Bravado
Kris didn’t know what to expect the first time he was alone with Kaleb. Katy had said she had to get out of the house this second, and made an excuse for needing to pick up groceries for dinner that evening.
“Well, what am I supposed to do with him?” Kris asked, his eyes wide with alarm.
When Katy was home - heck, when anyone else was around - Kris felt confident to care for his baby. But alone, all that bluster faded away. Because, really, Kris didn’t have a clue about babies. He hadn’t even been two when Daniel was born. Who could remember back that far?
“You’ll be fine,” Katy reassured, grabbing her purse and keys. “I’ll be gone a half hour at most. Call your mom and dad if something comes up,” she encouraged, giving him a quick kiss, and heading out the door.
“Oh, right. And look incompetent?” he asked, glancing down at the tiny nine-month-old in his arms.
Even though Kaleb was growing, and was already a lot bigger than he had been three months earlier, Kris was sure he was still small for his age. Kaleb had been born really early, and according to both Kris’s and Katy’s mothers, Kaleb was still only about the size of a six-month-old.
So, it wasn’t just that Kris still felt like he knew nothing about babies. It was that now he was the sole caregiver for his tiny little son. He had respiratory issues, and his development was behind. What if something went wrong while Katy was gone?
Nervously, he set Kaleb down in the baby walker, where he was usually happy. Kaleb stared up at him, smiling a gummy smile.
“Ah-bah-bah!” Kaleb babbled, and then coughed.
“Okay, you’re not supposed to be sick…” Kris ventured, squatting down to be at eye-level with Kaleb. “So, lets not cough anymore, okay? Deal?”
Kaleb grasped Kris’s finger with both his hands and shoved it toward his mouth.
“No, no…” Kris reprimanded softly.
Kaleb’s brown eyes filled with tears, and Kris tried quickly to fix things.
“My hand’s probably really dirty…Here, play with this…” he said, setting a stacking toy with plastic rings on the tray.
Kaleb knocked the whole thing over. Then, he coughed again.
Kris didn’t think, he just grabbed the phone and dialed. Not his parents. Not Katy. Instead, he called Joan.
--
“Well, Kris Allen,” Joan greeted warmly. “How’s it going, Dad?”
“Dad’s a little stressed out,” he said, honestly, picking up Kaleb with his free arm, and trying to disentangle Kaleb’s hand from his necklace.
“Anything I can do?” Joan said, browsing the aisles of her local grocery store.
“He coughed.”
“He coughed,” she repeated, picking up a jar of pickles and adding them to the cart. “Okay…”
“Mmm-hmm,” Kris confirmed. “Twice. And Katy’s at the store. And I don’t want to call my parents and look like I don’t know what I’m doing. But I don’t know if it’s just a cough, or if he’s getting sick, or what.”
Joan smiled to herself. “It’s perfectly natural to be nervous the first time you’re on your own with him. What’s he doing now?” she asked. “Does he seem like he’s having any trouble breathing? Does it sound raspy? Anything like that?”
Kris put his ear to Kaleb’s mouth, and then to his chest and listened.
Kaleb giggled.
“No, nothing like that,” Kris reported. “Seems happy. But he coughed, I swear.”
“Kris…” Joan said patiently. “Babies cough. He’s probably just got to clear his throat. Now, what do you think I should bake for the church bake sale? I was thinking of something a little different. Like, a mocha cake. Or something with lemons.”
Kris studied Kaleb’s face, raising his eyebrows.
“Mmm-bah-bah,” Kaleb babbled, offering a toothless smile.
“Kaleb votes for mocha. More people will buy it. Hey, thanks, Joan. I’m glad you picked up.”
“Anytime, Kris. You give that baby a kiss for me, and tell him I’ll take his advice.”
He hung up and stared at his baby in the eyes. He took a deep breath, and then let it out, relaxing.
“Miss Joan is making mocha cake,” Kris told Kaleb brightly. “Because you told her to. You’re a pretty smart guy, you know that?”
Kaleb just grinned, and laid his head on Kris’s shoulder.