✅ The Baby Makers

34. Everyday There's Someone New

Stacie tried talking to Kyle, but she couldn't think of any big words. She thought of something to say, opened her mouth, and realised she didn't know the words to ask the question and ended up laughing instead. By the time she opened her mouth again, she couldn't remember what she had been going to say, and that was good because it must be something too complicated for such a good little baby.

She thought Kyle might be going through the same thing in his own head. She didn't know if he was really a baby or just playing at being one, like Cass had. But that was another one of the big girl questions that she didn't need to worry about. They said 'hi' a few times, and waved, and smiled, and laughed. Kyle said that he liked bunnies, and Stacie agreed. She tried to think of other animals she liked, but it was hard to pick one because they were all so cute. Then she tried thinking about toys. That was something to talk about, wasn't it? Stacie liked dolls, she'd had so much fun with them yesterday. Kyle said he liked trains, and Stacie started thinking about that. It would be a lot of fun playing with a train, and she wanted to try that today as well. Or she tried to; she hoped that Phil would understand what she meant by a squeal of "Wanna trains!"

And then they had breakfast, with their grown-ups trying to feed them while they both tried to keep on talking. Stacie thought it was funny, and she didn't know if she was being a bad girl. She had to help Phil, didn't she? Because Phil was wonderful, and she wanted to show him what a good girl she was. But as soon as Kyle told her that his favourite food was greenberries, she had another question that she needed to answer. She waved and talked, with Phil trying to fit a spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth whenever she stopped to listen. And she soon knew she didn't need to worry, because Phil only laughed when she got food on her face, or her bib, or on the tray in front of her.

Kyle's grown-up didn't look as happy as Phil, and Stacie started calling him Meanie in her head. He kept giving the little boy a tap on the head, and telling him to pay attention. Kyle got scolded, nodded, and then shouted out another question for Stacie. Sometimes, if there were bright-coloured bits in the cereal he was being fed, he would clumsily pick them up out of the milk puddles on his mat and suck them anyway. But it seemed like he didn't really mind Meanie telling him off. He just thought it was funny, and it was clear that neither of the adults particularly minded. They were just doing what they were supposed to do; and keeping the little ones happy was the most important rule of all.

It took nearly an hour before breakfast was over. Stacie only ate about half of her little bowl of oatmeal, with some still in the bowl and a lot more on her clothes or on Phil. But she felt full, and she was already happy and warm. She didn't need to worry about anything. She might have worried about needing a diaper change, as she had found the conversation interrupted by blushes for a moment when she found herself peeing in the middle of breakfast. But then she remembered that Phil was still a grown-up. It wasn't something she needed to worry about, because he would know when she needed changing. She was free to just play all day, and not think about anything at all.

"What next, kids?" Phil asked. "Would you like to come and play together? We've got lots of toys, and then Eric can take a break." They both nodded to the easy question, leaving Phil to ask the much harder one of what they wanted to play first. This time it was made a little bit harder by Meanie Eric, who came over with a warm washcloth and was trying to dab away the last traces of oatmeal from Stacie's face in between words.

They both had lots of ideas, but some of them probably weren't real things, or didn't make any sense. Kyle said that he wanted to go play on the moon, for example, and Phil and Eric didn't argue even though Stacie was sure they wouldn't have time to get there and back before dinner. She didn't want to miss a meal, because everything was yummy when Phil was the one feeding it to her. But she didn't need to say anything. Kyle quickly forgot about going to the moon when a new idea popped into his head, and everything he thought of sounded crazy enough to be fun.

"Would you rather play inside or outside?" Phil asked, when both little ones paused at the same time for a moment. Maybe he thought that cutting down the list of choices would make it easier for them to decide; although that realisation was too big to fit in little Stacie's mind, and the thoughts evaporated before she could recognise them.

"Outside!" Kyle squealed like he'd just been given a new toy. "Sandpit!"

"Trains!" Stacie answered, remembering what she'd been so excited about earlier. "Can we play trains?"

"Yeah!" Kyle beamed just as cheerfully when he heard the idea. "There's a big train! I can show you!"

By then, they were both as clean as they were going to get, so the grown-ups started to unlock them from the high chairs. Kyle was full of energy. Full of beans, like Phil had said before, or full of breakfast at least. As soon as he was free, he started running around the room in circles, Stacie giggled, and then topok Phil's hand to help her down from her own chair. She wasn't going to run around like that, but she knew that she was getting extra excited too. She needed to play with the trains now, and find out what could have got her new friend so excited. But there was one more thing she had to ask before she could properly enjoy herself.