Someone Like You | Toni Kroos

Chapter 29 - Twin Power

Gabi's POV

Johann was sitting on the ground outside the laundry room as I carried the huge basket of clean laundry out. His little yellow rabbit, now much more ragged than it used to be, was tucked under his arm, and he peered up at me expectantly.

"What's up?" I smiled.

He opened his mouth wide, showing his four front teeth, and jabbed his finger towards it with much zest. Then he made a pinching motion with his finger and his thumb and put them in his mouth. After he was done, he looked back at me.

"You're hungry again?" I asked. "You just ate breakfast, baby. When dada is back with the potatoes, then I'll make mashed potatoes for you, okay?"

He pouted at me as I began to walk past him. Suddenly, he reached out, letting go of his bunny, and wrapped both his arms tightly around my left calf. "Nooooooooooooo," he whined, pressing his cheek against my leg.

"Come on, baby, be good," I set the basket on the floor and pried his hands off my calf. Instead of sitting back down, he grabbed higher up my leg and hoisted himself into a standing position.

The twins had started cruising around on their feet as long as they had something of chest height to hold on to, and the house was getting so much messier because we had to baby-proof all the table and chair legs. It was fine the first few times they'd crawled around, but then they'd started bumping into things when they could crawl a little faster. And then they'd started cruising on their feet, their favourite activity being holding on to Julius or Lennox (or both!) and letting the dogs pull them along. It was so tiring to chase them around all day, and we had to leave them on the first floor so they wouldn't roll down the stairs.

Johann reached out further and tugged on my shorts, pulling them down my left hip. I let out an exasperated sigh as I bent over and hoisted him up on my arm. "Okay, I'll give you a sugar lump. Just one, okay?"

He slapped my cheeks excitedly as we went into the kitchen, obviously knowing that the kitchen was a place for food. I reached into the sugar box and produced a single sugar lump, which I popped into his mouth for him to suck. Of course, that wasn't enough for him, and his eager hands wandered towards the open box.

"No, no," with another sugar lump in my hand, I turned him away from the sugar box and made my way outside to find Mia. "Mia!" I called.

She was nowhere to be seen – until she rolled out from behind the wall separating the dining area and the living room, landing on her stomach and grinning at me. "Mia!" she reported.

I burst out laughing. Mia had been rolling around as often as she could after she'd mastered the act of rolling from back to front. She did 360-degree side-rolls all over the house. Kicking, albeit her favourite action, couldn't get her anywhere, so rolling around like a roll of sushi had become her primary mode of transport.

I went over and knelt down beside her. "Aaaah," I said, and she opened her mouth for me to pop the sugar lump in. "Good girl."

I turned to Johann, who was finally smiling again. "Play with your sister, okay?" I told him.

"Kay," he said, crawling out of my arms and next to Mia. Together, they proceeded towards the makeshift blanket and pillow fort that we'd built for them in the ground floor guestroom after removing the bed – Johann crawling his way there and Mia rolling along behind him. At the sound of the word 'play,' they'd automatically head towards their little corner.

I sighed again, relieved this time, as I picked up the basket of laundry again and headed to the couch to fold the clothes up. Just as I'd emptied the clothes onto the couch, the front door opened and Toni appeared.