Page 31 of Who's Your Daddy

I was a great helper and Daddy even sucked in a breath he was so excited for my help. “You get to sit there and read me books and cuddle me and watch me and nod while I play. Leander said that’s what most Daddies in a playroom do but I’ve never had a Daddy in mine because most of them are kind of frustrating and bad bossy.”

Daddy cocked his head. “We’ll talk about being bad bossy later, but right now I’d love to see your toys, and if you want, I’ll read you a book.”

Before I could tell him that I wasn’t little, he remembered and held up his hands. “Just for practice. We’ll try it now while you’re not little and then you can tell me if we did it right for when you are little.”

Oh, that was good logic.

“I can help you.” I was a good helper. “Practice makes perfect.”

“I’m glad you understand.” Daddy nodded like we’d made a good decision for the kitchen and looked around. “You’ve got a lot of fun toys.”

“Littles got to have toys for every mood. Even Leander knows that and he’s stubborn.” And bossy and dramatic. “So I have army men and alien soldiers and ponies.”

Hmm…I had lots to show Daddy.

“I’ve got real-looking ponies and the magic kind because sometimes you need magic ponies to fight the aliens.” Regular ones got scared of the aliens. “Then I got bears and cuddly things just in case it’s binkies and snuggles kind of little playtime. There’s lots of kinds. Did you know that?”

Picking up the bear Daddy had given me, I went over to my books. “Some Daddies don’t like the all-kinds kind of little but you said you like variety. Like cookies. But you don’t like raisins. So is there a raisin kind of little?”

“They’re evil.” Daddy’s face scrunched up. “That’s not the same thing.”

Yep, he was just as dramatic as Leander.

“There are no raisin littles. Even brats aren’t raisins.” Daddy shivered. “Please don’t make me say that word again.”

“Okay, Daddy.” Grabbing a book, I helped distract Daddy by climbing on his lap. “But are littles who play with aliens and ponies naughty cookie things?”

I ‘membered not to say the bad word and Daddy relaxed and wrapped his arms around me. “Nope.”

That was good.

“Are littles who have diapers and binkies naughty cookie things?” I was going to be patient because I was a good boy, but Daddy shook his head right away as he took the book.

“Oh, that’s a good book.” He kissed my head. “No. Diaper littles are chocolate chips too.”

Snuggling us back into the big chair I’d picked out for him, Daddy made a happy sound and wiggled me around so he had me just right. “Perfect. Oh, who else should we include? Um, littles who like video games and museums and puzzles and hard coloring books are chocolate chips too.”

Whew.

I liked lots of stuff that was chocolate chips.

“That’s good, Daddy.” Kissing his cheek, I went back to my snuggly position so he could practice reading me a book. “I like lots of those things.”

“You do? Thank you for telling me.” He kissed my head before he looked around. “I think we’re missing something. We need to make sure we’re practicing just right.”

He was a really smart Daddy.

I was going to have to tell Leander what a good job he did.

“My binkie.” Pointing to the table by the chair, because Leander had helped me remember that Daddy chairs needed tables, I wiggled my fingers. “Books and cuddles need binkies.”

“Oh yes. We’ll remember that next time.” Picking up my binkie, Daddy brought it to my mouth. “It’s a very good job we’re doing a practice run for book time. We might have to do that for toys or bottle time next.”

As I nodded, I rested my head on his shoulder and relaxed because that was what I’d do if I was little. But I wasn’t. I had to be good for practice, though.

“Perfect. I’m glad we know what we’re going to do for our trial runs.” Settling the book on my lap, Daddy made the chair start gliding back and forth. “And can I just say, you picked out the perfect chair for me?”

That was good because me and Leander had sat in lots and lots and lots of them to figure it out.

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