"Mama's Boy"

Chapter 2: First Bubble Bath

It has been two months since Big Mama adopted the bundle of joy she named Leonardo, and those two months have been the happiest she had ever been. If you asked her employees at the Grand Nexus Hotel, they would tell you that they get better pay, Big Mama is almost always gushing about her little one, and their working conditions have improved beyond the stellar ways they already had been.

That isn’t to say it’s been perfect. One employee tripped over Leonardo in the hallway and yelled at him to not get in the way. The poor infant was crying and a part of his shell was starting to bruise. That employee was never seen again, and nobody could say they weren’t surprised. If Big Mama hadn’t “sent her on vacation,” her fellow coworkers would have dealt with her.

Leonardo was the most precious little angel to grace the hotel in years and all the employees wished they could come across him in the halls. It’s become a little tradition for the staff to keep sugar free candies in their pockets if they did come across him.

Big Mama was thrilled that her staff loved her son just as much as she did. Three of her employees actually invited her to a little “Mommy & Me” group they hosted from time to time. Samantha, a fox yokai, had two twin boys, Jack and Danny, Abigail, a moth yokai, had a little wolf daughter named Suzie, and Caleb, a deer yokai, had a daughter named Shika. 

Big Mama gave these three a perpetual day off every two weeks to have the group meetings. She started having them in her personal office. It was more spacious than the staff rooms (which were fairly large to hold their families), baby proofed for Shika and Leonardo, and there was a designated nap corner filled with stuffed toys, blankets, and pillows for the children.

She might’ve gone overboard, but her new mother and single father companions assured her that, as a new mother, she was justified in going all out for her little blueberry muffin. She wasn’t one to show favoritism toward employees, but if three yokai under her employment had extra vacation days, then who’s to say that was her doing?

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“Mommy! I drew a picture!

“Mommy, Mommy look at my tower!”

Samantha laughed as her boys dragged her over to the little table with art supplies. Leonardo was with a plastic key ring in Big Mama’s lap and Shika was napping away in the sleepy corner. Abigail and Suzie went to the park in the Hidden City for the day, promising pictures for when they returned.

“Caleb, how do you get little Shika to sleep so easily? Leonardo is always such a fussy bus.”

“Believe me, Shika is far from a little angel when it’s nap time. I figured out, that if I give her warm formula after a bubble bath, she conks right out. Little trick I learned from my mother when she had to deal with my older sister.”

“How adorable.”

Leonardo threw the key ring and baby babbled about everything around him every animatedly. Caleb recorded the whole thing and sent the video to Big Mama’s new phone and the “Mommy Group Chat.” Big Mama bought a human cellular phone for the sole purpose of taking pictures of her darling boy.

“Hey Mama, Caleb. I gotta get going. Mattie is almost done with his shift and I promised him a movie night with the girls.”

Ah yes, Mattie. He was a fox yokai who worked as a room attendant in the afternoon and an occasional butler to Big Mama. He was Samantha’s husband of three years who brought his boys from a previous, toxic marriage. Samantha was actually four months pregnant with their third child; a little girl.

“Have a wonderful night dear, give Matthew Big Mama’s regards.”

“I will, you and little Leo have a good night.”

“Bye Mama!”

Jack and Danny both gave Big Mama a little hug and nuzzled Leo before running after their mother.

“Little scamps. I’m quite relieved that Leonardo will have such great friends when he is old enough to participate in their frivolous games.”

“Right? Jack, Danny, and Suzie are great kids and will be amazing older siblings to our little ones. I guess I should head out too. Bye Leon, don’t stay up too late now, ya hear?”

Caleb tapped Leonardo’s forehead lightly and tickled his tummy a bit before gathering her little girl and departing.

“I say it’s time for a bath, my scrumptious ragamuffin.”

Big Mama was eager to try out the bubble bath suggestion Caleb had given her. So off to the luxurious bathroom they went. Leonardo was stripped of his little koala themed onesie and plopped into a warm, magnolia scented bubble bath. Magic is a blessing when you need things done in a jiffy.

Leonardo was confused with the bubbles, but he quickly grew excited and started splashing about. Big mama was giggling with him as she gave him bubble beards and hats. There were many photos taken. Big Mama’s nice blouse was soaked within the first five minutes, but she couldn’t care less. After all, what was one blouse to the happiness of her precious little boy?

When Leonardo was ready to come out of the bath, Big Mama rubbed lotion on his little hands and feet before redressing him in a cute plaid pajama set. She gave him a warmed bottle of milk and sat in a rocking chair Caleb had built for her. He was out in a couple minutes.

The bottle was set aside as Big Mama carefully carried him to the crib in her office. It was next to the napping corner with a separate crib for Shika. Shika’s crib was white, light blue, and light pink while Leonardo’s was dark purple, lilac, and forest green. She was more than happy that her little lion was getting a peaceful rest. Typically once Leonardo was asleep, it took a near natural disaster to wake him up.

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