How It's Supposed to Be

Chapter Forty-Seven: Jimi's Point of View

It is September 27th, 2011. It is the day before Karen's birthday. I have been planning something for the past two weeks. I've had a little help from Elijah, who by the way is starting to talk in sentences. They aren't perfect, but he definitely gets his point across when he talks. Karen and I have been looking at getting Elijah a toddler bed soon because Elijah has figured out how to climb out of his crib with the sides as high as they go. They only thing he hasn't figured out is how to turn the door knob. We usually find him sleeping in the corner on his pile of stuffed animals when we get him up in the morning.

It is 6:30 in the morning and Karen and I are still in bed. I woke up and rolled over to see Karen laying on her stomach with her arms around her pillows still sound asleep. I scooted closer to her and wrapped my arm around her back and kissed her temple. She stirred a little, but was still asleep. I gently pulled her closer and drifted back to sleep. About a half an hour later, I woke up again. I looked down at Karen and she was starting to stir. Her eyes fluttered open and she turned her head and looked up at me.

"Good morning beautiful" I said and kissed her temple again.

"Good morning" she said quietly with a smile. Then she rolled on her back and looked up at me. I was propped up on my elbow. Then I leaned down and kissed her.

"I'm surprised Elijah isn't up yet" she said.

"I know, 7:00 on the dot he's normally awake" I said.

"Let's enjoy the peace and quiet while we can" she whispered and scooted closer to me. I rolled on my back and she cuddled up next to me and laid her head on my chest with one arm around my waist. I started gently rubbing her arm that was around my waist.

About fifteen minutes later, we heard Elijah in the baby monitor.

"Mama..." We heard him say softly. Karen and I laughed.

"Mama..." We heard him say a little louder after a minute. Karen and I just laid here just to see what he would do.

"Mama... Help me" we heard him say. Karen and I laughed again.

"I guess I should go get him, huh?" Karen said with a giggle and climbed out of bed. She made her way to Elijah's room. She didn't turn the baby monitor off right away, so I just laid in bed and listened to her and Elijah.

"How did you end up there?" I heard Karen say with a giggle.

"I dunno" I heard Elijah say. Then I heard some rustling around and then a giggle from Elijah. Karen changed him and turned off the monitor. I heard Karen make her way down the hall and back into our room.

She walked over to the bed with Elijah on her hip. She set him down and Elijah crawled over to me.

"Dada" he said.

"Hey little man" I said and scooped him up and he started giggling. Then Karen crawled back into bed and laid on her side to face us. Elijah was crawling all over us and giggling away.

"Hungry" Elijah said and crawled over to Karen.

"Ready for breakfast?" she asked and Elijah nodded. Then the three of us climbed out of bed. Karen picked Elijah up and carried him on her hip down the stairs. She put him in his high chair.

"How about some pancakes?" Karen asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Elijah said really fast with a huge smile.

"nana pwease" Elijah said. We've been working on manners with him and he is pretty good about saying please but has a hard time saying thank you because he can't get the 'th' sound just yet.