How It's Supposed to Be

Chapter Forty-Six

A few months later it is the first week of March. Elijah is almost talking. He is so close to saying his first word. Jimi and I are getting ready for Elijah's first birthday. We have the weekend off so we are having our families come up to celebrate. Elijah's birthday falls on a Saturday so we are taking full advantage of that. Jimi wants to have a cookout and grill burgers on his new grill that he bought a few weeks ago.

It is Thursday and I took Elijah to the store with me to get some decorations and other party supplies. Jimi stayed home to get the backyard cleaned up. I had Elijah sitting in the cart while I was pushing it around the store. He kept trying to grab things off the shelf every time I stopped to grab something. We were in the aisle getting the paper plates, napkins, and cups. Elijah was just able to reach the napkins on the shelf and knocked a few packs on the floor.

"Elijah, sweetie, you can't just throw stuff on the floor" I said with a giggle. Then I picked up the napkins that he threw on the floor and put them back on the shelf. Once I grabbed everything I needed, I pushed the cart out of the aisle and made my way over to the food. Elijah was doing his incoherent babbling thing the whole way there.

His incoherent babbling turned into "Dadadada"

I stopped walking and looked down at him in shock.

"Did you just say Dada, E?" I asked with a smile, not really expecting a response. He just looked at me with a smile on his face then started kicking his legs. I started walking again.

Once I grabbed all the food and the rest of the stuff we needed, we checked out and headed home. I put Elijah in the car and then loaded the groceries. Once the car was loaded, I climbed in and drove us home. On the way home, Elijah was babbling and a few times he said Dada. I can't wait to tell Jimi.

We got home and I unbuckled Elijah from his car seat. I brought him inside and set him down in the living room. Jimi was sitting on the couch. I had the world's biggest smile on my face. I stood next to Jimi.

"What's got you so happy?" he asked with a chuckle and sat up.

"Elijah said 'Dada' at the store" I said.

"What?! Really?!" Jimi said excitedly.

"Yeah and he said it once on the way home too" I said.

"That's amazing!" he said. I sat down next to him and he wrapped me in a hug. Elijah was apparently feeling left out because he came running over and tried to climb in my lap. I picked him up and sat him down in my lap.

"Say Dada for Daddy E" I said to Elijah. He looked up at me and started babbling and giggling. A few minutes later, Elijah finally said Dada for Jimi.

"Good job Elijah!" Jimi said and kissed the top of his head.

"Do you want to take him, so I can bring the groceries in from the car?" I asked Jimi.

"Of course" Jimi said and reached for Elijah. Elijah sat down in Jimi's lap and cuddled into him.

I went and brought in all the groceries and put them away. It took about twenty minutes to get everything unloaded and put away. I walked back in the living room to see Jimi leaned back on the couch asleep with a sleeping Elijah on his chest. I looked at the time and it was about 2:00 in the afternoon. I'm surprised Elijah even made it that long. Normally he goes down for his afternoon nap between 12:30 and 1:00. I smiled at the two of them and pulled my phone out. I opened the camera and took a picture. This is way too cute not to get on camera.

I decided to get house work done while the boys were sleeping. I went upstairs and grabbed all the laundry and brought it downstairs to the laundry room. I started a load then moved onto the kitchen. I unloaded the dishwasher then loaded the dirty dishes in that were sitting in the sink. I did a few other things before the washer was done. Then I switched the clothes into the dryer and started another load.