Happiness

The fourth and fifth child (Part 2)

Taking care of one baby and a little kid was not easy. Both wanted and needed attention and sometimes they wanted and needed it at the same time. With a baby and two children it got a little bit easier, as long as the older ones were getting along. With two babies and three other children the world was hell! While his three other children could play with each other or their friends, which often were much older than them, because the palace somehow lacked children, the conflict potential was higher and when five children demanded attention Hakuryuu wanted to cry. When it only had been two kids he and his wife could share. It was even possible with three children. One took care of the baby, the other one played with the two older ones. Theoretically, this was also possible with five children as long as not both babies needed immediate attention. A lesson Hakuryuu still hadn't learned by then was to accept that he could not and did not need to fulfill all his children's desires immediately. He was the adult and had to set priorities. Further, differently than others, he had many servants that could help out with the kids, but he refused to ask for help, because it was important for him that his kids were raised by their family! He wanted his children to remember their parents not just as some distant existences, to whom they happened to be related to, but as parents, as family, as people who loved them and were loved by them. Therefore, Hakuryuu did not allow "outsiders" to handle his kids.
At least his wife always had a good laugh when she watched her husband trying to change both babies' clothes at the same time or their diapers. For him it wasn't funny at all, because he did not want his babies to feel bad and hence he tried to attend to their needs as soon as they arose.
As stressful as it may sound – it was stressful indeed – he loved his little ones and they were asleep for most of the time, especially his third son slept through most of the day, anyway – and most of day his wife took care of the babies, so he could do is job as emperor – he wished he could help out more.
Changing his third son's clothes? He was asleep. Changing his diapers? Sleeping. Attempted conversation between father and son? If the little one would snore, one could pretend he was awake. Hakuryuu was sure his son would even sleep through feeding time as well, if he could. However, eating was something no one could do for him, so he had to be awake and do it himself. This did not change the fact that he still felt asleep while eating and so it took longer until he was sated. The only time when that tiny boy got active on his own, was when someone dared to separate his sister and him. They always had to be in the same room or else hell would break lose! When Hakuryuu once took his second daughter out of bed to get her changed and therefore left the children's bed room with her, his son was not pleased at all. The boy started to cry and tried to throw something. Luckily, there wasn't much inside his bed to be thrown around. His parents were worried that he might choke, because of any unnecessary thing inside his bed.
Hakuryuu, of course, had immediately returned to his son's side to see what was wrong. Even Hakuryuu's wife had come and looked scared – usually she looked calm no matter what was going on, but this time this hadn't been the case. They both weren't used to their son throwing such a fit. But soon after his sister was back at his side, the young prince was happy again. Besides his sister he loved his mother very much as well. At first Hakuryuu had been worried that he had done something to his son, until he understood that he was just overreacting and he was loved as well, just not as much as mommy. Everyone had their favorite. His second daughter loved him more than her mommy. He was her favorite parent. And this was totally fine. Hakuryuu himself also had preferred his mother over his father – what probably was also due to the fact that he barely had had any contact to his father.

His second daughter came after him in regards to her appearance. His first son also look a lot like him, but one could still see his wife in the boy. Their first daughter, however, came after her mother, the mole on the left side of her left eye was all the girl had gotten from him – the mole was just a little bit misplaced. The third child neither came after any of his parents, at least not at first glance. The hair and eye color of the boy were neither from his father nor his mother, but he got his soft features from her and the little split at the end of his eyebrows from Hakuryuu. However, Hakuryuu's second daughter looked like an exact copy of her father. His wife thought it was the cutest thing ever and teased her husband with it. She even searched for old clothes of him, so she could put them on her daughter, when she was a little bit older. The little girl loved to look and be like daddy. Over the years she got more her own style, but still looked a lot like Hakuryuu and was happy about it. In regards to her personality, she was a nice mix between her parents, still her childself reminded everyone of the emperor. On the other hand, no one knew how the empress had been as a child.