Soft Boy

A day's activities

   "Leo!" A sweet voice whispers.
   "LEO!" the voice then yells. I jolt awake and sit up abruptly. I smash heads with someone and pain seers through my forehead.
   "Owie!" I yell rubbing it. I open my eyes and see Lily doing the same.
   "Lily!" I say.
   "I wanted to see if you're awake! Its time for breakfast!" she says pulling me to my feet. I run to the table and see everyone is already sitting there.
   "Food!" I say climbing onto my chair. Aiden and mommy made omelets and bacon!
   "Hey Leo, mommy found a new picture on her camera," mommy says. I giggle when I think about last night. My friends do too.
   "We went on the deck and looked at the stars, they were so bright and beautiful!" I say excitedly. Mommy kisses the top of my head
   "All of you are too precious!"
   After breakfast mommy brings me upstairs and changes me out of my night diapee and into a clean one.
   "Boompa!" I say.
   "And the matching shirt?" Mommy asks. I nod.

   "And a pair of shortalls" I giggle
   "Mommy knows me so well!" I say.
   "That's what mommy's for!" She says helping me into my shortalls. I wander back downstiars and see everyone else.
   Lily is wearing a pink tutu, a froggie onesie, and white tights. Carter is wearing s black onesie and a black tutu and black tights. Aaron is wearing a caption america shirt and above the knee shorts.
   "I here!" I say announcing my arrival.
   "Hi Leo!" they all say. I wave at them.
   "Okay so we have some activities planned for today, first we're gonna go out back and play in the leaves!" Tye says. We all cheer.
   "Can I jump in a leave pile?" Aaron asks.
   "Of course you can baby!" Aiden says. Aaron giggles in response.
   "After that we're gonna take a field trip to a pumpkin patch because its almost Halloween!" Tye says
   "Mama I want pumpkin seeds!" I say. Pumpkin seeds have always been my favorite, fresh out of the I've with butter and Lawry's seasoning salt!
   "We can make pumpkin seeds after we carve them. Then after their carved and we have our pumpkin seeds, we're gonna have a bonfire and make smores!" we all gasp and talk about how excited we are.
   "So let's go do it!" Aiden says. We all go outside and run through the   ginormous amount of leaves on the ground. Mommy brought her camera and took candid shots of us.
   "Hey Leo, can you be mommy's helper and help me rake the leaves?" Mommy asks. I flop onto the grass.
   "Mommy what if I made a ginormous leaf pile and then jumped in it!" I say excitedly. Mommy chuckles.
   "Leo thats what you've been doing for the past 20 minutes!" she says.
   "Yeah but this one will be the biggest ever of all time!" I say. Tye smiles at me.
   "Okay everyone, we're gonna make one huge leaf pile that you can all jump in! After that we're gonna rake up the leaves and put them in theese jack o' lantern trash bags."
   We all get to work putting every leaf in a giant pile. Soon every leaf in the backyard was in a pile.
   "Ready to jump?" Aiden asks. All four of us are standing around the pile.
   "Yes!" We all yell.
   "1 2 3 JUMP!" we all dive into the pile. The leaves fly everywhere! I laugh and roll around.
   When the leaves are all bagged up we pile in mama's SUV and head to the pumpkin patch.
   "Mama I want this one!" I yell pointing to the biggest pumpkin.
   "You're too little for that one, find one more your size," she says in response. I sigh and keep looking for my perfect match.
   As I'm looking I accidentally trip over something. I immediately start crying and mommy comes to my aid
   "Aww baby come here!" She says wrapping her arms around me and rocking me gently.
   "I tripped over a pumpkin!" I say into her chest. Mommy finds the pumpkin I tripped over an shows me. I gasp. Its almost perfect. Its medium sized, round, and not too bruised.
   "Mama mama! It was a sign! I need this one!" I say switching my mood quickly. Mama chuckles and kisses my forehead.
   "It does look perfect. Let's get it!" Tye says. I pick it up and meet the rest of the group at the front of the patch.
   "Guys look at mine!" Lily says showing us a white pumpkin. We all look at it with confusion.
   "How'd it turn white?" Carter asks.
   "Maybe a fairy turned it white!" Lily says excitedly.
   When we get home mommy and Aaron put newspaper all over the kitchen floor. We all had a spot with paint of all colors on a plate.
   "This is your work space! Instead of carving we're gonna paint them instead. Its a lot safer for babies. So get designing!" Aaron says. I instantly decide mine is gonna be Frankenstein. I put my dark blue paci in my mouth and get going.
   I've never been an artist, but mommy is. She outlines him for me and I roughly color it in. When its done I start clapping
   "Mommy! It looks super duper good!" I say excitedly. Tye comes over and takes a look.
   "Gorgeous! You ready to get the seeds out?" She asks me. I pretty much forgot all about that. I get more excited and run to the knife drawer before mommy can stop me. I pick out the biggest one and mommy instantly grabs it from my hand.
   "Leo, I told you many times that drawer is off limits. Did I not?" Mommy says seriously.
   "You told me," I say.
   "Do you need to do some lines to help you calm down?" She asks. I shake my head.
   "Okay, last warning. Now let's crack that thing open!" I give mommy a hug and she rubs my back.
   Soon the pumpkin seeds are in the oven.
   "I want apple cider!" Aaron says to his daddy. I perk up.
   "Did someone say apple cider?" I say.
   "I did!" Aaron says happily.
   "I have waited my whole life for this moment," I say seriously. Mommy and everyone else looks at me funny.  
   "Guys I'm a barista, I make that stupid fall drink all autumn long," I walk to the kitchen and open the fridge. I see around a dozen apples. Perfect. Mommy keeps some carmel cubes in the cupboard along with some cinnamon.
   "You're gonna make Carmel apple ciders aren't you?" Tye says from beside me.
   "Oh yeah," I say happily. I get to work and start juicing the apples. I melt down the carmel in a pot then add the apple juice. To top it all off I add a shot of cinnamon and put whipped cream on the top.
   The house smells like fall threw up everywhere.
   "Oh. My. God," Lily says when I pass everyone their cup. I sit down with them and take a sip. Its brilliant. Best I've made in a while.
   "Yeah its what I do," I say teasingly. We all take a break from littlespace. We get to know each other. Talk about our jobs, bills, TV shows. And we have fun messing around.
   "Leo there's whipped cream on your lip," Tye says. I notice it and laugh.
   "Maybe I was saving it for later, you don't know me," I say.
   It was a nice break