My Buddy Archie [1]

02..

I opened my eyes two minutes before my alarm went off. Wanting to milk the relaxation as long as possible, I didn't move until it made that god awful shrill noise and flashed 'Get Up' on the screen. After shutting it off I groaned and sat up, stretching my arms over my head until my shoulders cracked.

"Archie, time to get up, buddy." I turned over and brushed his hair back. He really needs it cut. "Gotta wake up Archie. It's your first day of daycare. Don't want to be late." And I have to work—so move your ass kid. "Come on, I can't brush my teeth without you."

"I hate it," he whined.

"Brushing your teeth?"

"Waking up."

I smiled and kissed his head, "Me too but we all have to. Now come on." He took his time but eventually we made it to the bathroom. I placed him on the counter and got his toothbrush covered in in a pea sized dot of toothpaste before getting mine set up. He mimicked my brushing patterns, opening his mouth and making faces when I did. He was my little copycat when he wasn't acting shy. I chuckled when he drooled on his pajamas only to end up doing the same exact thing. We got ourselves washed up and clean before I helped him change.

"Arms up." He held his arms up as he let out an obnoxious laugh, making me laugh too. It's times like this that make me so glad he was a pretty obedient and good little kid. There was rarely any fussing with him over little things. I lifted his pajama shirt up and yanked down an orange shirt with a monkey on it that my mum got him a while ago. He insisted on putting his pants on himself, so I quickly got myself dressed for work, keeping an eye on him in the mirror.

"Niall, I can't get the button." He pouted, stumbling over his words.

"Alright." After pulling my shirt down, I help him button his pants. "Hey, look at me." His attention locked on my face immediately, "Make sure to tell someone when you have to go to the potty okay? You're wearing big boy undies and you don't want to mess them up."

"Okay."

I swept him off the floor and blew raspberries on his stomach as I took him downstairs. Breakfast was just a bowl of Cheerios for us today; more elaborate meals are for weekends. We were out the door with good time. I waved to Regina Good as she scuttled to get the mail from her mailbox; she’s clearly running late. I wonder what her boys are like, if they’ll be nice to Archie. I have no problem with talking to her about them if they’re little shits to him...

The closer we got to the daycare, the more I started to worry about how Archie would handle this. I kept glancing at him in the mirror, seeing him pulling at his shoe strings, completely unaware to my inner panic. Maybe this will be easy. Maybe I'm just psyching myself out.

I pulled up to the front and jogged around to help him out of his car seat. "Are you excited?"

"I don't know."

"I'm excited for you," I held his hand as I walked through the door. It was a classic daycare with pictures of cartoon characters on the walls and crayons everywhere. "I can already tell this place looks fun. Look at the other kids and all the toys." His eyes got big staring at all the colorful daycare shit in the room, and I will admit it looks like a good place for him.

"Hi, I'm Trisha." A blonde woman walked up to me, holding her hand out.

I shook her hand, "Niall."

"And who's this little guy?" We both crouched down so we could hear him.

"I'm Archie." He muttered leaning back against my chest.

"Archie?" She gasped, "That's a nice name. How old are you Archie?" He held up four fingers which I fixed by putting one down. "Wow you're a big boy. Already so old and wise."