Trying To Maintain

F I F T Y - F I V E

Timitrius

"Wait, Toots!" I yell at her to stop her from trying to grab a crying Fat Man.

She immediately starts to pout as her eyes water. "I just wanted to help, daddy."

I sigh, "I know, mamas. Daddy sorry for yelling, baby. I just don't want you to hurt yourself or him. I got his bottle right here. You wan' feed him?"

She nods her head, face still in a sad pout. "Okay, come sit up here...sit all the way back," I instruct her. "Hold the bottle with this hand," I place it in her left hand since she's a lefty like me. I grab Fat Man from his rocker and place him in Toots' arms. "Make sure it stays upright. Don't let him swallow no air or them bubbles in there." I sit down on the living-room couch next to her.

"Why, daddy?" She asks curiously.

"So he won't have colic." I explain patiently.

"What is colic?" Her face turns into a cute confused frown.

I smile at her, "it's when the baby has too much air in they tummy and they don't know how to let it out and it hurts him and makes him cry."

"Ohhhh," she says, seemingly understanding. "So like, he gotta fart or something?"

I laugh a little at her, "yes, Toots."

"So how come he just don't fart?"

"Well, he don't really know how to control his bodily functions yet. He just got here, so he's learning how everything works."

"Oh, maybe I can teach him." She smiles looking down at him.

She looks so much like her father.

That pretty chocolate skin and her deep dimples. I miss his ass so much.

"So look, Fat Man," she starts talking to him sweetly. "You just gotta push the air out yo' booty, but not too hard 'acause you might booboo on yo'self. It's kinda easy once you get the hang of it."

I start laughing so hard.

Not she tryna teach her lil brother to fart.

Now I don't know if it was coincidence, or if he really heard her, but he grunted, pushed, and we heard that baby shit splash against the material of the diaper.

"Fat Man," Toots sighs, "I told you not to push too hard." She shakes her head disapprovingly. "It's not funny, daddy," she frowns at me.

"I'm sorry, Toots." But I can't stop laughing. "Whew! I wish I could have recorded that." I say to myself out loud.

"Don't worry, I'a send it to you," my mama says at the living room entryway with her phone in her hand.

"Preshate it. Hold on, Toots, let me change his pampa' right quick." I grab the bottle from her hand and sit it on the living room table. I then lay down his travel changing mat on the couch and proceed to change his diaper. "Why you wait until you eating to poo? You do this every time." I fake fuss at him.

"Like father like son." My mama shakes her head with a fond smile on her face, tapping away on her phone. "You used to do the exact same thing when you was a baby."

I finish changing his diaper before getting up to throw it away and wash my hands. "Mama, you could get them situated fa' me, huh?"

"Mhm," she hums, taking a seat on the couch.

I get up to throw the diaper in the dumpster outside and then wash my hands once I'm back inside. Then I rejoin my family in the living room. My mama doing me one better by placing a pillow under Fat Man to support all his weight on Toots' lap.