Charlie's Angel

parent day [short]

Chris

"Welcome home, babe," I grinned as Charlie brushed past me and deeper into the house, attempting to steal a kiss from her. "Babe?"

"Sorry, honey," she rushed out, heading to the bathroom. "I really gotta pee."

Paris appeared right after her, but I was shocked to see her sulking, walking quietly with her head down. She dragged her feet into the house and closed the front door behind her, walking right past me and up the stairs without saying a word.

"Paris, baby girl, come here," I instructed, waving her over. She stopped where she was on the stairs and sulked back down to me, playing with her fingers tangling in the bottom of her shirt. "What's wrong?"

She shrugged. "Nothing."

I hoisted her onto my hip–and took her into the spare bedroom on the first floor. I set her down on the bed and lifted her chin to look at me, using my thumb to wipe away her tears. "Paris, tell me what's wrong. Why you cryin'?"

"I'm sad."

"And why is that?"

She shrugged. "Mommy doesn't like me anymore."

As we drew nearer to the arrival of the baby, things began to set in with everyone. Jealousy is setting in with my little princess. I've never had to raise a little girl before, so I really didn't know how to handle this. Tickling is not going to work, obviously. Eating probably won't work either. So I did what was natural. I talked her through it.

"Why you think that?"

"She doesn't spend time with me anymore. She likes the new baby more than me."

"That's not true," I murmured. "She just has to make sure the baby is happy inside her tummy. You want the baby to be happy, right?"

She nodded, using her hand to wipe her eyes. "The baby is taking forever. Is it still cooking?"

Charlie and I decided not to gross the kids out by telling them all about the baby. They didn't know the gender of the baby, but I did, and they didn't know the name. We were juggling with two names. Charlie picked out one name for one gender, and I came up with a name for the other–just to amuse her. I already knew what she was having.

To keep it simple, we told the kids that the new baby was cooking.

"Yeah, we got a little while longer until the baby is ready to come out."

She played with the gold chain around my neck. "Mommy's different."

"What do you mean?"

With this new baby, I had to realize that the older kids would feel neglected with all the attention shifting away from them and to the baby. In a sense, they had some growing up to do; they had to accept the fact that they couldn't be spoiled that much anymore and would have to help out when the baby comes. Which was something that probably wasn't gonna be easy for either of them to deal with.

"Mommy doesn't want to play with me," she explained quietly. "She's always sleepy and hungry. Isaiah plays with me, though. And you. I like you more than Mommy."

I chuckled, shifted her so she was facing me in my lap. "Don't say that. Mommy is just busy with the new baby. She'll play with you again."

She shook her head. Stubborn just like her momma. "Nuh-uh. I asked Mommy to go to Parent Day at school and she said no. I'm gonna be the only one without a mommy or a daddy."

Damn, that's messed up. "Well, I'll go with you," I grinned. "If you want me to."

Her eyes started glimmering with pure happiness. Shit, she almost started shaking with excitement. In a flash, her arms were around my neck and she was giving me kisses on my cheek. We both laughed and she tackled me to try to tickle me. "Thank you, Chrissy!"