How Green Becomes Wood

Staying squatting, Ivy watched the worm wiggle in the dirt, utterly amazed. When it disappeared into the soil, she started grabbing at the grass, now confused at how it had vanished. Looking up at her brother, she pointed at the ground, her little eyebrows furrowed together.
 
"Sorry, Mini. It went home. Bye-bye, worm," Xander said and waved to the ground. "Alright, time to put the rock down." He started slowly lowering the rock. "The worm wants to go to sleep."
 
Ivy sat staring at the grass for a little longer, her mind struggling to grasp the new information of things going to be under the ground, but she was still a toddler, so soon enough she was off again, wanting to play with her ball.
 
Xander made sure the rock was secure exactly where it was supposed to be and not a centimeter off. Then he followed Ivy over to her toys and started rolling the ball for her. After a bit, he retrieved one of Enkidu's balls and started showing Ivy how to throw it for him. He explained patiently that now that they were outside, throwing was okay. He said it as simply as he could manage no less than a dozen times.
 
Ivy listened to Xander, and copied throwing the ball for Enkidu. Although she, obviously, wasn't great at it, she threw just well enough for Enkidu to find it worthy of play. Frankly, he had been waiting since this particular human showed up for her to start throwing him a ball and now that she was, he kept bringing it back to her, which made her squeak with laughter.

It was very, very unclear if she internalized what Xander had said about when and when it is not acceptable to throw things.
 
Xander figured this singular time outside throwing a ball would not be enough for Ivy to know when was and was not a good time to throw a ball, but that was okay. You had to start somewhere. Once in a while, he coaxed her into letting him have a turn, and he gave a good toss for Enkidu, but mostly he just helped her throw the ball in a safe direction.
 
Ivy was really good about giving Xander the ball when he asked for it, liking including him in the game too. When she finally grew bored, she smiled brightly at him, and then very quickly wrapped her little arms around his legs.
 
Xander stiffened at the sudden grip. It was through clothing, which made it tolerable, but the unexpectedness made him want to jerk away. It took every bit of self-control he had to fight against the desire to pull away. She was too little. He'd hurt her if he jerked away like that! "Hi, Mini," he said, trying to sound normal as his heart rate spiked and his palms sweated. "Bored? What do you want to do now?" He glanced around, hoping to see something to distract her. "Blocks?"
 
Ivy smiled up at him, her cheek pressed against his thigh and with her face all squished up and her eyes bright said, "Ann!" and then babbled something which sounded like she knew what she was saying, but it wasn't quite intelligible.
 
"Huh? An what?" Xander stammered, not paying attention. He took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. It was okay. It was alright. There was nothing to fear here. "Hey, Mini, you are very cute, but can you let go, please?"
 
Xander watched her go. Then he leaned down and rubbed his leg hard. It tingled and itched from the contact, but it wasn't as bad as it had once been. He still needed a moment since he hadn't been braced for it, but after a minute of pulling himself together, he followed after Ivy. They'd been outside for a while now. It probably wasn't long until it was time to get her back inside. He hoped Dark would save him the work and tears and come get her when it was time.
 
Ivy toddled off to play with her other toys, sitting down in the grass. Contrary to Xander's fears, though, although Ivy had been having a great day outside, she was getting pretty sleepy. So by the time Dark did poke his head outside to call them in, Ivy didn't fuss at all, and gladly allowed herself to be brought inside for a cuddle and a nap.
 
"Oh, I see," Dark nodded, a faint glimmer of understanding flickering in his eyes. "Ivy-Qadira, where's Ann?"

Ivy blinked up at him, her eyes heavy with sleep, "Ann."

"Can you point, Tifla? Can you point at Ann?"

Yawning, Ivy held out her hand to point at Xander, and then snuggled her face in against her father's chest.
 
Xander stared at her. "Ann," he repeated tonelessly. "You picked Ann? Out of all the syllables?" He heaved a sigh. "Alrighty, then, I guess you have an Ack and an Ann. I guess I should just be grateful you finally decided to name me. I was beginning to think you wouldn't." He gave his father a salute. "Happy snuggling time. I'll be in the basement if you need anything."
 
"You could have been Der." Dark pointed out, surprised by how unbothered Xander was by Ivy saying his name for the first time, although he didn't quite know why. He usually didn't have big reactions to such things. "Come along, Ivy-Qadira, tell Baba all about what you did outside."
 
Xander snorted at that. "Der. Sounds like a sound effect." He headed downstairs, and as he descended the stairs, a slow smirk lightened his expression. "Ann," he muttered to himself. "Heh."

Once alone in his room, he immediately pulled out his phone and texted Milo and Sloan the same thing. Are you somewhere you can laugh? The Mini gave me a name. Finally. He waited a moment before sending a second text. ANN.
 
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