Learning to Fall

“Logan, give it to daddy,” I begged my two year old, who cheekily held the scissors in his tiny hands.

He shook his head ‘no’, shooting me a cute grin which would have been much cuter had he not had an instrument of death in his hands.

“Logan, give me the scissors now,” I told him, putting on my best stern voice, placing one hand on my hip and the other stretched out for my son to hand me the scissors.

“Mine!” He said defiantly.

“No, they’re not yours. They’re daddy’s, hand them over.” I was becoming increasingly frustrated with my small son, who was a complete angel when he wanted to be and other time’s he was a little terror.

“Daddy?” A small voice came from behind me. I turned around to see my four year old daughter, sucking on her thumb and standing there in her pink Barbie pajama’s.

“What is it, sweetie?” I asked her gently, knowing she was nervous about school.
Her face crumpled, causing my chest to tighten knowing the inevitable was about to happen.

“I don’t want to go to school,” she wailed, her lower lip jutting out. I turned back to Logan, snatching the scissors quickly out of his hands and walking over to my daughter.

“Dada!” Logan shrieked behind me, protesting me taking “his” scissors away. He of course started crying loudly, hitting his little fists on the beige carpet below him. I ignored Logan and crouched down in front of my daughter.

“Ella, sweetie you have to go to school,” I told her as gently as I could, whilst trying to be heard over my sons screams.

She shook her head, evidently not agreeing with my statement. “No, I don’t like it there,” she explained, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

I sighed. “Why don’t you like it there?”

“Want to stay home with daddy.” I sighed and ran my fingers through her messy blonde hair.

“Daddy has work, you know that sweetie- Logan be quiet- and you have to go to school,” I said to her, my patience slowly running out.

“No, don’t wanna,” she complained, her face falling into a frown as she crossed her arms and glared at me. I swear sometimes kids could make you feel like the worst person on earth.

“Well, you have to,” I told her plainly and stood up, putting the scissors in a drawer where Logan couldn’t get to them.

“I hate you daddy!” Ella snapped and started crying loudly, throwing her little body to the floor. Her cries where instantly joined by that of Logan’s, who had quieted down upon my request but was now more then willing to make himself heard once more.

I looked up at the stairs as I heard footsteps descending them and watched as my wife appeared at the bottom of the sweeping staircase in her Armani business suit and expensive black heels.

“Why are the children crying, Gerard?” She asked in a bored voice, not looking all too concerned that her two kids were both screaming. I stared at her exasperatedly and rolled my eyes, not expecting her at all to try and help me calm them down.

“Logan wants to play with scissors and Ella doesn’t want to go to school,” I informed her, taking a glance at the two screaming kids on the floor.

My wife, Miranda, crossed the room, an expensive black briefcase dangling from her perfectly manicured hand.

“Ella, you have to go to school. Every other child has to go to school, I don’t see any reason as to why you would be exempt.” She turned to Logan, who was staring at her through wide eyes. “Logan, scissors are not for small boys.”

I gaped at her, hoping she didn’t seriously believe this was going to fix the situation. “Oh wow, that’s going to make the kids feel so much better. Thanks for all your help darling,” I said sarcastically.

She turned her icy glare towards me and pursued her perfectly made up lips. “I do not appreciate your sarcasm Gerard. Fix it yourself.” With a final glance and sigh towards the kids, she marched towards the door, pulling it open and giving a huge fake smile to our next door neighbor as she closed it behind her.

I looked back at my two kids, rubbing my eyes as I decided what course of action to take. I decided to tackle Ella first, hoping if she was calm that Logan would calm down to.

“Ella,” I started softly, making my way over to crouch down in front of her once more. “Sweetie, I know it seems scary but you’re a big girl now and big girls need to go to school. How about if you go today, daddy will get you a special treat for after school? Like...we could get McDonalds.”

Ella deliberated it as I silently prayed my pathetic bribe worked. She finally nodded her head as I breathed a sigh of relief.

“There’s my brave girl,” I said, giving her a kiss on the head. “Now how about you go and find something pretty to wear?”

Ella nodded again and stood up, bouncing up the stairs with thoughts of McDonalds in her head. I turned to Logan, who was sulking on the floor and not making eye contact.

“Logan?” He purposely didn’t respond to his name being called, his little face pulled into a small frown.

