For Fiona

38. Just Right

With a smug smile, Tim walked downstairs into his living room and reported, "Fiona agreed to take her nap in two minutes."

Lucy blew out a dry laugh. "Oh, yeah? How many princess kisses did it take?"

"Only two," he responded innocently, then added, "plus, two bear kisses."

She really wanted to be frustrated with him, but instead, when he was close enough to the couch for her to touch him, she reached for whatever part of him she could grab and drew him in for one peck then a second.

"What about the bear kisses?" He asked when she withdrew.

"In a minute. I was in the middle of reading something. I thought I would have more time, since nap negotiations usually take longer when you don't play dirty."

He mocked offense. "I'm not playing dirty. I'm being efficient."

She hummed, pretending to be aggravated, and then she returned her attention to her laptop to continue reading the article she had found.

Curious what could possibly be more worthy of her time than him, Tim slid onto the couch next to her and read off her screen a very scientific sounding article title, so he frowned and asked, "Are you reading ANOTHER one of those?"

"This is a very comprehensive early childhood development study to find out how to get Fiona ready to go to school."

"Lucy." He clicked his tongue. "You've been reading those things nonstop for weeks. When we registered Fi, the school gave us their list of requirements for her to start preschool, and she checks all of the boxes."

"One of those checkboxes was whether she knows how to share or not, and the other was if she has some fine motor skills."

"Things we know Fiona can do, because she shares everything with Kojo and holds her crayons just fine. Plus, she can read, which isn't even a requirement going into preschool, so she's advanced for her age."

"I know, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything, and this study is really thorough."

He took the laptop away from her, closed the lid, and looked into her eyes. "She's ready," he assured her softly.

"You can't know that. You haven't been reading all of the research I've been looking at-"

"It doesn't matter what some research article says." He ran his hands up and down her thighs in an effort to ease some of the tension starting to show on her face. "She's our kid, and we know she can handle school. I think she's actually looking forward to it."

"Fiona is our first kid, and parents are notorious for screwing up their first kids, because they don't know better. You were your parents' first kid. I was my parents' first and only kid. And no offense, I think it's pretty safe to say they messed up with us, and I know logically we aren't our parents, but I don't want to make the same kinds of mistakes with our kids."

"We haven't, and you know that as well as I do. All of this research into getting a kid ready for preschool sounds like it's really about something else. Are you sure you're not projecting your worry about Fiona growing up too fast?"

She scowled, not liking his assessment, but after pondering his point for another minute, she wondered, "Since when are you the emotionally aware one?"

"Since I've been spending so much time with you."

"Now it's biting me in the ass."

He leaned the top half of his body into hers as he smirked. "I mean, if you're into that-"

"Tim!" She hissed, a sound that was soon muffled when his mouth collided with hers. She broke away to say, "We really should talk to her about school again. Make sure she's really ready."