Page 21 of A Little Bit Naughty

Ahhhh… The jumble of pink, lavender, and sparkles that remained suddenly made Isaac’s decisions clear. He’d rejected all of the “girl” things and chosen all of the “boy” things. That comment about not wanting to wear dresses should have made him realize it sooner.

But was Isaac trying to make sure that he was allowed to play with toys he preferred, or trying to prove to Remi that he was all boy when he really wanted to play with something else? He could hate dresses but still love baby dolls.

Remi rubbed Isaac’s back soothingly, because he needed to address this head on. “Baby? Are you choosing the toys that you want to play with, or that you think I want you to play with?”

“The ones I want,” Isaac whispered.

“We know that boys and girls can play with any of the toys in any of the bins if they want to, right?”

“Yeah?” Isaac looked hopeful, but not convinced.

“Yep. And they don’t have to play with any toys they don’t like.”

Isaac nodded slowly. What had happened to the poor boy to make him doubt this so much? The way his eyes had gone so sad when Remi asked about a prior Daddy still made his heart clench. But Isaac hadn’t wanted to share and he had to respect that. The best he could do was give his baby boy a wonderful weekend to make up for it.

He tried a different tack. “Do you know what makes Daddy really happy?”

“What?”

“Seeing my sweet boy relax and play with the toys that he wants most of all. So I have a really important job for you and Roarasaurus.” He lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper. “I need you to show me your most favorite, favorite toy in the room. It can be anything. Even… the light switch.”

Isaac giggled.

“Or that water bottle.” There was a half-crushed plastic bottle under the couch that Remi sincerely hoped Isaac wouldn’t choose because it was probably covered with germs. But he’d made Isaac’s face light up again.

“But not the whole room. You can’t choose that because it’s too big.”

“No, Daddy!”

Holding the dinosaur in front of him, Isaac perused the line he’d made, not looking back once at the discarded bins. It seemed that the decision narrowed to the t-rex or the robot, because Isaac kept touching them both and eventually put them into their own separate line of just two. His body was loose now, all of this tension turned toward the excitement of the decision.

“You and Roary can each have your own favorite,” Remi suggested.

“Ooh! Then this one is mine–” He held up the robot. “–and this is Roary’s. They’re friends.”

“Excellent choice,” Remi praised. The relief he felt right now was profound. He’d fixed this for his baby boy. He’d gotten it right. It felt like winning the lottery, or something even bigger. And now they could both relax together. “I bet they go on big adventures.”

“They do!” Isaac crowed.

And there was his bouncy boy back. “Do you think they could fly to the moon?”

Isaac grabbed the rocket ship, trying to balance the robot on top, followed by the t-rex, with Roarasaurus behind them. There was no way he was going to get all three balanced at once. The robot toppled to the floor.

“Uh, oh.” Remi made his voice sound sad. “The rocket’s broken. Better fix it.”

“I can fix it, Daddy!” He picked up the hammer and gave the whole thing a few solid bangs. “All better.”

“Good job. And now some food. Astronauts need to take food into space with them.” Remi had definitely seen some play food in the baby bin.

Isaac remembered it, too, and it apparently wasn’t too girly if it was being served to space adventurers. He scrambled out of Remi’s lap to fetch a slice of pizza, a pear, a ketchup bottle, the top half of a hamburger bun, and a whole potato. Cradling them all against his chest, he crawled back over to Remi’s lap.

Remi loved how he felt so comfortable there.

“Here you guys, time to eat,” Isaac addressed his crew, setting them up in a circle around his scavengings. “There’s astronaut juice, too.” Each of them got a sip from the ketchup bottle.

From that point on, all Remi had to do was sit back and enjoy. The three space adventurers went to the moon. Then Jupiter. And then the sun. There were a few breakdowns along the way, and several more stops for food. When the rocket caught fire, there was a handy fire truck all ready to put it out.

Isaac was absorbed in his own little world and Remi was absorbed in him. Completely and utterly captivated.