Bad Luck or Fate?

Chapter 80

"I see someone else is wide awake too." I said as I leaned over Thomas's crib. He was grabbing at his feet and smiling, bright eyed and bushy tailed. "That's fine though, you can just spend some time with your old man, right?" I groaned as I picked him up and out of the crib. "Jeez, you've gotten so big in only a week, Bub. You're going to be walking and talking before I know it. Just like your sister over there." I put Thomas on my hip and turned towards Breckyn's bed. Winnie was laying spread eagle in the middle of the bed, her blonde hair a crazy mess on her head, her mouth hanging open clutching onto the new teddy bear I had bought her while I was in Chicago. I chuckled as I walked to the end of the bed and settled down on the floor, leaning against the footboard. I put my knees up and set Thomas on my thighs so that he was sitting up right. He smiled up at me and I couldn't help but smile back. I took in all of his features. He had my crooked grin and his mom's nose. Thank goodness for that. He had my ears and my big head. I took my index finger and placed it in his tiny palm. He definitely had my wonky fingers. He was a Fallon through and through. There was no denying that but there was one very important feature that he got from his mother. I looked into his beautiful baby blue eyes and smiled. "Those blue eyes are going to get you AND me into a lot of trouble when you get older, you know that?" He squirmed around in my lap so I leaned down and kissed him on his nose. I couldn't help but wonder what he was going to be like when he was older. Would he be an athlete like Breckyn or will he be a performer, like me? He'll probably get his head stuck in a banister or fall down some stairs. Regardless of who he takes after, he's bound to not be the most graceful person. There's no doubt in my mind he'll have an extensive collection of casts by the time he's a teenager and I highly doubt this will be my first sleepless night when it comes to him. It's safe to say that I'll get what's coming to me if he's anything like me. "I wouldn't mind if you slowed down on the growing up part. Not one bit. It's okay if you want to stay little for a while cause to be honest, I'm not ready for you to grow up just yet but until then, let's see if we can get a laugh out of you, huh?"

I adjusted my posture so that the wooden footboard wasn't cutting into my bare back. I made sure my legs were close enough that he was sitting almost upright and I tickled him. He gave me a great big grin but no laugh. I tried several funny faces with the same result."Oh come on, Bubs. I know you laughed. I heard it myself the other night on the phone so there's no use hiding it but I can see that you're going to be a tough sell so it's time to pull out the big guns." I looked up at the ceiling for a moment before coming up with the perfect idea. I cleared my throat and covered my eye with my hand. " WHAT KIND OF A DAD AM I? I CANT EVEN MAKE MY OWN SON LAUGH! AND THAT'S NOT GOOD!" Thomas was stonefaced and I frowned a bit. "Okay, so Gilbert Godfrey didn't work real well. Let's try...:" I cleared my throat against and then raised my voice to a higher octave. "I laugh! Winnie laughs! We allllll laugh! What is this? People are laughing but you're not!" I looked down at him and he squirmed and grinned but not a peep. "Alright, Seinfeld isn't for everyone but I do know someone who is." I started to move my arms around and rolling my eyes, pursing my lips. "You know the little people who wear the diapers? With the crying? And the sleeping? And putting the bottle to your lips? You much rather have a Jello pudding pop." I stopped rolling my eyes and pursing my lips. I immediately went into a different one. I lowered my voice and started bouncing around. "Okay. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Somewhere there's a kid going "Daddy! Look over there!" Thank you. Yes. There's a guy going "What the hell's going on there?" Man, he was not budging. I decided to go into my best impression. I lowered my eyes and let out an awkward laugh. "Uh. Hi. How are ya? Here we go. You know my mom always told me to uh.. Hi how you doing? She always told me that if you can make someone laugh you were doing something good. So.. uh.. so I say..Why don't you laugh for your father?!" After my best Adam impression, Thomas started grinning really wide and I felt a glimmer of hope that he would laugh but a smile was all I could coax out of him.