The Trouble Toddler

Chapter 16: party

Warning: in this chapter child abuse/neglect will be mentioned. Read at own risk!

Peter p.o.v

We had Lexi now for a couple of weeks and I could not be happier. Only there was one thing that was bugging me, Anna. Lexi still showed her disliking towards her and that concerned me. I thought by now she would feel at ease with the new person in her life, but she did not.

Julia shrugged it off as not being able to be separated from us yet, but a voice in my head told me she was wrong. There was something going on between Lexi and Anna.

We both had settled on the couch after putting Lexi to bed. We were watching our favourite programme while drinking some whine. "Hon?"

"Yes?" My wife responded. "I really think we should consider getting a different babysitter for Lexi. She really does not like her."

"Babe, not this again. Lexi is fine, she just needs to learn that is her babysitter while we are gone to work." She did not once look at me while she said those words. Her eyes glued to the screen. Sometimes I did not understand my wife.

"Julia, I'm serious. I do not want someone around my daughter if I know my little girl does not like her." I said worried.

"I'm not saying you are not serious; I think you should just let it go. We had already problems with finding a babysitter. How do you suppose to find one so quickly?"

"I will just work from home while we found for a solution. I want my daughter happy when I come home, not clinging onto me and I think Anna is not taking good care of her." I said, pressing my worries towards my wife.

"Where is that coming from?" Julia said, raising her voice. "What evidence do you have to support that statement of yours?"

I sighed. "Lexi has a rash and I try to be as quick as I can with the diaper changes, you as well. We always check if she has used them, but still her rash stays. I think Anna does not change her in time. Maybe Anna is not ready to take care of such a young child."

"I call bullshit. You are overreacting, like always." I was shocked. Now she made it personal. "Where is this coming from?"

"Peter please let's not make this bigger than it is." Again, I was shocked by my own wife.

"We are talking about our daughter Julia! Our daughter! A child we always wanted and if I recall correctly, you were the one who wanted a child in the first place. I thought it was better to stay childless because of the population problem. Now we have a child, and you are not looking after her. Explain that to me Julia!" I roared.

Julia put her glass down and sighed. "I'm sorry Peter. I did not mean to come across as I did not care for our Lexi. Of course, I do. I just miss our own time, you know. Our dates, which you always prepare for us. I think I just miss a bit of us-time."

A part of me felt relieved as I thought Julia regretted, we got a child. I put my arm around her and kissed her head. "I'm sorry for not noticing your needs. How about this, I ask Anna to babysit for a night. We use that night for a nice dinner and maybe after that a couple of hours at a hotel. And... and if we do not feel like coming home yet we ask Anna to stay the night here. When we come home, we look at Lexi's behaviour, if she still does not like we look for another sitter if she does like her, then we keep her. How does that sound?"

A smile formed on Julia's face. "That sounds lovely babe." With that we shared a kiss.

So, I had called Anna and she was available to watch over Lexi in the weekend. She also did not mind staying for the night if we wanted more time with the two of us. Currently I was getting myself read, fixing my tie in front of a mirror.