How Green Becomes Wood

Xander shook his head. "Nope. It'll be far funnier if one of us tells him."

Alec laughed. "Can you imagine Mrs. Hollis doing that? Maybe, just maybe, but Aunt Ciara?"

"Nope," Xander said with a shake of his head. "Mrs. Hollis would bark long before Aunt C did. Aunt C would just taser the guy."
 
"He'll laugh about it too," Daizi sighed, taking Ivy back from Alec, "At least he'll laugh in the way he does laugh. I used to carry pepper gel, not that I would've used it today, but if I have it on the diaper bag, it feels inevitable that Ivy will end up spraying herself or someone else. I wouldn't be surprised if Ciara has a taser, I've never felt right with one."
 
"I promised your sister she'd get to play more after I changed her diaper, it'd be wrong of me to go back on my word," Daizi said, rubbing Ivy's back, "Right, habibti? Say, 'All I've done is go down the slide!' There's a whole tunnel left to crawl through!"
 
"Let's go find the tunnel!" Alec said happily.

Xander glanced around to make sure no one was close, still taking utmost caution. Then he dropped Enkidu's leash and held up the ball. "Back to what we were doing. Ready?" He tossed the ball out for Enkidu.
 
Daizi walked with Alec back to the play equipment, and this time set Ivy down on the other side of the play structure so she could try something new. On this side, the way to climb up to it was a shallow, simple rock wall. Ivy couldn't quite climb it on her own, but Daizi helped her physically and gave her words of support until Ivy managed to get onto the platform. Then, Daizi went to the other end of the tunnel and called for Ivy.

The big, red, plastic tube was a little bit intimidating, but after being called enough, Ivy crawled through it, and found herself on a new platform, this time with new games and a steering wheel!

Enkidu, meanwhile, gladly went back to playing fetch, albeit a bit slower than before, since he had been running a lot that afternoon.
 
Alec laughed when Ivy found the steering wheel and games. "I think we've lost her, Mama," he said with a grin. "She's completely gone now and driving away. Or in circles."

Xander finally picked up the ball and put it with their stuff. "Good boy, Enkidu. Well run," he told the dog, rubbing his scruff. "I'd like to see Alec do this with that cat of his."
 
"Not even two years old and already a better driver than I am," Daizi sighed, shaking her head. It was amazing how much fun Ivy had just turning the wheel around and around. "This might just be the best day of her life."

Enkidu rubbed his head against Xander's leg and then went to lay down in the sun, feeling very pleased with himself.
 
"Have you ever driven a bumper car?" Alec asked curiously. "That would be safe. Mostly."

Xander followed Enkidu and plopped down next to him, watching Alec, Daizi, and Ivy play.
 
"I don't think so," Daizi said slowly, taking some time to think about it, "I should try it some time."

Eventually, Ivy grew bored with the wheel, so Daizi helped her down the swirly slide. This then had to be repeated many, many times before she was tired also of the slide.

"Do you want to try the swing, Ivy-Qadira?" Daizi asked.
 
"Ooo, swings are fun!" Alec said. He loved swings, too, but he wasn't certain if Daizi would need his help swinging Ivy. "Xander, come swing with us!"

"Alright," Xander agreed, getting up. "Come on, Enkidu. Stay close. We do not walk in front of or behind the swings. Ever. Okay?"
 
Daizi carried Ivy to the swing, and after feeling nearly every swing to find which one was designed for babies and toddlers, set Ivy into it, beginning to gently push her, "Remember on Father's Day when you tried to convince your father to try swinging?"
 
"Oh, I have loads of ideas," Alec said, sitting on a swing near them. "Most of them completely impractical, of course, and I know it'll likely end up being a quiet little party at home, which I am fine with because that'll make Ba happy, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming!"
 
Alec smiled as he pushed his swing into a slow rhythm. "Okay, this is just dreaming, mind you, but if I could, I would talk to Peter about renting that place where we had Sloan's party. Then I would host a full art exhibition of strange, wonderful art in all sorts of media. Wood would have to be involved, of course, and I'd want him to be able to meet and talk to all those artists. That'd be my dream!" He chuckled. "Fully and completely unobtainable, but a fun dream."
 
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