Loving Two // C.H (completed)

forty-one

< Sunday >

{ Maddie }

"Mommy we have to make it super special," Landyn told me as we quietly left the house at the ripe hour of 5 am. Today was Father's Day and we wanted to make it special for Calum. This is his first one. So Landyn and I woke up early to make it special. I had no way of hiding anything so it was last minute.

We headed over to Target first. Landyn held my hand as we walked through the store. I let him have total control over what we got Calum. He wanted to get him a coffee cup with coffee, but he also made Calum a bracelet when he was hanging out with KayKay and Ashton the other day. That was tucked into my purse so Calum wouldn't see it.

"I think I like this one" Landyn let go of my hand and pointed to a blue coffee mug on the shelf. It was simple and said 'World's Best Dad' but Landyn couldn't read it. I read him what it said and he nodded. I smiled and grabbed it off the shelf and put it in the basket I grabbed.

We grabbed Calum's favorite coffee then headed towards the front to check out. As we walked, Landyn tugged my arm,

"It's a bucket hat!" he jumped. I turned to look. It was a black bucket hat that had 'Dad' embroidered,

"It's a dad hat. Should we get it?"

Landyn nodded and pulled it off the shelf, adding it to the basket.

After we checked out and got in the car, we went to the grocery store, picking up the small cake I had ordered for Calum. Once we had everything, I got the gift bag set up in the car and helped Landyn write his name. Then I ordered breakfast and picked it up on our way home.

****

The house was still quiet when we got home, so Calum was still asleep. Duke was still asleep in his dog bed by the back door,

"Can I wake Daddy up?" Landyn bounced eagerly, wanting to run down the hall to the room,

"Sure buddy" I smiled. Everything was ready for Calum so I figured now was good.

Landyn took off down the hallway and I could hear him waking Calum up. I laughed and sat down, waiting for them to come out. This was Calum and Landyn's moment and I wanted them to have that.

Their giggled got closer then they appeared around the corner,

"Look! I got you a present and a cake and food!" Landyn pulled Calum to the chair,

"Well thank you buddy" Calum chuckled, still half asleep.

Calum looked over at me and smiled,

"Happy first Father's Day" I smiled. Calum almost started to tear up,

"Thanks for bringing such an amazing kid into my life"

I had to hold my tears back then.

"Come on! We gotta eat so you can open your present!" Landyn whined, jumping up into Calum's lap,

"This is already an amazing day"

{ Calum }

Maddie cleared away plates and boxes once we finished breakfast. Landyn sat up on the table and pushed my present to me. They were really making this a special day for me.

I pulled the tissue paper out and grabbed the card first opening it and reading it out loud,

"Happy Father's Day to the best Dad in the whole world. We may not be blood but that doesn't make this any less special. Thank you for being the dad you didn't have to be. Love Landyn"

My heart was busting. It was a store-bought card but I was crying,

"Open your present Daddy!" Landyn took the card from me, obviously not knowing how special it really was.

I reached into the bag and started to pull out my presents. I got a nice coffee cup with a coffee bag and a nice bucket hat. Then at the very bottom was a homemade bracelet. I pulled out the blue beaded bracelet and held it in my hands. Landyn's name was spelled out in beads,

"Now you have one like Mommy does," Landyn told me and Maddie held her arm up, showing me an identical bracelet,

"Thank you guys so much" I got up and hugged them both,

"Anything for the best dad in the world"

****

Maddie left a little while ago and went over to Michael and Crystal's. Landyn had asked if we could have a Daddy-Son day just like he did with Mommy-Son day on Mother's Day. So of course we said yes.

Landyn and I were just hanging out at home today. As soon as Maddie left, we went and changed and were now hanging out in the pool.

We just got a slide for the pool so Landyn was in and out of the water, going up and down the slide. He still doesn't like going underwater, even with his floatie on, so I stood at the bottom and caught him as he came down.

He got to the top and sat down, gave me a thumbs up, then went down. I caught him and held him to my body,

"Do you wanna try swimming without your floatie? Maybe teach you how to swim?" I asked, but the look of horror in Landyn's eyes gave me the answer,

"No no no" he tried kicking away from me,

"Okay buddy. I'm sorry. We won't do that" I promised but he was already freaking out.

I acted quick and got us out of the pool, sitting down on one of the chairs and wrapping a towel around him as he started calming down,

"I'm sorry Lanny. I didn't mean to scare you" I kissed his head, "Why don't you want to try?"

Landyn sniffed and curled back into my chest,

"My daddy used to throw me in water and I almost didn't come up. He'd hold my head under"

That was new information to me. I would have never known. He loves to go swimming so I was fooled.

Then I got angry. His father tried to drown him,

"I'm sorry Landyn. I promise I won't do that to you. But when you think you're ready to go swimming without the floatie, tell me and we will learn"

Landyn nodded then shivered,

"Let's get inside and get changed, then we can watch a movie"

****

Landyn didn't even make it five minutes into the movie before he was asleep in my lap. Maddie came home a few minutes later and laughed,

"Did you guys have a good day?" she pecked my lips,

"We did" I smiled,

"Was it a good first Father's Day?"

"The absolute best"