Lisa
Jennie comes practically running down the stairs with Ella in her arms. "I am running so late." She says breathlessly, while securing Ella into her seat at the table. "My uniform top hasn't dried fully, I need to feed Ella and get her dressed, I need to..."
"Jen." I say grabbing her shoulders to stop her from pacing, "Jen, take a breath. I can feed Ella and dress her; you just go sort out your top."
"No, it's fine, you're already taking her for the day."
"And this is part of the day. Go sort your top and I'll feed Ella." She dithers in place, while looking between Ella and I.
"Right, I'm using my age as authority, so go sort your top out."
She chuckles slightly, "Three months. You're only three months older." I can see the relaxation in her body though, as my cheekiness wins her over again.
"That three months holds a lot of wisdom."
"You're ridiculous. Fine, thank you. If you could feed Ella, that would be a great help."
"I've got this." With that she rushes out the room. "Right Ella baby, what do you want for breakfast?"
"Soll-derrs."
That takes me a moment to decipher.
"Do you mean dunky eggs with soldiers?" I ask.
"Yeah." She says with an excited head nod.
"Okay then, coming right up." I get started on her breakfast. Putting the egg onto boil and cutting a slice of bread into fingers for dunking. I leave Ella in charge of the sand timer with instructions to tell me when the last piece of sand falls down. While having a different timer set-up. I've already packed some juice drinks and a small orange in my backpack for the day but figure that we'll eat out for lunch. I'm actually a little excited for today.
Jennie rushes back into the room with a towel wrapped around her head.
"I've got some toast made up, grab something to eat while you get ready." I say, making sure that she has breakfast as well.
"Thank you." She says, while placing a kiss on Ella's head before rushing out of the room again.
"Jen, have you sorted out lunch for yourself?" I ask, catching her by the stairs.
"Shit, no." She pauses with the toast half-way to her mouth.
"Don't worry, Ella and I will sort it out. Don't argue either." I say leaving her at the bottom of the stairs with her mouth hanging open.
"Lili, look." Ella says as I walk back in the kitchen, pointing to the sand-timer. We both watch the last few grains fall to the bottom.
"I better check on your egg, little one."
