God, I never heard you two sneak in. Keep that up and I’ll be having a heart attack for sure.” Sam turned to see the giggling child in Brooke’s arms. “And you, little Miss Julie. I see that you’re done on the potty.”
“Yep, she went to the potty and even learned how to use the toilet paper,” Brooke boasted proudly.
Sam smiled, “That’s wonderful, but I bet you’ll still have to practice that some more, won’t you?”
Julie hid her face in Brooke’s hair, peeking out to see if Sam was still looking at her.
“What’s with her? Something go wrong?” Sam asked, wondering why Julie was shy all of a sudden.
“She…ah…she stopped up the toilet in the process.” Brooke looked down to her wet shoes.
The blonde’s eyes bugged out when she viewed Brooke’s shoes and immediately looked to Julie’s. “What? Why weren’t you watching her? What were you doing?” Sam took the baby in her arms and checked to make sure the child was completely dry. “Randi will kill us if she does that at home.”
“I was washing my hands. I showed her how to use a few squares of the paper and I didn’t think it would hurt if she amused herself. I figured that it was reinforcing what I’d just shown her. I didn’t realize she had put half the roll into the commode before she hit the handle.” Brooke stuck her bottom lip out and mumbled, “How was I supposed to know she could reach it from the floor?”
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