“He is,” I say and she nods. I don’t push her for anything else. With Averi, I have to give her time to process things. “Are you sure you want your bonnets? I have our bunny ears and I don’t think your braids will get any color on them. They will be okay.”
“Okay,” they agree.
Jae arrived right before nine this morning and was done with both of their heads by one. She was so patient and sweet with them and she didn’t braid their hair too tight either. I’m real picky about who gets in my babies’ heads. They have long, thick hair like me and it’s a lot to deal with. Averi has feed-in braids to the back with a heart design on her right side and Romi’s is braided into two ponytails, one in the back and the other at the top of her head. They look so cute and our traditional bunny ears are going to look so adorable with their braids.
“Alright. Wash your hands,” I say and they both get up and rush into their bathroom.
I stand too and tie up their baskets. My smile stays plastered on my face. The flowers and chocolate covered strawberries for me were sweet but the baskets for my babies was so solicitous;it’s everything.His already valued stock with me just went up.
When Romi and Averi come out, we walk out and find him on the sofa. I grab one of the white furry bunny ears off the dinette table in the kitchen and adjust it on Averi’s head. While I do, Romi grabs a pair and takes it to Xai.
“We got you ears,” she says as she hands them to him.
“To do what?” he asks.
“Put on,” she says with a giggle.
He turns back toward us then shrugs. “Ion know if this gon’ fit my big head,” he says.
“Mommy can make it fit,” she says before running back into the kitchen.
He stands and follows. After placing on mine and Romi’s ears, I direct him to sit on the stool at the counter. He does and I place his set of ears on his head. As soon as I do, they erupt into laughter and so do I.
“Do I even want to look?” he asks me.
“As cute as you look, yes,” I say, still laughing.
“Imma take your word for it.”
The girls climb onto the other stools at the counter and I grab the cups, spoons, and vinegar for the egg coloring. The kit I use comes with two wire egg holders for dipping, a slew of stickers, a few decorated wraps, and six color tablets. I boiled a dozen eggs earlier and they are cooled and ready for us to make them beautiful.
As I place the cups, spoons, and vinegar on the table, Averi opens the kit and explains the items to Xai. It’s cute because he’s invested in every word. He even examines some of the stickers.
“They don’t have a lot for boys but we can help you find some for your eggs,” Averi assures him.
“I think I see some,” he says.
“Where?” Romi questions.
“I saw one,” Averi says.
I just fill the cups with water and a teaspoon of vinegar as they plot and plan their sticker and wrap designs for the eggs. Then I place the pot of eggs on the island.
“Okay, drop in the colors,” I tell them. They split the tablets and one by one drop them into the cups. “I already know what color I want my eggs to be,” I say.
“Me too,” Romi exclaims.
“How many we get, Mommy?” Averi asks.
“Me and Xai will get two and you and your sister can color four apiece. “
“Yeah!” Romi says. She’s so excited and can barely wait the three minutes for the color tablets to dissolve. She loves everything about this day.
As soon as I verify the cups are ready, they start dropping eggs in them. Each can hold two eggs. I glance at Xai to see if he’s cool but he’s dropping his egg too. I just smile and drop one of mine in red and the other in blue. I’m a double dropper, and after those colors are set, I’m probably going to drop them in yellow and blue.
When we’ve dropped all the eggs and they are colored, Averi notices Xai still has a white egg. “You not gon’ color that one?” she asks.
“Yeah. I was waiting because I’m going to drop it in all the cups,” he explains.
