At home: playing pretend

“I’m Shark Boy!” Dad proclaimed, proudly showing his teeth and making chomping motions.

“I’m Lava Girl!” Little One yelled, bouncing in the middle of the room with excessive energy. “Run, Shark Boy! We have to go help!”

“Who are we helping?” Dad asked curiously, turning to make faces at Smallest One who was busily crawling toward him.

“The world!” was the impassioned reply before Little One ran down the hall, her footsteps sounding more like a stampeding elephant than a busy superhero, but who am I to quibble?

“Come on, Aunt Katie!” she cried, returning to the living room to frown at her grandfather. He’d not followed her as instructed.

“I’m afraid of lava,” I offered and yawned, patting Chienne on the floor at my side. Hands on her hips, Little One launched into a lecture about how lava was good and light and I was not supposed to be afraid. I was Lava Girl’s helper! And I was doing it wrong!

“Oh,” I said, grinning at Mom and blinking, unimpressed at Little One’s display of offended temper. I’m better at it than she is, though she does show promise.

In truth, visits home are easier as they’re more frequent. I know what to expect and the girls are more natural around me. I did laundry. I held Smallest One and giggled with her – the baby loves to laugh. I played pretend with Little One, though I often did it wrong.

“I’m iCarly,” Mom said, blinking at me sleepily last night. I nodded in acceptance of this fact, only laughing when she told me she used to be the cowardly lion. When I told her iCarly had some sort of webcast and seemed to dance around a lot, she said she missed being a lion. “All I had to do was be scared of everything,” Mom sighed. “So much easier.”

“Do you care if I sleep with you?” Little One asked and I said that would be fine. So she took one side of the daybed and I the other. We did OK for the most part – she talks in her sleep and quietly snuffles as she breathes. I do the same – at least for the latter – and did rest for several hours.

I woke this morning to feel her feet tangled in my hair, wincing and nudging her tiny feet over to her side again. Chienne had demanded room on my side, pushing me closer to Little One and her kicking feet.

“Hey, buddy,” I sighed when Sprout leaped to the bed, finding a place protected from Little One but accessible to pets. I smoothed his coat and spoke softly to him for several minutes before cuddling in and sleeping again, pretending I was comfortable and not just exhausted.

So while it’s been mostly uneventful, it’s been a rather lovely visit home. Having said that, I'm positively giddy at the thought of going to visit Friend next weekend. She keeps her house cold! Doesn't get up at 6AM! Has alcohol and doesn't make me run around and pretend I'm her sidekick! But I imagine we'll have a very nice time regardless.