there are no words for this

Finger Food

Hey an update. Finally.

For the anon who asked if I stopped writing this story. Short answer: No. Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

March 19th, 2020

"What does she look like?" Tyler asks, holding their daughter up for Josh.

Josh blinks. "She looks like a baby, Tyler."

Tyler realizes he probably didn't phrase his question quite right.

"I mean, does she look like she's ready?" he tries.

"Ready for what?" Josh asks.

Tyler sighs. "Do she look like she's ready for finger food?"

"Oh," Josh says. A pause. "I don't know if she looks like it."

Tyler frowns at his baby. "All the websites say I'll just 'know,'" he says. "I think I missed that lesson."

Josh laughs. "I think she's ready," he says.

"Why do you say that?" Tyler asks.

"During lunch, she tried to take the tomato that fell out of my sandwich and put it in her mouth," Josh explains. "I stopped her, but she seemed insistent on eating it herself."

Tyler nods. "What do you think, baby?" he says, facing AJ.

"Bah," AJ says, grabbing Tyler's nose.

March 19th, 2020

"Cheese cubes, peas, spaghetti, rice," Tyler's mom is saying into the phone, sounding slightly exasperated. "Anything small and not too chewy."

"What if she doesn't like cheese?" Tyler says, staring into the refrigerator. "Or peas? Or spaghetti? Or rice?"

"Then she'll spit it out, look betrayed, and then try to eat it again," his mom says. "And then she'll repeat until you take it away from her. It's not much different from when you gave her baby food for the first time."

Tyler sighs. "I'll talk to Josh," he says, and is only mildly insulted when she quickly hangs up.

March 19th, 2020

"Should I put a bib on her?" Josh asks.

"It's just cheese," Tyler says, looking up from where he's carefully slicing mild cheddar cheese into cubes. "Oh, wait, get the camera!"

Josh pulls out his phone from his pocket, and Tyler sighs because he's pretty sure that expensive camcorder he bought a little after AJ was born will never be used.

Tyler sets a handful of cheese cubes on AJ's tray, and she stops her babbling and picks one up. Tyler makes sure that Josh is recording, which he is, before turning back to watch his daughter place the cube in her mouth.

She chews for a moment and looks right at Tyler. Her face is completely blank, and she stops chewing.

"AJ?" Tyler says.

AJ suddenly spits out the cheese and gives Tyler the most betrayed look Tyler's ever seen anyone make.

"Aww, baby," Tyler says, leaning in and kissing her forehead.

"Did Daddy betray you?" Josh says, still holding his phone up. "Did he lead you astray?"

"Hush," Tyler says, taking the cheese cubes off the tray before AJ can tray to eat them again. "Go heat up the pasta."