Days 21 & 22: Walking, Talking Children
Prudence was so busy that the days started blurring together. She was so exhausted that on the morning of her 21st day, she slept until 10:15, and let herself get way too hungry. She stuffed a piece of bread with jam in her face and immediately ran into the nursery to tend to the babies.
Prudence definitely liked Benedict’s toddler stage–while he still woke up at the slightest sound, overall he seemed to be a happier baby. She really hoped that he and Arthur would be close, but for now they were mostly dependent on her for social interaction.
In her garden, Prudence was pleased to see that one of her unknown plants grew to bear onions. Though she’d been hoping for something a bit more valuable, every crop helped.
After she completed her gardening chores, Prudence dashed back inside to work with Arthur on his walking–and she was thrilled when he finally got the hang of it. Now her big boy could walk to the potty!
Though she was exhausted, Prudence worked late into the night (or early into the morning…) with Arthur to get him to talk. He finally started stringing words together consistently around 2:30 A.M.. Soon after that, the boys were put in their cribs.
Her schedule was so thrown off that she was eating canned soup at 3 A.M.. Prudence laughed to herself about how strange her life was–here she was eating soup early in the morning, and it wasn’t because she’d been out bar-hopping or because she had just caught a cab from some hot guy’s house.
Even though she didn’t get to bed until late, Prudence was up at 9:51 to clean the shower. She was determined to keep her bathroom cleaner now that the boys were both toddlers and sleeping through the night.
Once Prudence confirmed that the boys were happily playing with their toys in the nursery, she sat down to write. Lately, she’d been able to catch half an hour here and there to write in between taking care of the boys–if she could just get a few longer stretches of writing, she knew she could finish the book.
In fact, Prudence was so caught up in writing her book that she missed the exact moment when Arthur grew into a child. When she did see him, she couldn’t believe how much he looked like Xander. Prudence realized that she had a part of Xander right in her home–she was just happy that it seemed to be the best part.
She nearly cried when Arthur decided he wanted to have his hair cut–he looked like such a big boy now, and she wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing. He’d wanted to look nice for his first day of school, which was the next day.
Next day –>
Hooray… Arthur has grown up! Keep him, Prudie, until some man comes along (some NICE man) to help you out! Arthur staying until she is ready to commit may be the best thing ever! Sh has given him so much love… He will give it right back to her, I am sure!
Go, Prudie!
Moondaisy: It certainly does help matters to have him as a child….he can clean things, get his own food, etc.. There is certainly a lot of love between them, and that helps as well.
I’m beginning to wonder if Prudence will ever finish that novel! The boys are rather cute, but it’s a wonder that Clarke hasn’t called back in a while.
Tipix7: It will take her a while–she didn’t have much time to develop the writing skill before I threw her into motherhood (plus I was working on her gardening at the same time). While it is certainly natural to wonder whether Clark has called back–you should also be wondering whether Prudence is taking his calls….
Oh, gosh, that novel is going to take forever! She’s writing a Romance novel, right? Those are the longest, if I remember correctly.
But Arthur is so cute. And she’ll have a bit more time on her hands now that he’s self-sufficient. Mostly, lol!
Does Clark know about Benedict? I can’t remember if she ever told him she was pregnant. Hmmm.
Carla: It’s a trashy novel–they take long enough (as you’ll find out, I’m really bad at this challenge).
Clark doesn’t know about Benedict…she didn’t even go to the hospital with him, so he didn’t have a chance to show up, etc..