You, Me, and Riley

chapter 29

Dana

"No Mommy." Riley said turning away from the spoon Hayden was holding up to her mouth. "No want." she said pushing it away.

"Come on baby." Hayden said with a frustrated sigh "You have to eat something." she said setting the spoon back into the bowl of food "You haven't eaten food all day."

"Mommy's ilk." she said reaching for Hayden letting out a frustrated whine when she couldn't get out of her booster seat.

"You can have as much milk as you want pumpkin, but first you need to eat some big girl food." Hayden said.

"why big food?" she asked with a wrinkled eyebrow "jus wan Mommy's ilk pease."

"She's making up for lost time." I said with a laugh pinching Riley's nose.

"You're not helping Dana." Hayden said rolling her eyes before turning back to Riley "Your little body needs big girl food to grow strong and healthy. I know you want Mommy's milk baby, and I want you to have it, but you have to eat some food first."

"Okay Mommy." Riley said with a sniffle "den I get Mommy's ilk." she said opening her mouth to the spoon Hayden was holding for her.

"Thank you baby." Hayden said picking up the spoon and quickly feeding her before she changed her mind. Riley had been clingy for the past 2 days and wouldn't let Hayden or I out of her sight for more than a few seconds. She didn't go down for a nap yesterday and I had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn't go down for one today.

"What do you want to do about dinner tonight?" I asked sitting down next to Hayden as she continued to spoon food into Riley's mouth.

"I have no idea." Hayden said glancing at me before she turned back to Riley with a smile "Jessica has missed playing with Riley but I doubt she is going to want to leave our side."

Now that Riley had regressed again we decided to take Mike and Sheri up on their offer to meet for dinner, but we weren't sure Riley was ready to go out.

"We can always call ahead and tell them what to expect." I said watching as Hayden finished up lunch and pulled Riley out of her seat "if we can get her down for a nap she might be a little less irritable."

"No nap Mama." Riley said looking at me as she grabbed Leo and cuddled her face into Hayden's neck.

"How about you, me, and Leo take a nap together." Hayden said sitting down on the couch and getting ready to nurse "I'm feeling awfully tired and I think it would be nice for the three of us to snuggle up together."

"No tank you Mommy." Riley said as she started to nurse. I watched as Hayden draped a blanket over Riley and closed her eyes as she gently patted her bottom.

"I think I'm gonna take a nap too." I said laying back on the recliner and closing my eyes. I watched as Riley fought sleep for the next ten minutes before slowly losing the fight. Hayden stayed on the couch for a few more minutes before carefully transferring Riley to the recliner.

"I'm gonna call Mike." I said as we walked into the kitchen "and let him know what's going on" I said grabbing my phone and waiting for him to answer.

"Hey Dana how's it going?" He said after the third ring. I could hear the kids playfully screaming in the background and smiled before I answered.

"Hey Mike." I said "It's been, interesting." I said with a sigh.

"What does that mean?" he asked "give me a second guys." he whispered as I heard a door shut and the noise around him quiet.

"Riley isn't taking the transition to being little as well as she took to it the first time." I said "She's very clingy and very emotional."

"That makes since." he said with a sigh "Jessica said she wasn't doing to hot during that month you guys were separated."

"She hasn't talked about it much." I said quietly  "We still want to come tonight but we just wanted to let you guys know that she might not be interested in playing." I said.

"Thanks for letting me know." Mike said "I'll let Jessica know, I know she was looking forward to playing with Riley but I think she's just happy that she's little again."

"Sounds good Mike." I said "We'll see you around 5." I said hanging up.

When 5 rolled around we drove up to Mike and Sheri's house and pulled a whimpering Riley out of the backseat.

"It's okay baby." I said bouncing her on my hip.

"Waned to sit wif you Mama." she said rubbing her eyes as she looked up at me with a frown.

"I know pumpkin, but you have to sit in your car seat." I said rubbing her back.

"Why." She said looking at me with a pout.

"Because we want you to be safe." I said as Hayden knocked on the door.

"Fine." she said with a huff clinging tightly to my neck as Andy flung open the door and yelled her name.

"Ri'ey's here!" Scott said running to the door and trying to pull on Riley's foot.

"Yes she is." Sheri said walking up behind them "But remember what we talked about? We need to give her some space today." she said gently pushing  them back into the house and mouthing a sorry in out direction.

"It's fine" Hayden said with a laugh "There excited to see there friend!" We walked into the house to see Jessica quietly sitting at the table waiting for us to walk in.

"Hi Riley." She whispered as I sat down next to her with Riley on my lap. I smiled as I watched Riley look at her with a small grin and wave in her direction. "We don't have to play if you don't want to, but if it's okay with you I want to sit here with you." she said. Riley slowly nodded and surprised everyone by handing Jessica Leo "Thank you Riley." she said.

"Jus fo tonigh." she said as she turned to the plate Hayden had set in front of her with a huff. "N-"

"You don't have an option Riley." Hayden said setting a plate in front of me before leaving to grab a plate for herself. "Big girl food or no Mommy's milk."

"Mommy's playing hard ball." I said kissing the top of her head turning Riley's scowl into a tiny smile.

After everybody finished dinner I watched as Hayden called Jessica over and whispered something in her ear I looked at Hayden with a raised eyebrow in question as Jessica disappeared down the hallway. She eventually ran back into the room with a tub full of block and dumped them out directly behind Riley and I and started stacking them without looking in our direction. I rolled my eyes at Hayden before she pointed at Riley who was watching Jessica with big curious eyes as she started fidgeting in my lap.

"Do you want to play blocks with Jessica." Hayden asked walking over to us and kneeling in front of Riley. "Mama and I will sit right here, you could reach up and touch us if you wanted to" She said. We smiled as she slowly climbed off my lap and sat next to Jessica and started to play with the blocks. She continued to look up at us through the rest of the night making sure we never left before we decided to head home.

"Bye Jessca." Riley softly said as we zipped up her coat and got ready to leave "Bye Any, Bye Scott." She said with a smile.

"Bye Riley." Jessica said handing her Leo with a smile "Thank you for letting me play with Leo." she said giving her a quick hug. Riley waved at Mike and Sheri with a yawn as Hayden picked her up and walked out the front door 

"Baby steps." Hayden said as she buckled an almost sleeping Riley into her carseat.

"Baby steps." I agreed with a small sigh looking back at a sleeping Riley.