Back in Black (and Gold)

**Sept. 1, 2015 Jass POV** *Starting at Watertown Lexus dealership*

“Mama.” I felt a small body run into my leg. I looked down into the big blue eyes of my son and smiled.

“Jaxson.” I said back at him, making the 20 month old grin. I picked him up and showed him the car I was looking at. “Look Jax, do you like this one? Mama likes this one.”

“Dis.” He said waving a hand towards the window. “Ki potty Papa.” Jaxson pointed and I knew what was going on. Nikki had taken Max to the bathroom. Boy was she ready.

“Jax, do you have to go potty?” He hid his face in my hair and I felt him nod his head. “Come on then. Let’s go.” I pushed the stroller over to the bathrooms and found Max and Nikki coming out.

“Oh _now_ he wants to go.” Max teased. I gave him an irritated look and left them with the stroller but I took Jax’s dinosaur backpack.

When we got inside and onto the potty I found out that we might have missed our chance. His cloth diaper was wet. We had switched to cloth after the two of them got severe rashes. It had helped Jax know when he had gone potty but he didn’t always tell us. Nikki got even more sensitive to being wet. He did surprise me and actually go to the bathroom on the toilet while I was holding him. “Good boy Jaxson. Thank you for telling me you needed to go potty.”

The shell he was in was dry so I snapped out the wet one and put in a dry one and then got it back on him. I then put the wet insert into the small wet bag that each child carried. It made washing easy.

We washed our hands and then left the bathroom. “Papa, I think we deserve a trip to the special place.” It was our code for toy store. “It’s time for those special supplies we’ve been needing.” Another code for potty training gear. Nikki was telling us all the time and Jax had begun to catch on, it was time.

Max grinned. “I’ll take these two out to find that special place if you’ll decide faster.” A completely unsubtle hint that he was also ready to go.

I shooed them out and went to find Robert, not that it was difficult. “I think I’ve made my choice but I don’t have time today to go through all the options and such. Do you have a brochure for the RX 450h?”

He walked me over to the brochure display stand. “We have the new ones for the 2016 RX as well as the current model, the 2016 should be here in November.” He handed me both brochures and added both for the NX as well. “I heard you talking to William about this one as well. Please, come back when you’re ready.”

I got out to Max’s car to see him buckling Jax in his seat and Nikki waving to me from hers. Getting in my own seat I fired up the GPS and looked for Toy R Us, the kids favorite shop. There was one not too far away. “Looks like we aren’t even 20 minutes from their favorite special place.” Max raised an eyebrow.

“So what are we looking for specifically?” He asked as he began following the directions. I glanced back and saw the kids weren’t paying attention to us at the moment.

I cataloged my thoughts and sighed. “I _might_ have been mistaken about how ready Jaxson was for training. He did actually go in there, even though he was still wet. I’ll look when we’re home for a place to get cloth trainers but we can get the other supplies where we’re going. Potty seats, maybe even something to attach to the toilet in their bathroom for when they’ve gotten the idea down. I’d call Kallie but I know they are driving back today and tomorrow.” I only had a vague clue at to what we would need.

“Google it. Between that and what these two are interested in I’m sure we can find what we need.” We drove for a mile or so before he spoke again. “Oh and do you know where our baby gates are? We might want to block the stairs so they don’t go tumbling down them.”

I thought about it. “I think they’re in the playroom right now. I know at least 1 is, I found it when I was looking for the crib boxes.” I was extra glad we had done our research and gotten retractable gates. They had stood up to both children leaning on them and not collapsed.

Max grinned. “We’ll make it work. We won’t hit the store until after we drop this load off at home. I’m sure there’s enough room for a few things back there.”

Oh the kids were overjoyed when we pulled into the Toys R Us lot. “Gaff! Gaff!” They chanted, it was as close to giraffe as they got right now. When we pulled into the parking spot they were trying to undo the 5 point harnesses that held them into the seats.

“Arret! Only maman et papa can undo those.” Max said sharply and sternly. Both of them stopped cold and looked at him with wide eyes. “You will ride in the stroller. If you are good we may pick out something for you in our new home.” They let us buckle them into the stroller and we went in. Max didn’t often raise his voice at them, we tried to reason with them as much as we could.

We headed for the potty supplies and Nikki started to clap. Once we were in front of them I spoke to them both. “Nikki wants to go potty like a big girl, Jax does sometimes too. This makes mama and papa happy. So we will find the perfect potties for you both and a stool so you can wash your hands after.”

Max coughed. “Maman, we need stools for their beds too.” I paused, he was right. I nodded, giving him his good idea.

“That’s true too. Now let’s find a good potty for Nikki.” She was a little shorter than Jax so if she fit it, he would too.

It took 20 minutes of her trying out various potties for her to find and fall in love with the Baby Bjorn Smart Potty. I then let Jax sit on it and even he smiled. “We Size!”

I laughed. They loved it when things were sized for them. “Yes Jax it’s we sized.” I looked at the color selection and sighed. The only color they wouldn’t argue over would be either the gray or the white and there wasn’t two of the white, gray it was. “Shall we find a matching stool for the sink?” I asked when I put the seats into the cart we had gotten.

“G’ay pwetty. mama.” Nikki said. Jax nodded with his whole torso.

