Little Do You Know

Chapter 31

1995

Dani slowly made her way into Lyric's room, quietly padding across the floor. When she got to her bed, she knelt down, putting her lips right next to her daughter's ear, brushing her hair back and quietly said, "It's time to wake up my sleeping beauty. Good morning, baby girl."

Lyric's sleepy eyes blinked open and she smiled at her mom, arms seeking her out, wrapping around her neck, pulling her close, "Morning mommy. Time to get ready for school?"

"Nope," Dani said with a smile. "No school today."

Lyric gasped, her eyes going wide as she leapt from the bed and raced to the window, pushing the curtains back. At the sight of the heavy layer of snow that covered everything in pristine white, her daughter released a squeal, jumping up and down.

"Snow day!"

"Yes! Snow day!" Dani exclaimed excitedly back, tossing her arms up in the air.

"Does Daddy get a snow day?" she asked hopefully.

Dani grinned, nodding her head, "It's a level three, baby. Just about everything is closed down while they try to get the roads under control. The plant called about an hour ago and said due to road conditions, they're shut down for the day so daddy gets to stay home with us too!"

"Yay!"

"Yay!" echoed Dani, laughing. "But he doesn't know it yet. I shut off his alarm and let him sleep a bit longer after they called. So, how about we go get your brother up and get some breakfast and then we'll wake up daddy and tell him the good news."

"Okay," Lyric agreed, racing out of her room and into Jett's, Dani following behind her. She leapt onto her brother's bed, bouncing up and down. "Jett! Jett! Guess what? I get to stay home with you today! Snow day!"

Her almost three year old brother's eyes opened, looking confused and dazed as his little body bounced up and down on the bed. Lyric flopped herself next to him, hugging him and yelling snow day over and over until he was giggling. Even if he didn't fully understand why she was so excited, he was excited too now.

Dani led her kids downstairs, putting on cartoons for them while she went into the kitchen and prepared breakfast. She actually had time this morning. No rushing so she took advantage and made scrambled eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Preparing three plates, she set them at the table and called the kids in, pouring Jett a milk and Lyric an orange juice.

"Can we go sledding?" asked Lyric, tearing into her pancakes, her little legs kicking back and forth at this unexpected present that Mother Nature had provided.

"Of course. No snow day is complete without sledding and your daddy loves sledding."

"Can we build a snowman?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Can I make a snow angel?"

Dani laughed, "Yes, yes, yes to all of it. And after we have all the fun in the snow we can come home and have hot cocoa to warm all up. How does that sound?"

"Sounds fun!" Lyric yelled.

"Fun!" Jett squealed, giggling, struggling to get his bite of egg to stay on his fork. Dani leaned over to help him, spearing it and holding the fork out to him. He popped it in his mouth with a look of triumph.

Lyric scarfed down her food like it was a marathon, anxiously watching Jett as he painstakingly worked through his plate, struggling with his fine motor skills. She sighed.

"Jett, you want me to feed you?"

Her little brother nodded. "Do airpane!"

Dani shook her head, "You know, I love how much you want to help your brother but we want him to learn how to feed himself Lyric. We've talked about this. You can't always do everything for him or he's never going to learn how to do things himself."