“Look at me Logan,” I requested. He reluctantly pulled his head up and looked at me. I held out my arms for him to come to me, to which he stood up and toddled over, falling into my chest as I wrapped my arms around him.

“My little Wolverine, daddy’s sorry but scissors aren’t to be played with. Daddy doesn’t want you to hurt yourself, does he?” Logan shook his head in my chest. I hauled him up and sat him on my knee, planting a kiss on his head.

“Look daddy,” came a voice from the stairs. Ella was standing there in a cute white dress, with little pink hearts over it.

“Don’t you look pretty!” I exclaimed. “Doesn’t Ella look pretty Logan!?”

Logan let out a giggle and shook his head.

“Can you tie a ribbon in my hair?” Ella asked me.

“Of course I can, sweetie.” I placed Logan on his feet as Ella came over to me, a pink ribbon in her hand. I lifted her hair up and placed the ribbon under it, tying a pretty bow up the top and then turning it around so it couldn’t be seen.

“There you go, princess,” I said to her, placing a quick kiss on top of her blonde little head.

“Me?” Logan said, pointing up at Ella. I looked at him confused, glancing at my daughter to see if she knew what he meant, who simply shrugged at me.

“You?” I questioned, hoping he would elaborate.

“Me,” Logan repeated, pointing to his head and to Ella once more.

Ella giggled. “I think he wants a ribbon, daddy,” she explained.

“Oh! You want a ribbon in your hair?” I asked him, to which he smiled brightly and nodded. “Uh...”

“I’ll go get you one Logan!” Ella said, bouncing her way back up the stairs, only to quickly return with a red ribbon which she handed to me.

I looked at the ribbon in my hand for a moment before calling my son over and getting him to stand in front of me. I quickly tied the ribbon around his head, smirking to myself as I realized that I now had perfect material to embarrass him on his 21st.

“Logan, you look like a girl,” Ella giggled at him, to which he just smiled toothily.

“Awe, my two pretty girls,” I said, wrapping an arm around each child and dragging them to my body, both giggling like crazy.

“Ready to go?” I asked, regretting my words the second I saw Ella’s face fall. She shook her head.

“I’m sorry sweetie but you have to go. Just think, you only have to get through a few hours and then we can go get McDonalds!”

She frowned at me, but went to the kitchen to get her school bag none the less.

I stood up, pulling Logan up with me so he was resting on my hip.

“Ready for daycare Wolverine?” I asked him. He smiled and poked me in the nose, which I took to mean as yes.

“You’re not going to be this much trouble when your older, are you?” The toddler simply stared up at me through his big hazel eyes, trying to grasp what I was talking about. “No, of course your not,” I answered my own question.

“Do I have to go?” Ella asked one more time, hoping I had somehow changed my mind in the last two minutes.

“Um…” I put a finger to my cheek, as if I was pretending to think about it. I didn’t miss Ella’s hopeful face either. “Yes.”

Her face instantly fell, forming into a little frown as she folded her pale arms and glared at me, reminding me scarily of her mother.

“Car, now Ella,” I instructed her and turned to look at my son, who was still perched on my hip and watching everything unfold. “You want to wear that ribbon to daycare?”

He nodded eagerly, a large smile making its way on his face to reveal all his newly grown teeth. I considered it for a moment before deciding that I honestly didn’t care if my son wanted to wear a ribbon out in public.

“Don’t you make a pretty little girl,” I cooed at him, putting on my ‘baby’ voice which made him giggle and playfully smack me in the chest.

“Logan girl,” he agreed. I gave him a quick kiss on the head and followed Ella out the door, being careful to lock the wooden door of my large palatial home on the way out.

Ella was silently sulking against my car, her Barbie backpack dropped on the concrete drive below. I handed my keys to Logan, who quickly managed to unlock it after only pressing the wrong button twice.

“In the car Ella,” I growled, when I realized she planned on standing there until I forced her into the black vehicle.

She let out a loud sigh, stamped her foot and reluctantly stomped over to the front seat, dragging her backpack on the ground behind her.

I quickly buckled my son into his car seat, with only one attempt from him to sit in a normal seat, and then jumped into the drivers side.
“Ready to go sweetheart?” I asked my grumpy daughter, knowing full well her answer would not be pleasant. She grumbled in response, keeping the frown in its permanent position on her forehead. I sighed and turned the car on, allowing it to purr to life.

I would be so relieved when I finally dropped them off to school.