Baby Steps

Collette Maisey Martin

Eleven Years Later

"When will Charlie, Estelle, and Phillip get home, Mommy?" Alexandria asked me as we sat at the dining room table, coloring.  She set her crayon down to tuck an astray lock of her dirty blonde hair behind her ear.

"Charlotte and Estelle should be home soon, Honey.  But Phillip's has his friend's birthday, remember?" I assured her.  She groaned, dropping her crayon on the table, dramatically, and slumping back.  The chair seemed so large with her four year old frame being the only thing to compare it to.

"I'm so bored," she complained.  Her brown eyes met mine as she waited for me to comment.

"What are you talking about?  We just sat down at the table," I said, smiling at her in amusement.

"Time moves slow when you're old," she responded without missing a beat.  I frowned

"Alexandria, that's not polite," I scolded, calmly. "Calling people old isn't nice."

"I'm sorry..." she said, embarrassed, as she looked down at the crayon she was fidgeting with.

"I accept your apology.  Now, if you're that bored we can go outside," I told her.  She nodded and hopped off the chair. "Don't worry, I'll clean up your crayons."

"Thanks, Mommy!" she shouted, running down the hall to her room.  I shook my head as I put all of the crayons back into the box and put everything back onto the shelf.

Alexandria ran to the door, her arms wrapped around her pink snow pants with designs on them and her matching coat.

"Can you get my gloves, please?" Alexandria asked, smiling at me.  I stepped into the closet to grab her gloves from the basket.

Once she'd gotten her snow pants, coat, and boots on, I assisted her in putting her gloves on, and she rushed to the door, grabbing the door handle.

"Not so fast," I said, putting her hat on her head.  Unaffected, she kept struggling to open the door with her gloves on.

I pulled my coat on and slipped my feet into boots before putting on a hat and a pair of gloves.  Once I was all ready, I gently pulled Alexandria away from the door, and I opened the door.

Alexandria easily got through the screen door, moving on from the fact that her glove slightly stuck to the door handle flawlessly.

"Stay away from the road!" I called after her as she took off into the snow.

"I will!" she replied, almost like she was exhausted with me for even suggesting she wouldn't.

I shook my head at the sassy four year old as I turned back to shut the inside door before letting the screen door slam shut on its own.  My attention turned back to Alexandria as she took the snow in her hands and played around in it.

A few minutes passed, and the school bus came to a stop in front of the house.  Charlotte and Estelle came walking around the bus, checking both ways before walking all the way up to where I was standing.

"'Hey, Girls, how was school?" I asked.  Estelle gave me a look.

Although Estelle had inherited my blue eyes, she'd gotten David's dirty blond hair color.  And I know that interests and skills aren't necessarily hereditary, I'd say she got most of that sort of thing from David.  She was the type of girl that I would've considered popular at school, but she was the popular girl that you didn't have a problem with besides the fact that they hung out with the people who were mean.

I only knew this from her birthday parties.  Her friends were the children of those parents.  The ones that spent more time signing their child up for things than they actually spent with their child.  Of course, that didn't include any of Katherine's or Clara's kids.  There was nothing wrong with her being popular(as long as she didn't bully anyone and she stood up for those that were bullied), but I just never expected her to hang out with that crowd considering how she acted at home.