1.31 Day 31

Melor hops out of bed, ready for breakfast. 

As per the usual, Tobias sleeps in. Melor only shakes his head at his younger brother; He's always the one hanging behind in bed, on the couch, in the back of the gym when they have PE...

Whatever. More waffles for me! 

The bus honks noisily outside. Tobias shoots out of bed. 

"Wait for me!"

And of course, Melor must wait. 

This seems familiar, Taras thinks dryly. He sometimes wonders if it would have been cheaper to just buy a new dishwasher instead of the materials it takes to fix it. But he's practically rebuilt it enough for it to be a new dishwasher, no?

"...no, that's not how tectonic plates work..."

Nozomi looks to the side, only barely concealing her surprise. Melor? Talking to someone? A friend? 

Finally! 

"...no, I won't do your homework for you, Lourdes..."

Baby steps...

There have been a lot of those lately. Before he became a father, Taras never really understood the pride parents could feel for something as small as walking, talking, using the potty correctly...

But now he understands. 

And now he can feel the pride parents feel as they watch their children grow up. 

1.30 Day 30

Xander quite likes playing house- the tiny, plastic people help stop the itching in his gums from his growing teeth. 

Eventually Marisol nudges her brother out of the way and shows him how to play house, not eat it. 

Nozomi decides the twins have themselves under control and focuses on Tobias's vocal skills. 

"Birthday! Yours is soon! Thank the lord!" 

In a surprising turn of events, Melor brings a friend home!

Ok, not exactly a friend. Him and Angie were assigned to a science project together. Today they're going to write the five paragraph paper that needs to accompany their in-class experiment. 

Melor is already thinking up the paper, wondering if going over the paragraph limit is ok if it's so they can explain the science behind the experiment in more detail. 

Angie sits quietly as Melor writes their paper. Melor frowns slightly; he knows he's the one who did most of the experiment, but he was still hoping that he wouldn't do all the work by himself. Then again, this is what always happens when he gets "group" assignments. He doesn't understand why he needs to work with his classmates when he could more easily complete the work himself. 

Completely unbeknownst to him, there's a reason Angie is being so quiet; her father, Matthew Loving, died several days before. Angie, never an outgoing girl to begin with, has become even more withdrawn after this unexpected loss. She wills herself not to cry as she stares into space, wishing she could apologize to Melor for not helping out. 

Eventually Melor sighs and shoves the paper towards her, snapping her out of her pained regret. 

"I need to eat dinner," he says as an explanation, "Can you finish it up? We only need to write about the results." 

Angie silently nods and takes the almost finished report from Melor. As he eats his dinner, Angie struggles to bring her attention to the data she's supposed to be writing about. 

"...you have a nice house," she mumbles. 

Melor swallows a mouthful of Goopy Carbonara, "Wha?" 

"You have a nice house!" She all but screams. Melor jumps in his chair in surprise. 

She frowns. "Sorry..." 

Ten minutes of silence pass by. Angie has only written two sentences. 

"Have you seen 'Prince and the Troll'?" Angie asks conversationally. Her heart begins hammering in her chest; she's never been good at talking to other people. 

Melor grimaces at the question; can't he eat dinner in peace? 

At his silence, Angie scratches her head uncertainly. Wasn't that a normal question to ask? 

She quickly gives up on talking to Melor, much to his relief. The sound of her pencil uncertainly scratching against paper is the only noise between them for some time. 

Eventually Melor looks up for his food. 

"Thanks...for saying I have a nice house and everything..." 

Angie nods and Melor looks off to the side. From behind them, Nozomi sighs. Both these kids are hopeless!

But maybe they won't say kids forever...

1.29 Day 29

The sun had barely risen over the horizon when all three toddlers awoke. The trio, completely in synch, let out bloodcurdling shrieks of hunger. It seemed there would be little rest that day. 

Nozomi quickly takes care of their breakfast, but this only enables them to focus on their full bladders. Her phone adds to the cacophony of noise. At least that noise is something she can silence. 

"I'm kind of in the middle of something!" she shouts over the cries of her children. The person on the other end fortunately takes the hint and hangs up, promising to call another time. 

Not bloody likely, Nozomi thinks to herself. She turns to her sons. 

"Ok, which one first?"

Seems to be Xander's lucky day. 

He's the only one out of four children to have inherited Nozomi's hair, but his facial features all come from his father. 

Speaking of his father...

He recently got promoted, and now is allowed to wear shoes and actual pants. 

Life is beautiful. 

It's the weekend and Melor is bored. He's read nearly all the books in the house, leaving the cheesy romance novels well enough alone. 

"Mel-mel," his sister clings to his leg. 

He glances down at Marisol. Ever since she learned how to walk and talk, she's been tumbling and blabbering everywhere. 

She looks up at him, hope shining in her eyes. "Mel-mel?" 

He indulges his younger sibling. 

(AN: Awwww) 

Nozomi is grateful to have one less toddler to look after. Right now, she's focused on coaxing Xander's first steps out of him. 

"Come on, little one. Momma's here." 

Her cooing does not seem to be effective. 

Still, she smiles softly as she gazes at her youngest. It's only a matter of time before he's old enough to start school, and when that happens Melor will be old enough to be in high school. The mere thought of any of her kids being old enough to handle a car is enough to make her heart palpitate. 

For now, though, they remain children. 

She's your sister, she's your sister, Melor repeats to himself. 

She's your daughter, she's your daughter... 

With one kid put to bed, the rest soon follow. Taras is glad that all Melor needs is someone to tuck him in and not change his diaper. 

