Co-parenting

Chapter 11

"Dada! dada! dada!" Valerie squeals.
It's 6 in the morning when Archie hears his daughter giggle. He sighs and rubs his eyes.
Valerie stands in her crib. Her hands reach for Archie. "Dada!"

"Morning princess" he mumbles. He gets up and lifts Valerie into his arms. "Play?"

"No no no" he laughs. "We're going to lie down again. Daddy will close his eyes and so will you"

Valerie doesn't even listen to her dad. She giggles and pulls on his hair. Archie loves his little girl. He would do anything for her even though she just woke him up at 6 am. Her laugh makes him forgive her.
Nevertheless he lies back down on the floor. He places Valerie next to him but the little girl climbs onto Archie's chest and lies down. He places his hands on her back and kisses the top of her head.
"My little baby" he mumbles.

"Quiero dada"

"I love you too Val"

Archie tries to get an other hour of sleep but Valerie is babbling too much. She's wiggling around on his chest and plays with his hair.
"Dada hungry"

Archie sighs and sits up. He runs his fingers through Valerie raven curls. "How does mommy do this every day? Getting up early, going to college, making you happy, studying, the household. Your mommy is a superhero"

"Mama" Valerie squeals.

"I wish she would let me help her more" he says and gets up. When he walks towards the door Valerie shakes her head and points to her crib. "Fred!"

Archie turns. He smiles when he sees that Valerie is pointing at the little grey bunny. He loves that she calls it Fred and that she loves that little stuffed animal so dearly. Fred is Valerie's best friend. She takes that bunny wherever she goes. Every once in a while Veronica sneaks into her daughter's room to take Fred and wash it while Valerie is asleep.

"Here you go" Archie smiles and hands her the stuffed animal. Valerie smiles widely and holds it close. "Can you say thank you?"

Valerie giggles and says something that's supposed to sound like 'thank you'. Archie laughs before he walks into the kitchen with her.
He cuts a banana and some grapes into little pieces and mixes the fruits with some yogurt. Valerie is so excited that she reaches into the bowl and smears her breakfast all over her face.
Archie's not mad or annoyed. He values every second with his daughter and adores everything she does.
He cleans her hands and face before he puts her into her high chair and feeds her. He doesn't eat anything. He's too tired to even think about eating.

When Valerie is done Archie changes her out of her pajamas, which have yogurt stains all over them, and into another comfortable outfit, one he got her. The little girl is now wearing grey baby sweatpants and a light pink shirt with white butterflies on it. Veronica hates the sweatpants but Archie thinks Valerie looks adorable. His daughter looks adorable in everything but that's not really the point. It's his daughter in clothes he bought for her.

He carries her to the couch and lies down. Valerie lies between him and the couch. Her head rests on his shoulder. His arm is around her. She holds Fred tightly and snuggles into Archie's side. She hums the same melody over and over again and it makes Archie smile. After a while though she stops. Archie glances to her and sees that she fell asleep. After that it didn't take him long to fall back asleep as well.