"Jaisiah, you okay back there?" I ask, noticing how silent he was. He wasn't asleep but looking out the window, mumbling quietly.
"Yes. I miss Mommy." He says, a small pout on his face while he watches the city pass around us.
"You can call Mommy later, okay?"
"I- okay." Jaisiah hesitates before tapping the window with his index finger, going back to mumbling to himself.
"Daddy, can I paint your nails?" Jasmine asks, puking in her car seat to get closer to me.
"When we get home." I promise, my eyes darting back to the clear cotton candy color they were currently painted. In different angles of light, they were slightly pink or blue, but regularly clear.
"Maya painted my nails yellow, look." I looked through the rear view mirror. I couldn't see her hands since she was holding it out the wrong way but I could see the white cotton dress she picked out for herself. I had used a couple of strains from her usual mane of hair to tie back, leaving the rest of her dark curls to frame her face.
"She did a good job. They're pretty."
My eyes dash back to Jaisiah. He had a frown on his face while he gazed out the window, his eyes snapping to me for a moment before looking back out the window. He kept mumbling, which by now I had learned and slightly overheard was usually him counting up and down to five. If it wasn't him counting, it was him talking to himself.
"I don't like this." Jaisiah comments suddenly, pulling at his stripped socks. Just as I hit a red light, I quickly reach over and dig in his backpack where Sophia packed a extra pair of everything for him. I grab the extra pair of socks before reaching back and give them to my oldest son, telling him to put them on.
"How come Mommy and Maya get to go to the party? I like parties." Jaisiah says, a frown on his face while he tucks the stripped socks into the space between Jasmine and his seats.
"It was Maya's friend, not yours." I explain, slowing the car down at the red light.
"Justin?" Jalen questions, poking his head to his right, attempting to see me.
"No, Vanessa."
"I like Vanessa. Why couldn't I go?" Jasmine asks. I chuckle to myself before speaking.
"You don't want to spend time with Daddy?"
"I like Mommy because she lets me have cookies and she put a chocolate in pocket, see!" Jalen blurts.
"Mommy didn't give me chocolate." Jasmine says, a frown on her face.
""You don't even eat chocolate." I point out.
"Sometimes I do. Mommy gives me hers. Hey, Daddy, can we get ice yogurt?"
"Yeah, Daddy, can we get ice yogurt?" Jalen asks, kicking the back of my seat.
"Is that what everybody wants?"
"I do." Says Jasmine while playing with the ring on her finger. "Jaisiah, do you want ice yogurt?" She asks her oldest brother.
"They have the sticky stuff on there." He says, grimacing. Last time we went to get frozen yogurt, he asked for strawberry syrup — he ended up hating it since the syrup was so droopy and sticky. He didn't like having his hands or face dirty, so one he felt the slight resistance on his lips... it was over.
"You don't have to get the sticky stuff. You can just get it plain." I say, looking at him through the rear view mirror. He's playing
"I want gummy bears on mine."
