(Mia's POV)
"Yes!" I scream after my 10th just dance victory that evening. Char flopped back onto the sofa in defeat, huffing and puffing and her face going red. "Anyone else want to take on the reigning champion?" Autumn sits on Winter's lap on the arm chair with a glass of wine in her hand. "My love hold this please." She passes her husband the glass and gets up grabbing a remote. "Right Mia it's rematch time." Char sniggers on the sofa, the twins sat next to her giggling along. "Auto Auto!" They cheer as they press start.
I sigh playfully at witnessing my own children campaign against me in favour of their godmother. "Girls are you really out here plotting for your Mamma's demise?" They both look at me blankly, their tiny brains struggling to work out what I'd just said, before bursting into fits of giggles when I realise I'd gotten distracted and Autumn was several points ahead of me already. I do all I can to catch up, watching my stars slowly creeping up towards the end of the dance.
Just as I'm about to defend my title once and for all, Cece runs off the sofa and grabs the remote off Autumn and runs around with it. "Cece you cheeky monkey," Autumn laughs trying to get the remote off her. "Can Auto have it back now please?"
"No," Cece shakes her head continuing to run with it. The dance finishes and, to my disbelief, I realise my own toddler had managed to beat my high score in the last minute. I pant like crazy, taking a sip of my drink before slouching back onto the sofa next to Char. "Oh god that was a lot." Char pokes my arm playfully. "How does it feel to be beaten by a nearly two year old?" "Humbling," I pant before giving Cece a quick hug. "Well done panda you were so good!" "Yay!" She claps excitedly. "Cece win!" I take a quick glance at the clock and notice the time.
"Right little ones I think it's time for you two to go to bed soon." "No bed Mamma," Fraya sulks wrapping herself around Autumn leg. "No bed! Fray-Fray stay with Auto!" "Now now darling do what your Mummies tell you please," Autumn says trying to gently encourage her to let go. "Come on say night nights to aunty Autumn and uncle Winter," Char chimes in. "No no," Fraya protests refusing to move away from Autumn. "Fraya if you go to bed now you can have your duckie story," I say as an attempt to bribe her.
Her entire face lights up and she slowly lets go of Autumn and starts walking towards the door. "Quack quack," she giggles. "Are you coming with us panda?" I ask standing up off the sofa. "Otay," Cece pipes up following out the door and up the stairs. "I'll just put these two gooses to bed and I'll be back down to regain my rightful place as champion," I announce to the other three as I leave for upstairs.
I get the girls pyjamas out onto their beds. "Which jammies would you like to wear tonight girls?" "Duckies!" Fraya squeals pointing at her yellow pyjama set with ducks all over. "Of course," I smile. "And you Cece?" Cece looks at her options indecisively. "Pandas or dinosaurs?" I prompt. "Pandasauras!" She squeals excitedly looking rather smug at the way around she had just created. I tickle her under her chin playfully. "You are a smart one aren't you chupa chups? Show Mamma what you want to wear then because I don't remember you having pandasauras pyjamas." Cece grabs the top from her dinosaur set and the trousers from her panda set and hands them to me.
I giggle at her cuteness before dressing her in her mismatched pyjamas and Fraya in her ducky set. "Quack quack?" Fraya asks pointing at the bookshelf. I take her current favourite story, "the ugly duckling," from the shelf and sit on the end of her bed as her and her sister sit up next to each other under the duvet. "Cece wead stowy," Cece insists leaning over and trying to flip the pages. "Alright then my little story teller," my say handing her the book which she turns upside down and starts reading nonsense, mostly just pointing out what she can see in the pictures and trying her best to string the upside down sentences together, which mostly comes out as gibberish.
Fraya finds the whole thing hilarious and claps and laughs along as her sister continues trying to read it. At the end of the book, Cece closes it again and hands it back to me. "Night night mamma." "Night night panda," I say kissing the top of her head. "Night night pumpkin." I give Fraya a kiss on the head before carrying Cece back to her own bed. "I'll go and get Mummy to say night night to you both." "Auto?" Cece asks cutely. "Auto night night?" "Autumn too," I whisper as I close the door behind me and head back downstairs.
I walk in to an intense game between Winter and Autumn on the just dance. "Still going strong with this I see?" I laugh sitting down next to Char to watch them. "Who's ahead?" "Winter by a mile off," Char snickers. "He's doing amazingly well considering this is lady gaga." I wrap my arm around her and stroke her arm gently. "Listen I've got the twins tucked up in bed can you come and say goodnight to them please?" "Of course," Char nods getting herself up as the round ends leaving Winter as the winner. "I'm just going to say goodnight to the girls I'll be down in a minute."
Autumn quickly catches her breath again. "Oh I'll come as well Charlotte, if that's ok?" "Funnily enough Cece was asking after you a minute ago anyway," I say. "They really do love you loads and loads Aut." Autumn curls her lips into a soft smile. "I love them too, they really are so precious." As we open the door to leave, we're greeted by Cece standing in the doorway, clutching her blanket and rubbing her eyes. "Cece darling what are we doing out of bed?" I ask her. She points at the TV. "Dancing panda Mamma! Dancing panda!"
I look around confused, trying to work out what on earth she's talking about. "Dancing panda? Where sweetie, there's no dancing pandas here." Autumn mutters in her breath, the clogs her turning in her brain until it clicks. "Oh dancing panda! Do you want to play the dancing game again?" Cece jumps up and down and claps her hands. "Yay dancing panda!" "She's talking about the just dance thing from earlier," Autumn explains. "You know the song with the panda character that she beat you on by accident?"
I crouch down next to my daughter, scooping her up onto my hip. "It's bedtime now my darling, we'll play it in the morning is that ok?" "Pwease," she pleads trying to use her cute wide puppy eyes on me. "Pwease mamma more panda now." "In the morning little one," I persist starting to carry her towards upstairs. "Come on my sleepy girl it's bedtime now." "Otay," Cece eventually caves in. "Night nights now." She flops over my shoulder, her entire body relaxing. By the time I've put her into bed she's almost completely knocked out. I check on Fraya who's fallen asleep already, clutching her ducky teddy in her arms.
"Night night Fraya," I whisper softly as I tuck Cece into her bed. "Night night Cece, sweet dreams." "Night Mamma, night Mummy," she whispers as she closes her eyes. Her eyes open again quickly for a quick "night Auto." "Goodnight my precious angels," Autumn whispers sweetly. "Goodnight my darlings," Char whispers. "They're just adorable," Aut mouths to us. "I love them." I spot her wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye as we leave their room. "Still can't believe I got beaten at just dance by a toddler," I mutter under my breath.
