A Different Reality (Lasting Love)

Kayleigh's Day

Justin, Kay and I are all laying in our bed watching one of her shows.  I'm in the middle with both of them their heads resting on the tiny bump that has taken over my stomach.  Luckily, after Kayleigh got to see my ultrasound she decided that the baby is okay and she does want it.

"Daddy?"  Kay looks away from her show "We play?"

"Do you wanna go swimming?" He asks "You can play with your new toys."

"Yeah!" She quickly gets off the bed and runs to the door.  Justin and I follow behind her laughing.  I stay behind to get changed while he gets her ready. 

"She's in her room trying to decide between her mermaid and Minnie bathing suits."  Justin walks up behind me tying mine "I told her you'd go and put it on once she decides."

"Then I guess I should wait here awhile."  I joke "That's a very tough decision to make."

"Mommy!!" She yells running from her room to ours in just her diaper and new favorite pair of socks "I be merwad."

I laugh at the mispronounciation and pull her closer so that I can dress her.  She tries to explain to me that since she picked the mermaid bathing suit she can swim faster, but it ends up being a few real words and mostly baby language.

"Okay, let's go."  Justin walks over and picks up Kay.  We walk out to the pool and she runs right over to her toy bin to get all of her new pool toys out.

"Should we tell her to take the socks off?"  Justin wraps his arms around me.

"Do you really think she'd listen if we did tell her?" I ask him laughing "At this point I think she's gonna be getting married in those damn things."

"As long as she's wearing clothes with them." He laughs "The chlorine might be the only way they get washed this whole week.  I can't believe she's still wearing them."

"Hey, Kay."  I walk with her into the pool "Are your princess socks dirty yet?"

"No." She moves away like I'm going to take them from her "They clean."

"I think they're stinky." Justin joins us in the pool "You have really smelly feet."

"I think you have cute little feet." I hold her up "And they have really cute pink nail polish on them, right baby?"

She nods her head and reaches for her toys clearly not interested in us.

"Do you think she'll be interested in the baby?" I ask as I watch her play "She plays so well by herself."

"I think she'll be fine." He answers me reassuringly "She still has 6 months, and she's one.  Her mind changes about everything every 10 minutes."

"Do you wanna try to swim again?" I pull her away from her toys after she's been playing for a while.

"If you try we'll all go for ice cream." Justin adds to encourage her.

"Okay." She gives in.  I hold her and walk farther away from Justin. 

"You ready?" I ask making sure her floaties are on.  She nods her head yes so I let her go.

I follow closely behind as she tries to make it over to Justin.  She makes it about halfway before stopping and getting some water in her mouth causing her to freak out and cry. 

"It's okay, baby." I pick her up to soothe her "You can try again when you're ready."

"I try." She says after she's calmed down.  She practically jumps out of my arms and swims towards Justin. 

"Good job, princess!" Justin picks her up as soon as she makes it to him.  She immediately wants to try again.

I back up a little and Justin follows behind her as she makes her way towards me.  She moves her little arms and legs around as we tell her.  She makes it all the way over to me with no help from Justin.

"You ready to try without these?" I point to the floaties.

"Yes." She slides them off her arms by herself.  I follow behind her nervously ready to grab her if needed.

Justin extends his arm out as she gets closer.  Once she finally makes it into his arms I sigh of relief and she gets ecstatic.

"I do it!"  She yells to us "I swim!"

"You did!"  I go over and hug her "I'm so proud of you!"

We have her practice a few more times so that she can get better.  Justin and I continue to cheer her on until we start to notice that she's getting tired.

"Iceam?" She asks as Justin carries her out of the pool.

"Of course." Justin grabs a towel to dry her off "But you need to get changed first.  Mermaids don't eat ice cream."

"Okay, daddy." She runs away from him and into the house.  She's stopped by the gate at the bottom of the steps and I walk in to carry her to her room.

"Mommy?" She asks as I dress her "What baby do?"

"What's the baby doing?" I ask to clarify.  She nods her head "I don't know what it's doing right now.  Maybe sleeping."

"Come on, let's go find daddy."  I walk out with her following after we're both dressed.  She looks around for him, yelling random things until we find him in the yard waiting for us.

"You guys ready?" He asks once we walk out.  We tell him yes and all start to walk to our favorite ice cream place. 

Kayleigh has the walk there almost completely memorized, so she leads us.  Justin and I walk about a foot behind her, listen as she babbles random things to herself.  It's all in her own little baby language that we don't understand.

"What kind do you want?"  Justin asks as he goes to wait in line.

"Chocolate with peanut butter and cookie dough." I answer him.  Kay tells him her normal answer of sprinkles and vanilla ice cream.  She, of course, normally eats all the sprinkles and gives us the ice cream.

"Did you have fun today?" I ask Kay as she makes a mess "Are you gonna tell everyone you can swim?"

"Yeah!" She answers in her childish way.