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“What’s a snack tray? Oh, kid, you’ve been missing out. I’m making you a deluxe panda snack tray.”
Koby giggled and fogged up the windows. I marched over and showed him how to draw in the fogged-up spaces. Man, I was on a roll today on the busy toddler front.
I pulled out a plate and some of those silicone cupcake liners that were in the cabinet. Each one got bits from the fridge. Grapes, blueberries, cheese, mini peppers, avocado, and some mini pitas with hummus.
“Come on, big guy. Your lunch is ready.”
I bent to lift him into the high chair, but he shook his head. “No. I wanna sit wike daddies.”
“In a big chair?” I asked.
He nodded. This kid.
“Well, it’s gonna be hard for you to reach your food.”
Koby crossed his arms. I’d never seen a toddler that was 100 percent audacity, but he showed me new things every day.
“I have an idea. Hold tight.”
I went into the living room and got six of the coffee table books no one touched and put them on the chair. I threw two kitchen towels over the stack because Koby didn’t exactly keep his food on his plate. It was a bit slippery, but I would be right next to him. Plus, I was convinced the kid was made of marble.
Nothing fazed him.
I helped him sit up, and he was pleased as punch with both the seating and the lunch. I was winning on a rainy day. Imagine that.
I didn’t know that lunch was the beginning of the end. Koby got squirrely and didn’t want to do anything after that. He wanted to go outside and run and play but those things were off the table. He stomped. Stomped at me.
“How about we go around the house and look at pictures. That might be nice.”
He scathed me with a stink eye. “Can we see the ones with Pop-Pop and Gigi?”
“I don’t know where those are. Do you?”
He nodded and took off like a bullet. In seconds, he came back, but now walking since the book of pictures he was holding was thicker than him. “They are in here. Mama is in here, too.”
“And your daddies?” I asked.
“All the family.”
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
We made ourselves comfortable in the recliner, the one that belonged to Justice. His blackberry-and-vanilla scent wafted into my senses every time we rocked.
“Dis is Pop-Pop when he had a race car and Gigi had a nice butt.” He enunciated the Ts.
Clearly someone had done this with him before, and he remembered everything. I tried like hell not to laugh and failed. That only made Koby more dramatic about the whole thing. This went on for page after page until Sloan and Justice walked through the door.
“You’re home early!” Gods, there was entirely too much excitement in my voice.
“We are. I just didn’t want to work today, and Justice got rained out. What are you two up to?”
They put their bags and umbrellas down and came over to us.
“Koby was teaching me all kinds of family secrets. Like Gigi having a nice butt and Pop-Pop used to dance with lots of girls.”
Both of them cracked up. Sloan said, “They always go through this album when he is here. He has some stories, and he doesn’t exactly edit them for Koby.”
While we laughed, Koby flipped to the end after stopping for a few pics of his mom. “I don’t see Wivvy.”
