Variables | Joshaya ✔︎

Stress

𝕞𝕒𝕪𝕒

The next day, I'm pleasantly woken up by Gabi jumping up and down on my bed.

"Wake up Momma! Wake up!" she says, reminding me of my mom and I.

"What time is it?" I say sleepily, turning to the side with my eyes still closed.

"1:30," she says.

"Why are you up at 1:30?" I ask.

"Nightmare," she says, and I can tell that she's pouting, since the bouncing stops, and I open my eyes, finding her indeed pouting.

"Come here," I say, pulling her in, her back against my chest, "Now go back to sleep for me. Momma's tired."

Gabi snuggles up to me and sighs, "Goodnight mommy."

"Goodnight sweetheart," I say, almost immediately falling back to sleep.

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A few hours later, at around 9:30, I wake up to complete screaming. Oh no. I quickly get out of bed, making sure to not wake up Gabi, and run out of the room, following the noise. I am greeted by a screaming Dillon, who's squirming on the ground as Josh paces around him, clearly thinking of what to do.

"Josh?" I ask, and his eyes whip up to mine and when we make eye contact, his face softens.

"Oh thank god," he breathes out, coming over to me and grabbing my hands.

"What's wrong?" I say worriedly.

"I-I don't know," he stutters, "H-He won't stop crying. I've tried everything. He's been fed, his diaper is clean, I tried the swing, tummy time...." he trails off, motioning to the still squirming and screaming Dillon.

"Burped?" I ask, and he nods.

"Yeah," he says, scratching the back of his neck.

"Hopefully he's just having a clingy day," I say, and Josh nods as I motion to him that he can go back to the dining room to work on his school work, and I can tell that he's still worried as he reluctantly goes over there to work.

I sigh and kneel down to him, "Dillon..."

His eyes pop up to me as he continues to cry.

"What's wrong baby?" I ask as I pick him up, holding him in front of me to look at him. He reaches his arms out to me and my breath hitches as my heart melts. I pull him closely against my chest and comfortingly draw tiny circles on his back, making him rest his head on my chest and his screaming stops, leaving him just crying, "It's okay baby."

I walk around the room and into the kitchen, and then he starts to cry louder, then it goes muffled. I'm completely confused, so I pull him off of my chest to look at him, and see him biting his fingers. He's teething.

I place him back on my chest as I go to the freezer, grabbing the teething toy and placing Dillon on the counter, with his tiny back against my chest. I take his fingers out of his mouth, drying them off with one of the kitchen towels and saying, "No Dillon, we don't eat our fingers."

I hand him the teething toy and he immediately puts it in his mouth, chewing on it harshly as I feel him sigh against me. I sigh as well as I look up from him, seeing Josh with wide eyes. He then looks at Dillon and I can see that he's mad at himself.

"He's teething," I tell him, making him facepalm.

"Damn it," he says under his breath, making me laugh. I pick up Dillon and bring him to Josh, sitting down next to him and placing Dillon on my lap.

"It's okay Josh, it's not your fault," I sooth him, "And besides, he probably wouldn't take it if you gave it to him."

He looks up at me with a face filled with confusion, "Why not?"

"You were stressed Josh," I sigh, "Rightfully so, but you can't show him that you're stressed, cause then it makes him even more stressed. That's probably one of the reasons why he was crying, along with his gums being in pain."

He nods, "I'm sorry, I'm horrible at this."

I immediately shake my head, "No Josh, you're not; you just need to stay calm in these types of situations. Have you ever watched a movie or tv show where someone is pregnant?"

He nods, "Yeah, why?"

"You know how they say that when the woman gets all worked up and starts to argue, everyone goes over to comfort her? Do you know why?"

"Yeah..... cause it's not good for the baby," he says and I nod, "What's your point?"

"My point is that it's the same thing here. It's not good for Dillon to see you so stressed. When they're in the womb, and the mother get's stressed or angry, then the baby also gets that way, and it's the same here. You're one of the main adults in his life now, so you have to make sure that you keep your more stronger emotions, like anger and fear, away from him. Cause then he gets scared, and he starts to cry even more, making everything worse," I explain, and I can see an 'Ohhhh,' playing in Josh's head, "You get it now?"

He sighs and smiles, "Yeah, I do. I'm sorry."

"It's really okay Josh, we all make mistakes. But, it's not how we make mistakes, but how we correct them that defines us," I state.

"Rachel Wolchin," he says, smiling and pointing at me knowingly. I smile back and nod.

"Here," I say, moving Dillon onto his lap, and Josh looks at me wearily.

"Gorgeous, I don't think this is a good id-" he starts, but then I cut him off with a kiss.

"I think it's a great idea," I say once we pull away. I look down at Dillon, who's contently chewing away with his teething toy and I smile.

"Okay," Josh breathes, putting one arm around Dillon to support him as he continues to work on his laptop.

"I'll be back," I say as I kiss Josh's cheek along with Dillon's, and stand up, earning a smile from Josh as I get up and decide that now would be a good time to go wake up Gabi.

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Word Count: 1037
I love Joshaya so much. They're a responsible yet playful relationship, and it's so much fun to write.