Your kids are great, by the way. Really great.
Refusing to feel weird about my bout of textual diarrhea, I tuck my phone back into my pocket and head for the bathroom to join the quest.
I’m assigned a one-eyed Barbie named Gorgonzola who, as far as I can tell, is a troll-type figure, who guards the crossing from one side of the tub to the other. I take my role seriously, popping out of hiding from behind the shower curtain or the edge of the bath, just as the mermaids are wiggling across the edge. I scare them back into the water, again and again, until Bella is giggling hysterically and Ava pronounces me, “The best at Gorgonzola. The best ever!”
“Thank you,” I say, resting a hand on my splash damp sweater. “That makes me proud. I want to put it on a T-shirt.”
Ava’s eyes widen. “That would be such a cool T-shirt!”
“Yeah!” Bella echoes, happily parroting her big sister.
“You should make that,” Ava insists as we start gathering up the dolls, taking time to drain the water from their plastic bodies before tossing them back into the bin so they don’t get any funkier than they are already.
“I’ll put it on my craft list,” I promise her. “I’m working on sewing some stuffed animals right now.”
Bella’s eyes go wide. “I love stuffed animals! Clover, come see my stuffed animals! I have a new elephant named Poundy, and he has the softest trunk.”
“Woah, slow down, buddy,” I say, laughing as she bolts to her feet in the bath, sending droplets flying. “Let’s make sure you’re clean before the water gets cold. Then, we’ll get dressed and go play with all your toys.”
“But we have to play with my toys first,” Ava says. “I’ve been waiting a long time because you got sick, Bella. And I had to work hard to be patient.”
“Okay,” Bella says, seeming to find that request reasonable. “But I can play, too, in your room? And my stuffies?”
“Of course, silly,” Ava says, rolling her eyes before turning to me. “Do I have to wash my hair, Clover? I washed it last night, and washing it makes me cold.”
“No, that’s fine,” I say as I start soaping up Bella’s little toes. “What about the rest of you, Ava? Do you need a wash, or was this a just for fun bath?”
Ava cocks her head to one side. “Can baths be just for fun?”
“Of course,” I say. “Sometimes it’s just nice to lie in the tub.” Glancing at the ducks still littering the surface of the water, I add in a pointed tone, “Orplayin the tub.”
Ava giggles. “This one was for play. No, I’m not dirty. I can get out and dry off by myself. I know how.”
“Okay,” I say, giving her a hand up and over the edge onto the large bath mat. It’s thick and soft, but my knee is starting to talk to me after being bent for so long.
I’m glad Bella’s ready to move the fun to a new location.
While Ava dries off and redresses in her clothes from this morning, I finish washing Bella and get her dried and dressed before following her down the hall to fetch stuffies to bring to Ava’s room.
We spend the next two hours playing restaurant with Ava’s miniature kitchen set and vast collection of fake food before transitioning to trains in Bella’s room, where a massive train table showcases a pink, pastel-colored train set.
It’s been a while since I’ve been in the babysitting game on a regular basis, but I don’t remember anything this delightfully girly in the toy train sector back when I was crouching beside play tables in Missouri.
“Where did you get this, Bella?” I ask, marveling at an exquisitely carved train named Tina, with a big yellow bow and a little dress covering her front wheels. “These are the cutest trains I’ve ever seen.”
“Uncle Blue made them for me for Christmas,” Bella says. “And Daddy painted my old tracks pink because it’s my favorite color.”
“Aw, Uncle Blue! What a great guy he is,” I say. “And what a great job he did.”
“You know Uncle Blue?” Ava asks.
I nod. “He’s like my big brother. Until this morning, I was living with him and his girlfriend, Beatrice. I probably sat right across from him while he was carving these at night.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice he was working on something different than the chess pieces he usually makes.”
“He’sreallynice,” Ava says. “He’s Daddy’s friend, but he’s our friend, too. When he comes to watch football with Daddy, he always brings extra cheesy garlic bread because he knows that’s our favorite.”
“I love cheesy garlic bread.” Bella presses a hand to her stomach, right over the sparkly taco. “I think my tummy wants that for lunch.”
“We can’t,” Ava says, shaking her head. “That’s only from the pizza place, and that’s only open at nighttime.”
