Camila grins, bouncing over to her mother with a toy apple. She hands it over, waiting for a reaction.
"Mmm!" Lauren smiles knowingly, pretending to eat the apple as she makes brief eye contact with her daughter.
"Yum!" Camila prompts, excitedly bouncing on her toes.
"Yum!" The raven haired girl copies, causing the toddler to clap her hands.
"Yay!"
Lauren chuckles as her daughter runs unsteadily towards her play kitchen for another piece of 'food' before coming back to her and repeating the whole thing again.
After a few minutes Camila tires of this and instead collects one of her books, opening it up as she straddles her mother's legs.
"Cow... moo." She says, looking up at the woman briefly.
"Moo." Lauren nods with a smile, gently combing her hands through the toddler's messy hair, watching as she turns the page.
"Sheep... bye."
"Baa." The green eyed girl corrects, waiting for the child to repeat it.
"Bye."
"Baa."
"Baa."
"Yay! You're so clever, baby." She coos, kissing the little one's nose.
"Yay!" Camila copies, nuzzling against her mother's shoulder for a moment.
"My sleepy baby." Lauren coos, rocking the girl in her arms. "Don't you wanna stay up and play with Mama a bit longer?" She asks rhetorically, knowing she won't get an answer; or to sleep tonight if the way Camila is already starting to snore on her shoulder is anything to go by.
The tiny brunette had woken up around 2am and for the third night in a row, that had been her up for the day. "Maybe Mama will nap with you for a while." She muses, pressing a kiss to the girl's forehead as her phone buzzes in her pocket.
She lets out a sigh at the sight of the message on her phone. "Guess not." Lauren mumbles, standing and adjusting the sleeping toddler in her arms. "Come on, baby girl. Time to go to the chemist."
————
"Camila, you've got to sit in your car seat, honey." Lauren breathes out in a stressed tone as her little one continues to cry and hit at her. She moves away for a moment to stop herself from being hit and the toddler takes this as permission to move away from her car seat, her little arms reaching for the raven haired girl.
"Come here, baby." She sighs, lifting the tiny girl into her arms and taking a couple of steps away from the car. "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped it's head!" She sings, tipping the little one upside down, causing her to giggle before pulling herself upright and waiting for the next line to be sung. "Mama called the-"
"Do'tor."
"And the doctor said, 'no more-"
"Mon-keys!"
"Jumping on the-"
"Bed." Camila finishes, bouncing herself in anticipation of the next verse. It doesn't come though because before she even has time to register that she was being put in her seat again, her Mama has already strapped her in and closed the car door.
"Sorry, baby. Mama wins today." Lauren comments apologetically as her daughter begins to wail and pull at the straps of her car seat. "We'll be home soon, sweetheart." She sighs, pulling out of the car park and turning up the radio in hopes it will distract the smaller girl.
It works about five minutes into the drive home but it feels like much longer has passed to Lauren. As she glances back in the rear view mirror, the first thing she notices is her baby's snotty face and she grimaces at the sight of it before noticing that the little one is completely zoned out, a common occurrence for Camila.
When they arrive at home, she lifts the toddler from her seat with no more than a kiss to the forehead and sets her down once she's sure the gates have been shut behind them. After grabbing the case of fibre supplement drinks from the floor of the car, she takes the smaller girl's hand, gently leading her inside and into the living room.
It takes about ten minutes for Camila to snap out of it and when she does, she takes Lauren's hand and pulls her through to the kitchen, attempting to climb up the cupboards when she gets there.
"It's alright, little love. Mama knows what you want." Lauren coos to the child when she begins to get frustrated. "We'll get your baba, nena, don't worry."
She moves quickly, pulling out one of fibre drinks from the fridge and pouring it into one of Camila's bottles. "There we go, baby. That's it."
As soon as the bottle is in her hands, Camila pulls it to her lips, drinking the milkshake-like liquid greedily. "Come see Mama, Camzi." Lauren murmurs, lifting the waiting toddler up into her arms and carrying her through to snuggle on the couch.
"All better, baby love." She smiles, grabbing the remote and flicking to a random kids channel as she holds her baby close and covers them with a blanket, hoping that just maybe, the little one will sleep tonight.
