May 15th 2020
The morning comes all too quickly as the sun starts to spill into my bedroom and I turn my alarm off. I have to set a routine to make things easier for Rosie to adjust, but I'm not typically an early bird if I don't have to be, so forcing myself out of bed and into a much needed shower is my first and most difficult task of the morning.
I'm barely awake for most of it, but I shower and then change into some comfortable clothes since I don't have any plans to leave the house today. "Do you guys want breakfast?" I talk to the cats that are inevitably hiding somewhere in my room, but I can't find any of them, so I give up and figure that they'll come down when they want food.
I walk along the hallway and lean against the door frame of Rosie's room, smiling gently as I spot the three cats curled up on the bed beside the little one. "Good morning, Ro," I walk further into the room as I spot Rosie already awake and cuddling Benjamin. "Good morning," her voice is small but she smiles back as I sit on the edge of the bed.
"How did you sleep, angel?" Rosie doesn't hesitate moving into my open arms as I perch beside her, "good." I smile and kiss Rosie's cheek as we both give Olivia some attention. "How about we go and give these little furballs some breakfast?" Rosie nods so I set her down on her feet beside the bed as I usher the cats out of the room.
"Can we watch Frozen again?" The little girl's eyes are eager and excited and I just laugh as I nod, "once we've fed the cats I'll put it on for you." Rosie nods and keeps a hold of my hand as we walk through to the kitchen. "I know you're hungry, Mr Buttons, give us a minute," Benji is meowing as I retrieve the cat food and then kneel down by the cats' bowls. "Do you want to give some to the ladies?" I fill Benji's bowl and Rosie nods so I hand her the little scoop and Ro fills Meredith and Olivia's. "Good job, honey," I give her a quick high five and then return the cat food to it's rightful place.
"What would you like for breakfast? French toast or pancakes?" After putting Frozen on in the living room for the little one, I kneel by Rosie. I was informed that giving the little one a limited number of options gives her more confidence to make choices and makes life a little easier in the long run. "Pancakes, please," I smile back at the little one as I nod, "Your wish is my command."
Rosie stays in the living room as I go back to the kitchen to make us some breakfast. I'm doing everything I can to make this learning period easier for Rosie - life doesn't have to be so hard on the little one.
---
"Hey! That's not fair!" I chuckle as Rosie holds up her playdoh creation, "your lion is far scarier than mine!" My reaction makes Rosie giggle, "cause it's pink," gasping, my eyes go wide and I look at the pink lion in my hand, "you don't think pink is scary?" Rosie shakes her head, a wide grin on her face as I overact, "well I'll have to try again, won't I?"
We're both smiling and as my phone starts to ring, I pull it out, groaning internally as I spot the caller ID. "I'll be back in just a minute, monkey, why don't you finish your hippo for me?" Rosie nods with a smile and I press a gentle kiss to her forehead before pushing myself up.
I slip into the music room just across the hall as I answer it, "hey babe, is everything alright?" After years of denying the truth and hiding from reality, Karlie and I finally decided to give it a shot together. We're taking things slow but it's better than hiding from how we really feel. "I'm about to get into a car, are we still on for dinner tonight?" My eyes go wide again as I panic, "urmmm," on the other end of the line, Karlie chuckles, "baby, did you forget?"
I sigh, everything has been so chaotic lately, "I'm so sorry, Kar, there's a lot going on." I feel incredibly guilty, I definitely should've spoken to Karlie about this before. "It's okay, we can stay in and watch a cheesy film instead," the model laughs and I smile gently to myself, "sure, but we need to have a chat, Kar..." before I can even finish her sentence, Karlie cuts me off, "I need to go, baby, I'll be at your place soon, I love you."
