How Green Becomes Wood

"No, not at all," Daizi smiled upwards, "We're just glad to be made welcome. I'm Daizi, this is my husband Ghalib, and our daughter Ivy-Qadira."

Dark looked up with his very intense eyes and gave her a nod, in his opinion he was being quite friendly.​
 
Terri's smile wobbled a little in the face of Dark's intensity, but she soldiered on. "I actually stopped over because we need your help, Kyle."

"Oh, yeah? What do you need?" Kyle asked curiously.

Terri pointed over her shoulder. "The exercise group that books this space left the exercise equipment in the wrong spot again, and most of it is too heavy for most of us to pick up safely. Without accidents, if you know what I mean. I can look after Raymond for you if you are willing to do that."

Kyle frowned, thinking about this for a moment. Then a light went on, and he brightened. "Oh! Right! Without wetting your- Sorry," he cut himself off at her look. "Sure, I can do that, no problem!" He leaned over Raymond, who was trying out waving this new toy. "Ray, Daddy's got to go do some heavy lifting. Nice Mrs. Micheals is going to sit with you while Daddy's away, okay?" He stroked Raymond's hair, which made it static even more. "There's my sweet, baby Ray!"

He got up and headed away. Terri shifted over to sit closer to Raymond and smiled at him. She got a severe frown fro her troubles.

"So, how old is little Ivy?" Terri asked with a bright smile.

Ray considered the toy for a moment longer and then leaned over and offered it back to Ivy.
 
"Fifteen months," Daizi answered while Ivy took the toy back from Raymond.

"This is the most interested she has been in other babies." Dark said, feeling like he was being successfully friendly as he glanced after Kyle to see if he had it on his own.
 
"Oh, what a good age!" Terri smiled. "Is she walking yet?" She urged her daughter - a properly chubby baby but without Raymond's amount of rolls - forward to see Ivy and Raymond. The baby looked between the other two and promptly crawled back to her mother. "This is Tansy. She's normally friendlier than this," Terri said, a bit confused as she let Tansy crawl into her lap.

Kyle had things well handled, and he was being watched by nearly every woman in the room. Some openly, some covertly. A few of the men were watching too, though most of them were green with envy, not interest.
 
"Only just," Daizi answered, "Is Tansy short for anything?"

As soon as Dark saw Kyle had things under control, he looked away, having absolutely no reaction to Kyle's strength nor the people oggling him. His interest began and ended with if he was needed and jocks weren't his type.
 
"Hmmm? No, I just really liked the name Tansy," Terri said happily. "Tansy has been working on her walking skills, and she's taken her first few unaided steps just the other day! It was wonderful. She's doing so well!"
 
"It's beautiful, I just hadn't heard of it before," Daizi replied, hoping she hadn't offended, "Ivy took her first steps without trickery on Christmas, but I guess that's already almost a month ago. January has just flown by in what feels like a manner of days. How old is Tansy?"
 
"She's fifteen months, too!" Terri said happily. "She's my third baby, and I really love these Mommy-Baby groups, don't you!" She glanced at Dark and hastily added, "Of course, fathers are welcome, it's just we don't normally get very many in here. More than I saw with my first baby, so that's a good thing!"
 
"This is the third one we've tried," Daizi told her, "The first wasn't really a good fit, and the second one was fine enough at first, then it got weird. Ghalib is actually a stay-at-home father, so he'll be able to come to more than I will."

"How old are your other children?" Dark asked in his typical, serious tone. He was doing so well at small talk today!
 
"Oh, are you?" Terri said in the tone of people who were trying to not be judgmental and accepting but also had no real idea of what to do with that information. "That's interesting! Oh, my older babies? Sookie will be six in three weeks, and Tolliver is four. They are both currently with the sitter so I could have some time with just Tansy and talk to adults. How about you? Do you have any other children? Or is Ivy here your first?"
 
After taking a brief moment to process the name Tolliver, trying to figure out if it was a common and they'd just never heard of it before or a very unique assemblage, Dark and Daizi turned to actually respond to the question.

