Sage
I am in a place of sleep where you aren’t quite ready to wake up. Rolling over, my eyes flutter at the light coming in when I see wide eyes barely an inch off my face, making me nearly jump out of my skin, fur grows across my arms from the fright.
“Hi mom,” Jonah says, his face right in mine as he blinks down at me. I try to get my racing heart under control.
“You scared me.” I tell him.
“I tried to make breakfast, but I broke it.” Jonah tells me. I blink, trying to understand what he means, and I sit up, rubbing my eyes.
“What do you mean, you tried to make breakfast?” I mutter as I stretch my upper body.
“I wanted to surprise you and dad,” he says and as I glance at him, I notice he is covered in flour. I blink, taking in his tiny body. “I tried to make pancakes like pop, then they exploded, shh,” he says, holding his finger to his lips and waving for me to follow him.
“What exploded?” Andrei says, rolling over and propping himself up on one elbow.
“The pancakes, I tried to use the mixing spoon, but it was too hard to get the lumps out. Pop says you have to get out the lumps. But my arm started aching, so I put it in the thing that makes the buzzing noise but then it exploded, but I saved the chocolate chips,” Jonah tells us, holding out his hand to show us the melted chocolate.
“This is what’s left. I accidentally ate the rest,” he says, his little lips making a kissy face, and I chuckle.
“Okay, let’s see this explosion,” I tell him, tossing the blanket back and grabbing my dressing gown before following him out.
I stand horrified in the kitchen doorway. The batter is everywhere, even on the ceiling. The kitchen is covered in flour and batter. Andrei runs into my back as he walks in, also stopping.
“What the…. How?” He groans, shaking his head, and I step aside.
“I told you it exploded,” Jonah says, looking at us with puppy dog eyes.
“Jonah, you shouldn’t use a blender. You could have cut your fingers, and where is the lid?” Andrei says as I walk into the pantry to grab some cereal. Andrei hands me a bowl and spoon, and I make Jonah some coco pops, sitting him at the table.
“It didn’t have a lid,” Jonah says.
Andrei shakes his head, rubbing a hand down his face. “It is too early for this,” he mutters. “Buddy, you don’t cook by yourself. You should have woken one of us,” Andrei tells him, looking at the mess.
Walking to the sink, I grab a rag. Looking around, I have no idea where to start. Andrei grabs the mop and wheels the bucket in, filling it up in the laundry room. I scrub the cupboards. An hour later, we are finished, and I am dressing Jonah when Andrei sings out to let me know Kat and her family are here. Jonah bounces down the steps as Andrei opens the front door, letting them in.
Mateo walks in with Eziah in his arms, placing him down, and he looks too small to be walking but is cute to watch as he stomps his feet, clapping his hands.
Ezra walks in with Marabella while Kat and Derrick bring in some baby items for the kids to play with and a playpen if needed. We set the kids up in the living room and put some cartoons on while Andrei and Ezra wander off to the kitchen to talk while making coffee.
“Hey,” Kat says, giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek after setting everything down.
Marabella is crawling on the floor, chasing after her brother as he walks around before stopping next to Jonah. She tries pulling herself up by gripping his pants, but the mittens covering her hands make her fall back to her hands and knees.
“Jonah, leave her mittens on,” I tell him as he tries to pull Marabella’s mittens off.
“But she doesn’t like them,” Jonah says.
“She has to leave them on, sweety,” Kat tells him, but Jonah shakes his head.
“No! It hurts. She doesn’t like it,” Jonah says, trying to pull her mittens off her little hand.
“Jonah, no!” I tell him, walking over to him, but Mateo reaches for Marabella instead, and she starts crying when he picks her up.
“That one, it hurts,” Jonah says, pointing to her left hand.
My brows furrow, and so do Kats when Mateo pulls her mitten off. Kat shrieks, rushing over. Her little pointer finger is swollen and red. A piece of cotton from inside the mitten has wrapped around her finger and cut the circulation off. Kat quickly unwraps it before healing her finger by kissing it. Marabella smiles and babbles happily.
“What, what’s going on?” Ezra comes barging out.
“Marabella had cotton wrapped around her finger,” Kat explains.
“That must have been why she was crying in the car. I just thought it was because she hates the new car seat,” Mateo says, checking inside the mitten when we all turn to look at Jonah.
“How did you know?” Kat asks him.
“She showed me, in my head,” Jonah shrugs, “She cries in my head and holds her hand up,” Jonah says, and I look at Marabella.
“She showed you?” I ask him.
“She doesn’t like them,” Jonah says, sitting on the floor.
He rolls the fabric ball to Eziah, and Eziah squeals, trying to copy and roll it back but is unable to. We watch Jonah play with the kids for a bit. Marabella follows him around, giggling as she crawls after him and her brother when I hear a car pull up. We left the front door open, knowing Dominic would be here soon.
“That must be Dominic,” Andrei says, and I get up, following Andrei to the door.
Walking outside, Kat and Ezra follow us while Mateo stays to watch the kids. Dominic gets out of the car, walks to the back door, and opens it. The other door swings open, and his son climbs out of the car. He looks just like his father.