However, Tobias is still "at that age". 

"Good night, Tobias." 

He reaches for his mother, his eyes wide and innocent as they bore into hers. 

"Momma has to sleep, too," she answers his questioning gaze. He frowns as she begins to pull away.

She takes one of his little hands in hers. 

"Momma loves you, Toby." 

1.28 Day 28

Melor roars with frustration. 

"MOM! Why is Tobias in my room again!?"

With his older brother awake and frustrated, Tobias giggles. This only makes Melor glare. Why do babies have to be so loud?

Taras is having similar thoughts. He loves his children, but sometimes they frustrate him beyond belief. 

"How did you even get in here?" he hisses. 

Xander just continues to cry. 

When they aren't waking up the entire house and crawling all over the place, the toddlers are actually quite docile. Marisol and Tobias often play in each other's company, laughing as discordant noises sound from the xylophone.

Even though his younger siblings frequently wake him up and invade his room, Melor must admit that they make decent play mates. 

"And then my guy crashes into Teddy-zilla!" Melor provides his own sound effects as the toy car hurtles towards its target.

Xander hugs the bear protectively. "Oh no!" Melor exlaims, "It has shield powers!" 

"Oh, there he is," Taras unintentionally interrupts playtime. He picks up Xander, whose eyelids are beginning to droop. 

"Aw, dad..." Melor whines. 

"Hey, your sister is here, why don't you play with her?" Taras suggests as he leaves the room. 

Melor sighs. Marisol doesn't like playing teddy-zilla; she cries every time he "hurts" the stuffed animal.

Eventually tired out from the company of his siblings, Melor retreats to the living room with a book. No one really comes here, leaving him with some peace and quiet. 

Taras eventually makes his way home from work and shares a leafy dinner with his wife. 

"What's wrong?" Taras asks, noticing Nozomi's distant smile and occasional glancing over her shoulder. 

Her voice falls to a whisper, "Well... it's just that...is Melor really a kid, or did I give birth to a robot?" 

Taras looks at her in surprise, and then laughs, "Oh come on, he isn't that bad. He's a well-behaved kid, is all." 

"Why do you have such a problem with him reading books, anyways?"

Nozomi sighs, "Oh you know that's not what I mean. He's never had any friends over, or even talked about other kids at school. Is that...normal?"

Taras rolls his eyes, "He's fine, Nozomi."

Melor has long retreated into his bedroom at this point, so Nozomi speaks at normal volume. 

"How do you know?" 

"I just do." 

1.27 Day 27

"Bwuh?" 

Little Tobias is very confused. 

Confusion turns into contentment when his bunny toy reappears. A flurry of green dust accompanies its arrival, but quickly dissipates. 

Unfortunately, his contentment is quite loud. 

Melor glares at his younger brother. Is it so much to ask that his obnoxiously loud toddler brother be kept out of his room?

With a sigh, he makes his way to the kitchen. 

"Mom, you took the last pancakes!" 

Nozomi looks at her plate. "Oh, sorry, Mel. I think there's cereal somewhere..."

"You're up early," she remarks. 

Melor scoffs, then shovels a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. 

They continue to eat in relative silence. Nozomo smiles wryly, waiting for a complaint to burst forth from her eldest child's lips. 

And sure enough... 

"Why does Toby keep going into my room!? He's so loud, I can't sleep!" 

Nozomi wants to laugh, considering she and Taras have rarely properly slept since Melor was born, but she bites her tongue. 

"I'm sorry, Melor. I'll try to keep him out of your bedroom in the morning." 

Melor nods, satisfied with this solution. 

Since he's up way too early for school and can't go back to sleep, Melor makes use of their new chess table. It was a belated birthday gift from his parents. 

He glances behind him at his mother teaching Tobias how to walk. 

I wonder if mom ever spent time with me like that...

It isn't long before his other siblings start crawling out of the nursery. Nozomi scoops Marisol up from the floor to return her to her room. 

"Don't be late for school," she calls over her shoulder. Melor just grunts. 

Looks like Nozomi's going to have her hands full today...

And so is Taras. 

The kids are attracted to Melor's toy box like moths to a flame. Unfortunately, they seem fond of sticking the toys they find into their mouths. 

Taras sighs as he pulls Tobias away from his favourite rabbit toy, bracing himself for the inevitable crying. 

Eventually all of the kids are either eating or sleeping, giving Nozomi some precious time to herself. Normally she would love to have some friends over, but it's been so long since she's been able to work out, she sacrifices her need for adult socialising for keeping fit. 

The dishwasher is broken yet again to no one's surprise. Taras has long resigned himself to his role as the family electrician and dutifully pulls out tools to repair the broken appliance. As he gets to work, Melor plops down behind him and pulls out his homework.

"Son, isn't it Friday?" 

Melor doesn't glance up from his assignment, "Yeah." 

"So why are you doing your homework now?" 

Melor looks up, his expression perplexed, "Because I always do my homework after school." 

"But it's Friday night. Aren't you tired?" 

He unsuccessfully tries to stifle a yawn, "Noooo."

Once Taras finishes up with the dishwasher, Melor leaps to his feet. 

"Well, maybe I am a bit sleepy..." 

Taras smothers a knowing smile. "Do you want a bedtime story?" 

"Daaad, I'm too old for bedtime stories!" 

Taras chuckles, "Well, humor your old man..." 

Well, if it's for his dad, he guesses a bedtime story is ok... 

Taras is barely halfway through the story when Melor's head hits the pillow. He pulls the sheets over his son and kisses his forehead. 

"Good night, son."