Raising My Baby Sister

chapter 2

"Come here Aster," I say and she crawls over to me. She sits up facing me and holds her arms out, I pick her up and bounce her on my hip. "Do you want to go to the park again today, princess?" She flaps her arms excitedly, "all right, baby, let's get ready!" I say and gather up her stuff and stick it in her backpack. I slip her sweater on her and grab my phone. "Lets's go garb your stroller now, sweet pea," I grab my phone, toss her backpack over my shoulder and head downstairs with Aster on my hip.

I get her situated in the stroller and we begin the walk to the park. "Hey, Princess, did you enjoy playing with Cole yesterday?" I ask and she starts blabbing away. "You're adorable, Aster," I say and stop the stroller at a think grassy patch in the park.

I get her blanket out of her bag, and unbuckle her from the stroller. I grab her, and lay out the blanket. I put her down on the fluffy pink blanket and she starts crawling off of it. "Princess, the blanket's there so you can play on it, not in the grass," I groan and go to get up when a pair of arms reach out and grab Aster. "Hey! Stop it- oh sorry Cole, I didn't see you there," he sets her back in the middle of the blanket and sits down next to me.

"Hi Willow, mind if I hang with you guys for a while?" He asks, scratching the back of his neck.

I nod, "sure, I don't see why not." Aster climbs into Cole's lap, "she really seems to like you anyway." She stands and reaches to touch his face. He puts his hands around her to steady her.

"Hi Aster, how are you, cutie?" He asks her and she smiles a big toothless smile. She tries to climb higher in his lap and falls down. She giggles. She gets up again and tries to climb up Cole again. She falls, and starts wimpering.

"She's getting tired, I should feed her and put her down for a nap." I pick her up, "can you grab her blanket?" He picks it up and shakes it out. I take the blanket from his outstretched hand and stick it in her bag.

"I can hold her while you get the bottle ready," he says nervously. I hand him Aster.

"Thanks," I grab the already measured powder and dump it in the bottle that I already prefilled halfway with water. I twist the lid on and shake it, then hand it to Cole, "here you go. I'll be right back, I just have to run to the restroom. Will you be alright with her?"

"Yeah, I'm good." That's all I needed to hear before I run over to the ladies restroom.

When I get back, Aster is finished with her bottle and Cole is holding her closely, gently patting her back until she burps. When she burps, he praises her just like I do. "Yay, Aster! Good girl, that way a big burp." He looks around, and sees me, "oh, you're back."

"Can I have her? It's time for her nap since you burped her already." I hold my arms out and he hands her to me.

I lay her in the stroller, and buckle her up. Cole hands me the bottle and I stick it in her bag. I start pushing the stroller gently and Cole walks beside me.

It takes about forty-five minutes, and Aster finally closes her eyes and falls asleep. "Hey, so I have to be home in a couple minutes, but umm, will you guys be here again tomorrow?" Cole speaks up.

"Oh I think so, we're here pretty much every day. Here, how about I give you my number and you can call later today or tomorrow to make sure, okay?" I look at him, "do you have your phone on you?"

"Oh, yeah, I do" he says fumbling around in his pockets. He gets it out, "okay, what's your number?" He asks and I tell him. "Alright, I'll call you tomorrow then?"

"Yup, see you later Cole!" I say and we both turn to leave seperate ways.

When Aster and I get home, she is awake and crawling around trying to walk around our bedroom while I put away her stuff and prefill a couple more bottles. "Come here Aster, baby!" I say expecting her to crawl over, but she walks straight over to me barely stumbling. "Aster, oh you're such a big girl!" I pick her up and spin round. She grins, "Aster, I am so proud of you!" I think for a second, "oh, I'm going to tell Cole tomorrow."