How Green Becomes Wood

"She did!" Daizi exclaimed, fighting every urge to scoop Ivy up and cover her in all the kisses Dark managed to clean off of her while she was putting on her comfortable clothes, "This is what she figured out while we were gone?"

Dark finished taking good photographs of Ivy and shifted so he was slightly closer to her level, "How does the world look from up here, sweet Ivy-Qadira? It is very different, I imagine." Then, he caressed her cheek and sat back, looking over at Alec, "Why did you not text us? Do you have pictures from the first time?" His voice wasn't at all frustrated or annoyed, only curious.
 
Alec held up his fingers as he answered the questions one at a time. "It wasn't an emergency, and I didn't want you to get distracted from having a good time. I forgot to get pictures, I'm afraid, but it was right after her nap! She pulled herself up inside her crib and was standing up when I came in to get her."

"I got one from outside," Xander said. "Not her first, but one of."
 
"You should text us when she does something new like this," Dark replied, although he understood Alec's decision, "I would like to know, in the future." Finally, he gave in, and lifted Ivy onto the couch so he could hug her, and with a little chuckle looked kindly up at his son, "Unless it is very major, and something I would feel poorly about missing. If she takes her first steps when I am not there to see it, lie to me."

"I don't think it'd distract us from having a good time, especially at a party like that," Daizi joked, "It's just another way for Dark to show off to his old lady fan club."
 
Alec couldn't help but doubt Daizi's statement that they wouldn't be distracted, but he chose not to follow up on that. Instead, he smiled at Dark and said, "If anything happens from now on, I'll be sure to text you right away."

"What's the scale for learning new things? Like, what's newsworthy, and what shouldn't we mention?" Xander asked, frowning as he tried to figure out the difference between standing and walking. They both seemed pretty big to him.
 
"Thank you," Dark replied, "I do not know if there is... an empirical way to tell what should be lied about to us or not." His eyebrows knitted together, as he thought very deeply about what he was and was not okay with missing for the first time. Really, he didn't want to miss any of it, but he knew that was not possible. Things had already been missed, both by him and Daizi. "I would have liked to have been there, when she stood for the first time," he confessed, after a period of silence, a hint of sadness creeping into his face, "but we came home and learned she had done something new, so when she stood, we knew it was what we had not been there for. I do not think it is obsessive to want to be there for those things," he attempted to cut off the joke before it was said, if it was said. It was impossible to tell what would be deemed 'too much. "I am not... upset, to know it happened without me there. I can be in the same room as her and still miss it. But there are just... some things which matter."

"I won't be able to cope if she says her first word when I'm not around." Daizi was able to admit openly, "I already can't see when she does things, if she starts speaking and I'm not there, I think it'll crush me. Once she starts saying words, it matters less, but that first word? I don't think there are many thing she'll do for the very first time that matter more to me. Not ones she hasn't already learned to do, anyway."
 
"I think I'm even more confused now," Xander admitted, rubbing the side of his head as he tried to sort it out. "How about, if I see it, I'm going to tell. Except for the first word. If Alec sees it, he can sort out if you should be told or not."

"I guess after first word and first steps, the rest are all pretty evenly important?" Alec guessed.
 
"I suppose so," Daizi admitted with a shrug, "It's just hard, so much of your life gets centered around a baby when you're their parent, because they rely on you for everything. So you want to be there for the really good moments, because it's the good moments that make all of the exhausting and frustrating stuff worth it. That and the cuddles. You spend months not sleeping, and buried in laundry and soiled diapers, and using bulb syringes to clear her nose, and I hear her crying in my sleep sometimes, then you miss the biggest moments in the start of her life..." She sighed, hoping she expressed herself successfully.

"First word, first steps..." Dark agreed were good ones to lie to them about, "and I think the first time she says 'Mama' or 'Baba,' even if she has said many words before saying them."
 
"They do not," Dark replied, "they just get more spread out. Next year you both graduate high school, that is still a milestone. So was Xander getting his driver's license. So was us having her, and adopting the two of you."
 
"One of those milestones is not exactly a typical one," Xander pointed out lightly, "but it's nice to know there's a neverending list of things for you two to look forward to. Kind of like achievements in a game. But better."

"Much better when it comes to a little one learning to stand and eventually walk," Alec said cheerfully.
 
"After a certain point, everyone has uncommitted milestones. I had a woman leave her wedding for me." Dark replied with a small smile, "Most people cannot say that."

"'A woman,' Thanks, babe." Daizi scoffed, nudging him gently with her elbow.

He placed one hand over his heart, "I had never felt more honored."

She shook her head and redirected the conversation, "It is weird to think, one day we will wake up and Ivy won't be a baby anymore, she'll be a toddler. And then a kid. And then..."
 
"Married with children of her own and struggling to find time for herself, her career, and her family?" Xander offered.

"Gee, way to take it dark," Alec sighed. "How about married with kids of her own and asking to come over so we can all cook and eat together?"
 
Daizi shifted, turning her face away. "Who is struggling?" She asked in a light, careful voice, "I don't know if she will get married and have kids, but one day she'll be all grown up too." She tickled Ivy underneath the chin, "but still Mama's baby, right? Mama's pretty baby girl."

"I still struggle to believe she is nearly a year old. We need to plan her party." Dark said, realizing how close it was to September.
 
"It will be, my family is already planning to visit," Daizi agreed. Half of Egypt was invited, it seemed, because most of her family couldn't make it last year. This year left plenty of time for them all to plan.

Dark gently patted his wife's knee, "We need to pick a theme."

"We have time," She replied, "there's no need to rush it."
 
"Why not doves?" Alec suggested while Xander wandered off. "Doves seem to be tied to hope and miracles and things like that. As long as we don't do any releasing of real doves or anything like that."
 
Dark considered that for a moment, "I understand the thought behind it, but I think doves have too strong of a religious tone to them. At least doves in that context."

"I think we should take Ivy to a party store and let her choose." Daizi said, lifting Ivy above her head, "It's her party, even if she doesn't understand it."
 
"Maybe," Daizi agreed, "it'll be a very important day. Her very first birthday!" She kissed Ivy's bellybutton and pulled her in close, "Goose, what do you want to do for your 40th?"

"Pretend it is not my 40th." Dark replied flatly.
 
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