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“And stay with me until I fall asleep?”
“I’ll stay with you until—Mal, what have you been teaching this baby and why does she speak better than me?”
“I’ve never really talked to her like a baby or like a toddler. She catches on quickly. She’s fluent in—”
“Española y quiero aprender francés,” she responded, telling me she was fluent in Spanish and wished to learn French.
“Puedo enseñarte francés y un poco de ruso también,” I rushed out, excited to share with her I was willing to teach her French and the bit of Russian I knew.
“Daddy, she speaks Spanish!”
“She does,” Malachi grunted. “I had no idea, Aussie.”
“Now, you do.” I chuckled.
“So, no secret conversations anymore, huh?”
“Nope.” Aussie laughed, answering her father’s question.
It was like staring in a mirror. She resembled me. Our skin was almost the same shade of brown. Hers was a bit darker and even more beautiful than mine. Her nose, eyes, and lips were very similar in size and shape. She was a tiny version of me, a perfect example of what our future children would look like.
“But, to answer your question, of course I’ll stay until you’re really, really sleep, okay? Deal?”
“Deal.”
“Alright. Let’s have a few more bites of your green beans and we can head to the tub after I get the table cleaned.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Malachi insisted.
“One.” Aussie took one fork full of green beans.
“Two.” She took another.
“Three.” Dropping the fork, she waited for my approval.
“Three is good. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
Like lightning, she was up and out of her seat with her arms around her father’s neck.
“Goodnight, Daddy.”
“Goodnight, baby.”
He kissed both her cheeks and let her down from his lap. She dashed out of the dining room and into the bathroom. I was still trying to get up from the table by the time I heard bath water running.
“Seriously?”
“She’s like a little old lady.”
Her independence was as appalling as it was disheartening. It revealed just how in tune she was with her father’s pain and how much she wanted to relieve him of tasks to help ease it. In time, I wanted to work on channeling that energy in other places so she could enjoy her youth. With a lot of gentleness and care, she’d become the superstar toddler she had the potential to be without worrying about water temperatures, bedtime routines, and anything else I could take care of.
“I imagine I should get a move on before she’s in bed, reading to herself, huh?”
“She will try and this isn’t an exaggeration.”
“I believe it. We’re going to have to work on that. As beautiful as it is, it doesn’t have to be her reality anymore.”
