Our Boys

The First Week

At eight, Simon would wake the little boy enough to take his meds, and then head out to his office in a newly built separate building to tend to the massive amounts of paperwork involved in running a children's camp.

JJ would wake sometime after 8:30, as would Tobi. JJ, usually still dressed in just his tracksuit bottoms, would fix the second round of breakfast for everyone else. Harry and Ethan, usually the last of the family to wake, would come bounding down the stairs, absolutely starved, around 9am, at which time JJ would go back upstairs, dress, and wake the soundly sleeping youngster. They had discovered that even after cutting back the pain meds, the child was not a morning person. He'd doze in JJ's arms, glaring blearily at anyone who tried to talk to him, until around 10am, when he'd finally fully wake up, and JJ would be able to get a piece of toast into him.

After 10 was when JJ's workday began. He would drop the boy and Molly off in Simon's office, where they'd converted a small corner of the office into a play area. Colouring books and crayons, children's books, and a few other toys were brought in to occupy the boy. He would play contentedly with his leg propped up on a pillow. Simon would work through paperwork and computer stuff, taking occasional breaks to see to the child's needs, and once he was done for the day, scoop up the small boy and carry him into the house.

Harry would usually be on the computer or X-Box, playing games. Tobi would switch between spending his days at his volunteer job at the local radio station, though both his fathers made him promise to take the occasional day off to rest and enjoy his summer holiday.

Around midday, Simon would start lunch, and Josh and Ethan would emerge from one of their many hideaways on the property that morning. They would help out by 'chatting' with their new brother while Simon made lunch. They had quickly learned they could capture the boy's attention by telling him about animals, especially horses. His whole attention would become fixed on either of the two, and he would hang on to the preteens every word. If Josh and Ethan were completely honest with themselves, they would admit they'd grown to enjoy being looked up to by someone.  Just before lunch, Josh would take the youngster to the downstairs bathroom next to the kitchen. The little boy would use the toilet, and then they would both wash their hands for lunch.

If it were just the five of them, they would eat at the island in the kitchen, the boys sitting on the four stools, while Simon leaned against the counter. Harry would help clean up, while Simon cleaned up the youngest boy.

In the afternoon, Josh and Ethan would practice their reading, Harry would play in his room, and Simon would spend time with the newest. The afternoons were quite flexible; the boys pretty much doing whatever they pleased. On the days he volunteered at the radio station, Tobi would return home around 4:30. JJ's arrival time varied depending on his schedule that day, how many people he was meeting or how many videos he wanted to film. Most days he was back within a couple hours and would be laying about the house or going to the supermarket to restock the vast amounts of food and other stuff the family went through weekly.

Around 5:30, Simon or JJ, depending on whose turn it was, would start preparations for dinner, whether it be home made, frozen, or an easy dinner of take-out. The boys would then look after the preschooler while Simon and JJ went to the den to watch the evening news.

At eight, the family would settle on a TV show everyone would enjoy, or a game they'd like to play, and relax together for several hours.

Around nine their new charge would begin fading and JJ would take him upstairs, brush his teeth, help him into some summer pyjamas, then rock him to sleep in the room's chair. The youngster would soon drop off, JJ would lay him in bed, and then return downstairs after turning on a new baby monitor, just in case.

Simon would accompany Harry up to bed around 10pm, and supervise the youngster in his nightly routine, then tuck the boy into bed. Josh and Ethan would go up on their own sometime before 11, and Tobi was allowed to stay up as late as he wanted since school hadn't started yet.

Simon and JJ would got to their room around 11, and settle in for the night.

The next day it would start all over again.

One afternoon, a week and a half after the family received their new addition, JJ and Simon decided it was time to make the busy journey into central London to go shopping for clothes and other things for the still nameless boy. Tobi was home for the day, and agreed to watch Josh and Ethan; Josh who hated the tight crowds of the large city, and Ethan who got claustrophobic in crowds especially when Josh wasn't near by, never liked to make unnecessary trips into London. Harry decided he wanted to go along to 'help' his first younger sibling pick out his new clothes.

JJ put the two youngest in the middle seats of their six-passenger, dark blue Toyota, while Simon started the car.

JJ jumped into the passenger side with a grin. "Let's head out, big man."

Simon slipped a Rugrats DVD into the built-in player, and released the handbrake. An amazingly uneventful – thanks to the DVD player – hour later, they were pulling into a parking spot at a large department store in the centre of London...