“Yes it’s very pretty. Let’s find a gray stool so it matches.” That was easy to do. Then it was time to find a stool for their new beds. “Ok, time to look for a step stool so you can get into bed. Do you want the same color as your beds?” The twins looked at each other and then us and nodded hard. “Ok, let’s find a brown and white one.”

We had to get a little help to find the right stools, we needed two steps and two colors. Eventually we found the Guildcraft Expressions Step Stool, in both Espresso and White. “Thank you so much. New beds in the car and they’ll need these to get in them.”

Mary, the clerk helping us, just smiled. “I understand. Mine used this stool for the same thing. I will say if you aren’t putting it on carpet you might want some non-skid on the bottom and treads.”

Max grinned. “Another reason to break out the glow in the dark non skid tape.” I just shook my head. He had gotten some as a joke from one of his brothers and proceeded to set boundaries for the kids with it. When used with the retractable gates it gave us a little peace of mind.

Neither of them found a toy that the _had_ to have so we checked out and headed home. By the time we got home they were getting tired, having eaten lunch in the car. We moved the play yards into two other rooms and put them down for their naps. Then Max and I hauled up and put together two full size beds for our not quite 2 year old children. We also put together their step stools for their rooms, including the non skid tape on the bottoms of them.

By the time we got them all set up, I heard a noise from our room. “Nikki’s up.” I said. We finished moving their furniture into their rooms before going to get her. “Hey you, did you have a good rest?”

She smiled. “Potty mama?” That got us moving. We took one of them into the bathroom and showed her where it belonged. She pulled off her diaper and sat down. It was dry which was a sure sign that she was ready. When she was done she sighed heavily in relief. “A gon!”

“Ki potty. Me?” Jax said behind me. Max was there with his potty and got him set up. His diaper was wet but we still tried. I helped Nikki into her pants again and showed her where the potty went.

“When you’re done, we clean the potty like this. Then we wash our hands.” Max had the step stool open and had gotten the faucet extenders on. Nikki turned it on and then we soaped up her hands. We sang the ABCs as we did. Then we waited for Jax and papa to do the same. “Now, let’s go see what mama and papa did to your rooms.” We went across the hall to Nikki’s room.

The bed was in the corner furthest from the door against the window with the wide dresser next to it to block the window. We hadn’t gotten a chance to get the curtains and safety stuff up in the window yet. Along the wall that the door was on we put the shorter dresser and there was room for a bookcase as well. We put her step stool at the long end of her bed and her mattress in the corner. She climbed the stool and got onto her bed with a big grin on her face.

Jax went thumping into his room and then let out a loud squeal of happiness. “KI! SAME!” He shouted which got Nikki thumping into his room and letting out an equally happy squeal. They went back and forth playing in both rooms.

Max kissed my temple. “I’ll stay here and help them get their rooms filled with their stuff. You go to the store.” I nodded, went and grabbed our reusable bags and headed for Whole Foods.

I spent a couple hours getting things for the house. Setting up a new house was not easy to do, but I could do it. When I got home I found the family in the living room. “I’m home!” I hauled the three Large Utility Bags full in and then the 4 cooler totes I had filled. I got mobbed as I brought the last bags in, our market totes.

Max didn’t stop the kids, he instead started unloading things onto the counters. I opened the cabinets to find that they had lined the shelves with the contact paper we had. I checked the fridge and found the fridge liners had been placed as well. When I had been here a week ago, I had the entire house cleaned, but I hadn’t placed those yet. The dining room was stacked with all the kitchen gear boxes.

I left Max to unload the bags and let the kids drag me up to their rooms to see what they had done. Their clothes were put away, what few personal toys they never shared were in place and the beds were made. “Look at what big helpers you are. Do you like your new rooms?” I knew they had liked having their own spaces at the Montreal house and could bet that it was the same now.

“P’ay woom.” Nikki said as she tugged me into said room. I was amazed. There was the chair I had used in their nursery in this room. “Papa watch, we p’ay.” Ah, Max had put it there to watch them play in here.

A little while after Max came upstairs and leaned in the doorway. “They were a big help putting these rooms together. I found the gates and have figured out how we’re going to put them in place. I did come up with an extra one that I’m not sure where to put though.” The kids were being happy 20 month olds, rolling with our lifestyle much better than we expected.

I looked over. “We could always just hang onto it just in case. There’s going to be some arranging to be done over the next few weeks and who knows we might need to keep them out of a room for some reason.” He nodded tiredly.

“What are we going to do for another car for you? We can’t only have one anymore.” I knew that, it had been why I wanted to find one quickly.

“I know. I almost regret giving mine up now.” When he had gotten traded he came to Boston and we went to Philly after packing and renting the house. Matt and Ashley loved that they got it almost new and I loved that it was in good hands. That was another thing I was thinking about. “Hey, what do you think of selling the Denver place to Matt and Ash?”

“Wouldn’t bother me any. They love the place and it would get us off the tax rolls there. You could use the proceeds to get your car.” Practical Max, a side few people saw.

“I’ll get it done. We should eat.” I still had no desire to cook though, even with food in the house now. Fortunately Max had done more than just watch the kids, he had found some good places to eat for the next couple nights for us. Boy did it feel good to know that he could go to the informal practice the next day and not having a starving family when he got home.