How Green Becomes Wood

Ivy took the toy and tried to put it in her mouth, but the action destabilized her enough that she tumbled over, falling back to the ground with a soft thud, absolutely bewildered as to how that possibly could have happened. Now sitting on the floor, she looked up at her two brothers, trying to decide if that was worth crying about or not.
 
"Whoops," Xander said lightly, leaning over to give her a quick scan. It took him only a second to see she was fine, so he settled with, "Down goes Mini!" in a cheery tone.

"Oopsy," Alec agreed, reaching out and helping her up. "Ivy fell down, but now she's up again!"
 
Recognizing she must actually be okay after all, Ivy went back to happily babbling at her brothers, looking at the two of them like they were everything and showing off her toys to them.
 
Alec and Xander showed Ivy the appropriate amount of attention -complete and undivided - and remarked on each and every toy. They took time to play with her, Xander taking extra effort to talk to her as since he couldn't touch her. Then they continued on with the rest of her schedule. They could have taken some time for themselves or taken turns looking after her, but they chose to look after her directly for each and every minute.
 
It was evident when it was getting near to naptime, because she started getting exceptionally cuddly with Alec again, and would have been with Xander, too, had she not been prevented from it, and she was also getting a little bit grumpy, not really wanting a toy, but also not wanting to not have one, and just not seeming quite settled. When once again Enkidu lay down near them, she crawled over to him and hugged against his thick, warm fur.
 
Alec sat down on the floor next to Enkidu and began softly singing the lullaby to Ivy, letting her calm down and relax a little. Once she'd relaxed, he'd take her up to her crib to sleep. For now, he let her hug the dog until she felt better.
 
Xander sat in front of Enkidu and kept his attention while Alec carefully pulled his fur out of Ivy's fists, still humming as he did so. It was no easy feat, but he finally got the dog free and gently carried his little sister upstairs to her crib.
 
Ivy didn't stir as Alec worked to free their long-suffering dog, and snuggled into his arms on the journey to the crib, where she allowed herself to be set down. At the transition, she stirred slightly, because the crib wasn't as warm as her brother or Enkidu, but she settled herself, and stayed asleep.
 
Alec let his hand rest on her for a little bit, letting her transition rather than immediately pull away, and when he felt like she was settled, he pulled away his hand and tiptoed away. He double-checked that the baby monitor was on and left the room to let her sleep.

Now that Ivy was asleep, the twins turned their attention to the bit of homework they had left to do. Xander stayed next to the monitor, keeping his ear sharply tuned to the sounds of Ivy sleeping.
 
Partway through Ivy's nap, Daizi sent a quick picture to Alec of herself in her lovely peach-coloured bridesmaid dress with her hair and makeup professionally done, figuring he'd enjoy seeing it. The ceremony was near to starting, she explained quickly, and she hoped things were going well at home.

A really good, long nap later, Ivy began to cry in bed, feeling lonely, hungry, and needing to be changed, and expressing it to the absolute best of her abilities.
 
Alec did, indeed, love seeing the picture, and even Xander nodded approvingly.

Alec went to take care of Ivy when she woke up, and Xander got her bottle and baby food ready for her. Alec still really did not like changing Ivy, outside of the usual complaints, but it was what needed to happen and what needed to be done for his parents not to feel trapped at home or like they had to inconvenience friends, so he bolstered himself and took care of business. Then he took her down for her feeding.
 
Ivy became much less fussy once she saw Alec and he was holding her, but didn't totally settle until she was in her high chair and had her bottle in-hand. Like Daizi had said, Ivy wasn't very used to a bottle, since she had been given one once or twice in her life, but she quickly figured it out.
 
Xander sat on one side of Ivy while Alec sat on the other. Xander helped Ivy guide the bottle to the correct position and used a couple of fingers to support it while she figured it out. When she was finished with the bottle, Alec took over with the baby food.
 
Ivy was very good and ate all of her lunch, although if Alec didn't let her try with the spoon she'd fuss at him and try to take it. Between learning how to use a spoon, and figuring out how to pick up cereal pieces, she really tried to feed herself, even though she still wasn't great at it.

Afterwards, she was more than ready for more playtime.

Meanwhile, in the middle of a very fancy, upscale, Mediterranean-inspired wedding venue with gorgeous marble columns and careful brickwork, Cooger was trying to not interrupted proceedings from his seat in the pews at the first look of his best friend in that colour. He had been warned, but insufficiently. Thankfully, he managed to keep it together and not embarrass himself.
 
The twins were only too happy to play with Ivy, and after a while, they got her dressed and took her out for a walk. They could hear Lex working in her garage but didn't try to interrupt her. They took a couple of trips around the block and then went home. Alec took Ivy out of her stroller and made faces at her as he touched her hand briefly to the salt before setting her down.
 
On her entire walk, Ivy waved and babbled at anything they went by. She loved getting to go on walks.

On her way to gymnastics, Sloan very briefly stopped to say hi and make a comment about how they should start a Babysitting Club, since they were so good at it. If she hadn't been about to leave, she'd have stopped to chat more, but since she was, she made a quick goodbye and let them finish their stroll.

Once back inside, Ivy crawled back to her toys and continued to show them off.
 
Xander rolled his eyes at Sloan's comment, but Alec grinned and laughed, accepting the idea with glee.

"You're a friendly little tyke, Mini," Xander commented to Ivy, lowering himself to sit cross-legged on the floor.

Alec put away Enkidu's leash since they'd taken him with them, and came over to join them. "It means she'll be great at making friends!"
 
The fact she was showing interest in others again was a good sign, it meant she was getting out of her shy phase. When Xander was on the floor, she crawled over to him so she could sit near him and try to get him to play.
 
Xander leaned over and offered her toys one at a time. Occasionally, he asked for one, and if she handed it over, he made a fuss of thank you's and praises. Then he'd give it back most of the time. It was important to make giving something to someone a good thing, that way if she ever picked up something she shouldn't have, it wouldn't be a fight to get it back. He asked for the toy she was currently holding.
 
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