The Good Hair Family Sitcom

S1 E5.2: Toddler Tamer

Andi's POV

Amber and I are sitting together at the kitchen table, Amber working on her laptop, and me sketching out a sculpture design, when our daughter comes up and slaps a giant book down in front of us. My wife and I startle our heads up, and our daughter plops down in a chair.

"I found this on the shelf, in the basement," she says. "And I wanted to ask about..."

She flips open the cover, and I see that it's a photo album, one I haven't opened in a long time. She swipes through the pages, stopping on a picture that sparks a vivid memory in my mind. It's one of the selfies that Amber and I took the first time she slept over at my house. In it, we're smiling wide, wearing wigs to look like each other.

"What were you doing here?" Hazel asks with a laugh.

Amber smiles as she recalls the moment, explaining, "I went to you mom's house for a sleepover, and we did each other's makeup and dressed up like each other."

Hazel furrows her brows at me, asking, "Why did you have a wig of your own hair?"

"I got it for a Harry Potter costume without fully thinking about it," I reply. "But I'm glad I had it, because that was a really fun night. I mean, it was until we snuck out, and she left me on the ferris wheel in the middle of the night."

"Wait, you snuck out to ride a ferris wheel?" Hazel echoes.

Realizing my mistake, I attempt to backtrack, but Hazel's expression shows that she's too into this story to let it go.

"No," I say then admit, "Well, yes, but it was a bad idea."

"I convinced her to do it," Amber confesses. "We shouldn't have trespassed at all."

I know she was trying to help, but Amber's statement has only made it worse, shown by how Hazel's jaw drops farther.

"You trespassed at an amusement park?"

"Yes," Is say, "but—"

"How were you not arrested?" Hazel interrupts.

"I was thirteen," I explain. "I was taken to the police station, but I wouldn't call it arrested."

"So neither of you have been arrested before?" she probes.

I pause before responding, "Well, I have, but—"

Hazel's gasp gets in the way of me finishing, and she says, "I always thought Momma was the bad influence, but you were just as bad!"

"No, Hazel. I—"

"This is too good," she says, laughing.

Before I can explain anything else, she gets up and heads for her room. Meanwhile, I'm here regretting this whole conversation.

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Jayda's POV

I sit across from Andreas at the dining room table. Our laptops are open, and our books are out, but Andreas is sitting on his phone, not bothering to even try to do work. It's really annoying. This is a group project. That means he's supposed to be paying attention while I bring the snacks. I already brought the snacks, therefore I did my part, and now he has to do his.

"Andreas!" I snap. "Can you focus for a second?"

He doesn't even look up as he replies, "I'm talking to Jackson."

"I don't care about—"

"Apparently, him and Mira broke up."

I gasp. "No way!"

Mira Madlin, beautiful volleyball girl who only plays that sport to wear the boots shorts for the boys, the bitch who totally insulted my bracelet the other day by saying her grandmother had the same one, the girl who fell off Bradley's balcony into his pool at a party two months ago, broke up with football player Jackson Cajas.

"Yeah," Andreas confirms, chuckling. "Apparently, he dumped her, and then she shaved his cat and stormed out."

"No way!" I say louder this time.

"Yeah way," Andreas responds. "That means she's single."

"Yeah," I scoff, immediately grossed out by his one-track mind, "and a psychopath."

"Think she'd go for me?"

"Well, she's a psychopath, so probably."

He blows off my comment, continuing his texting with a grin.

"Isn't she one of your best friends?" he asks.

"Yeah. What's your point?" Then I realize, "Shit. I need to text her to make sure she's okay."

"Put in a good word for me," Andreas says with a nod, and I roll my eyes.

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Walker's POV

I get out of my studio at the hospital and step out to the sitting area, finding that my husband isn't here again today. Maybe he went to the washroom, so I take a seat and wait. After a few minutes, I get up to go over to the receptionist desk, and Cambry has an answer ready for me.

"He's down at the daycare again."

I give her my thanks then take the elevator to the main floor, following the same path as the last time he came to pick me up. When I enter the room, Jonah is sitting in a circle with a bunch of toddlers playing Stella Ella Ola. I step out of the way of the door to watch as the kids all sing together, and after a second, one of the women in the room comes up to me with a smile.

"Which one is yours?" she asks. "Mine is the one year-old at the back with the teddy bear."

"Mine is the man playing Stella Ella Ola," I say.

The women scans me skeptically then looks at Jonah then back at me.

"He's my husband," I explain.

"Oh," she responds, understanding now.

She continues past me to pick up her daughter, and I wait for Jonah to be slapped out of the game. When he is, the whole group of toddlers cheers and giggles. I step forward to meet Jonah halfway as he comes over still smiling.

"How are the kids today?" I ask.

"They're great," he replies. "I taught one how to roll over."

"You mean do a somersault?" I question.

"Yeah, that!"

All of a sudden, a cluster of high-pitched gasps comes from the ladies to our right, and I look over to see five women all gawking at the baby in one of the ladies' arms.

"Those were his first words!" one of the women cheers.

"Say it again!" another woman tells the baby.

"Docious magocious," comes the baby's tiny voice.

Summoned by the occurrence, Jonah hurries over to join the smiling ladies, while I just stand here, completely dumbfounded.