You Fill My Heart

Every Night

"Is he ready yet?" Ricky asked his wife, who was sitting on their bed.

Amy shook her head, "Nope. He's in his underwear now"

"Great...John!" He yelled from his place in-between the open door and their living room carpet. "Come on, we've got to go!"

Having heard no reply, he walked into John's room, seeing the toddler sitting on his bed with his arms crossed. "Hey, we have to go bud. Let's go." Picking up the discarded shirt from the floor and putting it back on the bed.

Having already had two earlier meltdowns that morning- one for the different character displayed on his pull-up and the other for not being able to wear his full Halloween costume (Ricky comprised with him on only wearing the mask); John kicked his feet against the covers.

"No!" He shouted at his father for the 8th time that morning, shoving the shirt back off his bed.

"You have to get ready. The nursery doesn't want to watch a little boy in his underwear. Do you want to go in your underwear?" John held his firm stature, not moving from his spot; Ricky's lips pursed in a thin line, slowly losing his patience.

"Hey John come here" Amy shouted from her place on the messy sofa bed.

Springing off his bed and out of the room, he ran to his mother and plopped down on the edge of the mattress.

"What's the problem now?" She asked him as her husband handed her the pile of clothing their son refused to wear.

"no wike dos!" the toddler shouted, discarding the red and blue t-shirt with a cartoon dog on the front and the blue and white sweats his mother was carting in her hand, impatiently.

"I know I'm a little behind on the laundry buddy but will you please wear it, just for today?" Ricky tried to bargain with the stubborn child who only shook his head again. "John come on, we're going to be late."

Having known Ricky was at the end of his very long string of patience with their son, Amy stepped in. "Hey, listen to me. Stop giving daddy trouble. Put these clothes on and stop acting like a baby, you're a big boy. Do you want the baby to hear the tantrums you're throwing?" she scolded, touching a hand to her stomach. John shook his head slowly, embarrassed. "Then be a big boy and listen to daddy."

John huffed but did as he was told, allowing his mother to dress him fully and Velcro his black and red shoes before she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Bye. Have a good day okay. But no more tantrums, okay?"

"O.k." he stated nonchalantly before surprising her with a return kiss on the cheek. "Bye!"

Ricky smiled; amazed at the magic she just worked. "Ready?"

John nodded. "Puncaks, daddy?" he asked a second later looking at his chair in the kitchen.

Ricky shook his head which made John pout and cross his arms. "Well you should have thought about that when you were throwing your little tantrum this morning. Here" He handed him a shiny pop tart wrapper and his green Sippy cup. "Eat it in the car. Now let's go, we're already late."

Ricky turned to his wife and pecked her lips, "Bye. I'll call you at lunch"

Amy smiled and patted her baby bump, "We'll be here"

After the boys had left that morning, Amy got herself comfortable under the warmth of the covers.

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It'd been 2 weeks since she decided to go on bed rest and what she thought would be quite filled days to herself- studying and working on the mandatory work O'Malley was giving Ricky every week to give to her- were actually boring filled days where she did nothing but watch court shows and soap operas (which Ricky always teases her about) on the TV Margret had brought over for her and eat on a binge- barely ever touching the mound of text books and worksheets until she couldn't put them off anymore.