How Green Becomes Wood

"A unicorn? You're really giving your father a run for his money, aren't you?" Daizi grinned, "And you know he won't say a word about it, he'll do everything he can to accommodate you. I presume he's still searching?"

At that moment, Dark had managed to make it almost entirely out of earshot, and therefore had no idea what they were discussing. In fact, he was crouched down and lightly knocking on a pumpkin while potentially murmuring to himself.
 
Alec turned look for him. "Yes, he's way out there. I think he is seeking the best pumpkin in the patch and none less than that will do."

"Lost in his own world," Xander agreed. He glanced at Daizi with a frown. "What about you? What do you do about pumpkins?"
 
"He's adorable," Daizi almost swooned, "Go with him sometime when he's buying wood. Wood and pumpkins tell you what they want to be. He's looking for the one he can converse with. Baba never knows what he wants to carve until the pumpkin itself declares it." She shook her head and then handed Ivy another pumpkin, "Maybe that's what Ivy is waiting for, too. Is that one good, habibti? Do you like the pumpkin?"

"Ah-wa," Ivy replied, doing her best to hold what she was handed. Her mother was doing her best to give her tiny ones, but little ones still could be a lot to manage.

"Close, Hummingbird! It's not a Zahra, a flower, it's a pumpkin! An alyaqtin! Do you like that one?" It was little, bumpy, and a bit green, but fresh, and it was the first one Ivy said much about, "Or do you want to carve a flower into it? Baba will help you carve zahra."

"Ah-wa!"

"Right, and we'll tell him!" Daizi leaned forward and kissed Ivy on the forehead, "How special!" She sat back on her heels, tipping her head back towards Xander, "I put the candles in them. Besides that, not much. Sometimes I sort out the seeds from the goop for Cooger."
 
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"What do you do with pumpkin seeds?" Alec asked, frowning at his chosen carving pumpkin.

"You roast them and eat them," Xander said. "There's like 50 different recipes that all amount to basically the same thing: Roasted nuts with seasoning."

Alec made a face at him. "Charming. Mama, can I get a carving and a non-carving pumpkin? The non-carving one is small."
 
"He also bakes pumpkin pie, it's the only thing he knows how to bake. His Nana taught him." She traded Ivy's pumpkin for one of her toys so nothing happened to it, "I suppose so, but what are you going to do with the one you won't be carving?"
 
"I want to put it somewhere as a decoration. If it doesn't fit with the main house, I'll put it on the windowsill!" Alec proclaimed. "Which reminds me. We need to refill the bird feeder."

"I want to try pumpkin custard sometime. I saw a recipe for a really old one," Xander remarked.
 
"I think our entire home is adorned with pumpkins right now, it will fit right in. Just be sure to remove it when it starts to mould, and don't despose of it in my garden, once pumpkin seeds root, you have pumpkins until the heat death of the universe." Daizi said, stretching upright, "Let's find a bench. Dark might be awhile and I think Ivy's getting hungry."
 
"I'm going to keep wandering for a bit, but I'll stay close," Xander assured her. "Actually, what I should do is fetch a wagon for these things. Be right back." He headed off to get one of the wagons from the corral at the end of the pumpkin patch.

"I'll go with you," Alec said, following her. "Thank you for the pumpkins."
 
"You're welcome," Daizi replied, settling down on the bench and taking Ivy back out of the stroller, "I'm still sorry we didn't get to carve them last year. We had a number of plans we never achieved."
 
Alec shrugged and sat on the far end of the bench. "I'm still not used to plans actually going as, well, planned, so I don't mind. It's just one year, after all, and it was an interesting trade-off; a baby for a seasonal event."
 
"I can't say I would trade it. I wish it wasn't quite so sudden, and I wish she had been healthier. But I'd rather have her and miss a season of carving pumpkins and dressing up than not have her. And it's correct. She came into my life just like you and your brother did, and just like Dark did. Unexpectedly."
 
Alec held up a finger and wiggled it around to indicate their current topic of discussion even though Daizi couldn't see it. "Is this going to stay a trend, do you think? People joining the family highly unexpectedly?"
 
"I would guess so," Daizi replied, wondering what level of covered she'd need to be for Alec to be comfortable sharing a bench with her while she nursed as she dug through the diaper bag for the solid foods they had packed for Ivy. It just seemed more convenient than attempting to balance everything, "How many times in life do schedule meeting someone you'll love? I suppose in an arranged marriage or when you have a planned pregnancy with a scheduled induction, or in a more traditional adoption. Otherwise? We walk into people's lives before we know it and walk out without realizing. All too often, you don't remember the last thing you said to someone, because you didn't know it'd be the last time, so you didn't try to remember it."
 
"That's deep. And it makes a lot of sense, though I hope most meetings and departures are a little smoother than picking up a pair of teens from a snow storm or... really anything Ivy related." Alec leaned over and carefully plucked the solid food from the diaper bag before handing it to his mother. "I guess we're safe, too, because Ba didn't mention humanoids in his list of things we can't afford or have space for." He grinned, teasing.
 
Daizi chuckled, taking the food from him, "Your Baba is tired. Having you, and Xander, and Ivy is a blessing and it's wonderful, and it's everything we've ever wanted, albeit not quite how we expected it. But it's also hard. And sometimes overwhelming. And often stressful. We love you, and we wouldn't trade you, but we need to catch our breath. He needs to catch his breath, this is the largest household he's ever lived in. You just need to give it some time."
 
"I know, and I'm willing to give him time," Alec assured her. "It's just... Sometimes, it's easy to be patient. Some things are easy to be patient for, but then... I get a bug in my brain, I guess, and I have a really hard time accepting that I need to wait because waiting feels like it'll never happen. Logically, I know that's not true, but emotions don't listen to logic."
 
Daizi smiled softly, leaning Ivy back against her so she could help spoon feed her, after carefully draping a towel across herself as a layer of protection, "Trust me, I know better than anyone how hard it can be to be patient to add new lives to your family. But I also know if things had happened sooner, I wouldn't have had you. Sometimes we have to be patient, because the one who is perfect isn't ready yet."
 
Alec heaved a sigh and leaned back, staring up at the sky instead of his mother. "I guess you're right about that." He glanced toward where Xander was making his way back with the wagon, moving slowly and carefully. "Tomorrow, I'm meeting with Emma. It's going to be our first official date together. I think I'm going to get an uber or something there and back again."
 
"I wish I could say something more affirming. I'm not completely against it. It's just." She sighed, rubbing Ivy's back, "Not the right the right time." She reached over and patted his knee, knowing how badly he wanted a pet, but also knowing how not ready her husband was for it. It wouldn't be fair to him to adopt a pet anyway, "I'm sure Dark has time to drive you so you don't need to hire someone to get there. Family isn't coming until Tuesday.'
 
Alec smiled and squeezed his mother's hand lightly. "I don't know how long we'll be. I don't want to take up Ba's time like that, first driving me out and then waiting for me to call for a ride back. I guess a ride there wouldn't be so bad, though."
 
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