"Ivy-Qadira is our first baby, but we have two sons who we adopted as teenagers." Dark answered.
 
"Oh, that is wonderful!" Terri said warmly. "How are they getting along with little Ivy?"

Kyle returned then, lowering himself carefully to sit behind his son. "Hello, Ray! Daddy's back! Did you miss me?" he fussed happily.

Raymond stared up at his father. Then he turned away and inched closer to Ivy so he could present her with one of his own toys.

"Kyle," Terri said, touching his forearm briefly as she got his attention, "Ghalib here is a stay-at-home father, too. Did you know?"

Kyle looked at Dark and grinned. "No way, really? That's awesome!"
 
"They love her," Daizi grinned, while Ivy took Raymond's toy from him and examined it closely, "It took them a little bit of time to warm up, but now they look for her as soon as they come home from school most days."

"Yes, for nearly a year now," Dark replied.
 
"Oh, that's so sweet!" Terri said warmly. "I hope my little ones will be close as they grow up." She sighed and hugged Tansy gently. Tansy was looking a bit grumpy and like she really could not care any less for this situation.

"I've been a stay-at-home dad for three months now," Kyle said proudly. "I would have started sooner, but Dinah said we's start slow and had a nanny for the first few months. I guess she's got a point. I've never done this before, so best to trust the experts, right? I bet you've got all sorts of stuff you could teach me for how to juggle things better." He looked down and smiled. "Good job for sharing with Ivy-Qadira! Well done, Ray!" He glanced toward Dark and Daizi, trying to make it look nonchalant, but he was trying to see if he'd finally gotten her name right.
 
"Theoretically," Dark replied, in his way, while Daizi praised Ivy for sharing, "but I imagine what is required depends on how your baby behaves, and I am sure you have already noticed what is needed develops as quickly as they do."
 
"Yeah, man, it's wild!" Kyle agreed, nodding earnestly. "I thought I'd have a lot more free time, you know? Like, in a chunk. Then my workout routine wouldn't get thrown off, but it turns out, unless I get up before him or stay up late, the only time I really have is when he's asleep. I get lots of, like, five-minute breaks, and then it's, 'Where's his bottle? Did I forget to turn on the washer? Did he throw the remote behind the couch again? Did he take a step and I missed it? What's this weird spot on the carpet?' It's like, no one thing is hard, but it's a lot of a lot of little things all over the place!"
 
Dark nodded, relating to much of what Kyle said, "I always need to make the most out of Ivy's naps. She only takes one a day, now." It was good to hear someone else have the same stresses, even though he didn't look particularly phased by any of it.

"At least we're used to weird spots already since we have a dog," Daizi joked.
 
Kyle and Terri laughed, Terri quiet and reserved, Kyle big and boisterous. "Oh, man, if I had a dog, too? I'd be scared of walking anywhere," Kyle chuckled.

"I have two smaller dogs, rescues, and thankfully we've gotten them fully potty trained, but it took a while," Terri sighed. "And then came babies. I don't think I have gone a day without looking at some form of feces in the last seven years."

"Ugh, diapers," Kyle groaned. "I swear, everyone laughs at me for this, but the first time I had to change a full blow-out? I threw up. No joke."
 
"I'm still not sure if my situation makes diaper changes worse or better," Daizi laughed, "Our dog is very well trained, but we used to keep rats, and cleaning up after them is a full time job."
 
Kyle looked a little confused at Daizi's comment about her situation, but Terri took it in stride. She could not, however, keep herself from wrinkling her nose. "Rats? Really? But they are so nasty!"

"Terri, don't be rude," Kyle frowned.

Terri sighed and flicked her hair from her face. "You're right, that was rude of me. I apologize. I just... really do not like rats." She shuddered.

"She really doesn't Kyle confirmed with a significant look. Or what he thought was a significant look.

Terri cleared her throat. "Anyway! We can all agree we hate diapers. It's certainly nice to find something to agree on in a group like this. It's so easy to get lost in the intricacies and forget to look at the big picture."
 
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