"Don't think I didn't see you there, you cheeky little monkey." Anne laughs as she notices a naked little boy running from the bathroom and into his bedroom while she was grabbing Harry's towel for his bath time. "I told you to get in the bath." She hears a giggle come from under the bed, but she starts by looking in the closet to pretend she doesn't know where the little boy is.
"Are you in here?" She quickly opens the closet, only to hear the laughter from under the bed increase. "Are you in here?" She opens the toy chest right besides Harry's bed and sees little feet poking out from under the bed. "There you are." She drags the boy out, who is squealing with laughter. "I think it's someone's bath time!"
She carries Harry to the bathroom, plopping him into the tub that was already filled with water and lots of bubbles, just how Harry likes it. "Gemmy!" Harry squeals when his big sister enters the bathroom. "Hey mum, Jay's on the phone. She's asking when she should be expecting us, she has to run some errands or something."
"Well, I still need to bathe him and get him dressed so tell her about three hours or so." Jay was Anne's sister. Occasionally the two families would meet at either Jay's or Anne's house and spend a few days together, it wasn't necessarily a tradition, but the families liked it. They did it whenever their husbands went on business trips, and since they worked for the same company they more often than not went together.
"Mumma, I don't wanna go." Harry pouts, splashing his plastic boat in the water.
He was the youngest of the cousins. Gemma being around the same age as Lottie and Fiz, and the first pair of twins were close to their age as well so they hung out a lot. Louis was hardly home, being an international star and all, and the second pair of twins were eight years old, way too old to be hanging out with a stupid four-year-old baby. Harry always felt left out when he spent time with his cousins, most of the time just hanging out with his mum and Jay.
"It'll be fun baby, I promise. Louis will be there this time, you like him." Harry just gives her a sad smile. Louis was old, so old. Like twenty something, that was really old in Harry's opinion! And a lot of people followed him whenever he went outside and people took pictures and made lots of noises. Harry didn't like that. But Louis was always there for him when he needed cuddles and he was really the only one of the cousins who would really spend time with him.
"Okay, let's get you dressed." Anne picks the small boy out of the tub, wrapping him in a big fluffy towel. She lays him on his bed while she picks out a comfy outfit for the car ride. "Baby, are you going to be a big boy and tell mummy when you need to potty or do you want a pull-up during the car ride?" Harry was potty-trained, well not at night he was still trying to master that, but he does have a few accidents here and there, mostly because he's stubborn and doesn't tell when he needs to go when they're out and about.
"I'm a big boy." Anne nods and picks out one of Harry's small undies and starts to get him dressed.
"All done, we only need to put a couple of toys in your bag." So, Harry opens his toy chest and picks out his favourite truck and his colouring book along with his colouring pencils. "What about Fluffy?" Anne gestures to the worn out stuffed elephant on Harry's bed, who has been loved from the day Harry was born.
"I'm gonna cuddle him in the car silly." Harry giggles, grabbing the stuffy and snuggling him close to his chest.
"You're right, mummy's silly huh? Let's go get Gem and head to the car." She grabs Harry's little hand and helps him down the stairs before the boy is running out to the car.
The car ride takes about two hours, luckily no stops were needed because Harry was a big boy and was sure to point that out to Jay once they got there, making his cousins snicker. The cousins are quick to settle in the living room, mattresses spread around the room because they liked to have a sleepover anytime Gemma was with them. Harry wasn't invited. He had to share a bed with his mummy, not that he minded because mummy's cuddles are the best, but he wanted to be big like his older cousins.
