Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 18476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)
“Sniggerdoodle!” Lu demands, tiny hands finding her hips, looking so much like Angel Cake it causes an ache in my chest.
She’s right.
These are the big moments for them.
And I’ve missed so many.
I don’t really wanna miss many more.
“Chocolate with both chocolate,” Lair Bear practically growls as she leans forward. “Mommy make the bes’ chocolate.”
“Sniggerdoodle,” her sister matches her craned forward stance. “Mommy make the best sniggerdoodle!”
Mommy makes the best everything, but that’s beside the point.
Baking to this day is still her strong suit and go to for handling emotions, especially while I’m gone, which is why I got her a collapsible standing cooling rack.
Couldn’t let Santa – or the kids – have credit for that shit.
The new aprons and gloves and build your own cookbook are from them.
“Listenin’ ears, Alura!” shouts her sister.
“Inside voice, Allaira!”
Tortilla suddenly gives us a loud huff from across the room, stare centered on me, as if stating to break up the fight before he has to.
And he will.
When the girls get loud or mean or unruly with one another, he will not only put himself between them, but he’ll also nudge them in opposite directions until they get the message.
I didn’t train him to do that.
It’s just instinct.
And Angel Cake loves that we have two dogs that have those.
“Alright,” my hand lets go of the door to allow the fridge to shut, “if you two can’t agree, then you know what we have to do. We’re gonna have to D&C.”
Both girls eagerly bob their heads in willingness.
“Which stands for what?”
“Divide and conquer!”
“Affirmative. And that means…”
“One pick each!” they announce in unison.
“Okay then. Since Lu is on book command for the night, Lair Bear, you may have first choice. Milk or cookies?”
“Milk.” She folds her arms firmly across her chest. “Chocolate.”
Confusion has me crinkling my eyebrows. “Huh?”
“Chocolate.”
“But-”
“Final answer, Daddy.”
There’s no stopping me from shaking my head in further bewilderment. “Alright. Lu?”
“Chocolate,” her sister echoes, smile reaching from ear to ear.
“But-”
“Chocolate with chocolate with chocolate,” Lu recites prior to sprinting away. “I’ll get the special cup!”
“I’ll get the special plate!” Lair Bear insists and takes off in the opposite direction.
What the fuck just happened here?
One minute they were having a standoff like a deleted Die Hard scene and the next they’re Saving Private Ryaning themselves so that the other gets their pick.
So that the person they love most is happy.
A smile slowly spreads across my face as I shake my head in amusement.
Huh.
No idea where they get that shit from.
Post The Great Christmas Debate in the kitchen is shower time. Thankfully, it goes a lot smoother than the last event – rubber ducks are always handy – and leaving them to get dressed on their own to bring my wife – who is singing AFI songs in the bath – a Christmas mug of tequila occurs without any issues.
Teeth brushing is done to music from our family playlist. The two-minute rule in which they have to keep going until the timer goes off – interrupting the song – also gives them one last chance to get their wiggles out before tuck in time.
It was Arley’s brilliant doing.
Much like everything else that keeps our household running smoothly.
The same dedication to analyzing she delivers to HE she does for our household. Regardless of if it’s something big – the best preschools in the area – or something small – burning energy pre bed – she puts in the effort to figure out the most optimal solution according to the data while I still do what I’ve always done.
Trust my instincts.
Hasn’t failed me yet.
It’s how I knew to buy a new soccer goal before the one in the backyard crapped out.
From the floor of their shared bedroom, I watch them climb up the steps to the reading nook space above their beds. Despite it being Lu’s turn to pick the books, they talk it out. Work together. Compromise in a way they’ve seen me, and their mother, do probably a million times.
It’s wild to me how much of us is in them.
I know parents always think that, but it’s different for me.
I missed such a hunk of time away from my own that I’m not sure that got to be true for mine.
Then again, if you ask the woman I gave my last name to, she’ll tell you I absolutely got my dad’s snark and my ma’s devotion to those she loves.
I hope the latter is passed along to these two.
Reading time occurs with both girls lounging on me. One book has Lair Bear’s head on my leg while her sister straddles the other, yet the next has Lu wedged between my thighs with Lair Bear standing behind me to point at the pictures over my shoulder, convinced I’m going to miss the important details only she sees. Having my girls lovingly wound around me the entire session further drives Arley’s point home.