“It says here that you love soft things and story time,
cuddling, and watching movies, that you don’t like when things are dark or
scary, and that there is a night light in the basket for you. I’ll plug it in
for you before bedtime. You love to put things in your mouth, especially
lollypops and binkys, but you’ll suck on anything you’re given. Really? I can
see us having a bit of fun with that. It also says you love to color, which I’d
already guessed from the coloring book and crayons I unpacked. You sleep with
your stuffy and get cranky when you stay up too late. When you’re naughty,
timeouts work best, but no spanking. You don’t have to worry about that little
one, I never hit my boys. It also says that too much sugar makes you hyper, so
snacks before bedtime should be as close to sugar-free as possible. That might
be a problem until I can go grocery shopping.”
“Snacky?” Ryu said, having heard the most important word to
him at the moment.
“Let me guess, you’re hungry?”
Ryu nodded, smiling and wiggling a little closer to
Kissmass Daddy, glad he was no longer being grumpy, talking loud, or scowling
at him.
“Joy.”
Grumbling, he reached for the basket and pulled it onto the
floor, his hands parting the bits of paper and other things tumbling about,
until he came up with a baggie of the yogurt-covered strawberries Ryu loved.
Clapping, he giggled and reached with grabby hands, opening and closing them
until Daddy handed them over. Ryu had no sooner removed one of the fat berries
when Kissmass Daddy took it and the baggy back again.
“Snacky!” Ryu whined, reaching to get them back.
“Wait,” Daddy barked, making him jump and clutch his ice
bear stuffy.
His lower lip trembled as he tried to sort out why Daddy
was suddenly upset with him again.
“No. No, it’s okay, no need to cry little one,” Daddy said,
lowering his voice as he reached to brush the first tear from Ryu’s cheek. “I
didn’t mean to raise my voice. I’m sorry. I’m worried you might choke on these
if I let you eat them this way. I’m going to take them into the kitchen and cut
them in half, okay? I’ll be right back.”
Ryu sucked faster on the binky and nodded his head, still
uncertain, but Daddy had said he was sorry, which meant everything would be
okay. He soon brought back a plate with Ryu’s berries and carefully placed it
in his hands.
“I’m afraid I don’t have plastic ones anymore,” Kissmass
Daddy said. “You’ll have to be careful until I can get some, okay.”
Ryu nodded and pulled out his binky, setting it carefully
on the plate with the berries so it wouldn’t get any yuckies on it.
“Okay, I be careful,” Ryu said before gobbling down the
first few pieces.
“Whoa, whoa, slow down,” Daddy said, catching Ryu’s hand
and holding it gently when he went to reach for the next one. “I’m not going to
take them from you again, I promise. Take your time and chew them carefully,
please.”
Up close, Daddy’s eyes were kind and filled with worry.
They weren’t angry or scary at all.
Ryu can be found here: Amazon.com: A Daddy for Christmas: Ryu eBook : Dorine, Layla: Kindle Store
