Zelo nearly had a heart attack. As he placed Seunghong on his high chair and turned around to take the eggs out of the fridge, he heard a shriek and a crash. His heart was pounding when he whirled around. Instead of seeing blood and guts, like what he expected, he only saw a very happy baby looking down at a bowl that was still spinning.

            He breathed a deep sigh of relief. Zelo bent to pick up the bowl and set it away from the baby this time. “Shh, if your mommy heard and woke up, how can she get better?” But all Seunghong did was open his toothless mouth wider and gurgle with happiness.

            The young dad gently placed the eggs on the counter and the stove. He turned around once in a while as he cracked the eggs to make the omelet in order to check up on his baby. Once the omelet was finished, he drizzled ketchup across it and set it aside to wait for the oatmeal.

            He cut up fresh raspberries and sliced bananas and put them in a bowl to put on top of the oatmeal. Then Zelo peeled oranges and took a small slice. He turned to Seunghong and placed half of the orange on the baby’s lips. The pulp was mashed between his gums and the baby grinned.

            Zelo patted his head and placed the bib under his chin. He went to the cupboard and got out the baby food. Feeding Seunghong was always a struggle because if the boy wasn’t interested in eating, he would refuse to eat regardless of any methods that he tried.

            “Seunghong, how about daddy put on a show for you and then after you laugh, you eat, okay?”

            Zelo went to put the stove on a simmer and then grabbed an open ended box from his son’s playpen. He placed the box over his head and playfully staggered into the kitchen again. “Where did daddy go?” he sang out loud.

            From the top of the box, he saw Seunghong follow him around before turning his head rapidly this way and that as he tried to figure out whether the mysterious tall box was actually his father. Zelo danced around and popped his head out only to stick it back down when Seunghong looked his way.

            “Where’s daddy?” he kept singing and the infant squealed. Seunghong grabbed his spoon and began to hit the high chair table with it, banging it with delight as Zelo came closer. He stuck his head out and started making faces at his son, laughing as the baby laughed.

            He saw that the pot was beginning to boil over and quickly placed the box down to turn off the heat. Then, Zelo took the baby out of the chair and placed him in the cube. Seunghong sat on the floor and stared up at him as he zoomed a spoonful of food at him.

            “Wah! The food plane will have to make an emergency landing!” The baby opened his mouth obediently and Zelo plopped the food into his mouth. After the entire container was finished, Zelo went to finish breakfast.

            He piled the dishes onto a tray and balanced it carefully. Zelo opened the door to his room quietly and saw his wife still asleep. He placed the tray on the table and walked back out to where Seunghong was now attempting to crawl himself out form the box.

            Zelo pulled his baby out and bounced him up and down. “What are we going to do for the whole day? Mommy’s going to be sleeping the whole day, so we’ll think of something to do, have a boy’s day out.” He grunted as he sat down on the couch.

            He pulled some plushies out and set his son down on his lap. Zelo took each toy and began to tell a story with them, elaborating as he went on. The little boy’s eyelids began to droop and he placed his head against his dad’s chest. Zelo placed the toys down and began to walk up to the nursery.

            “Hmm, I must be boring if he’s going to fall asleep on me within a few minutes of the story.” Zelo laughed and brought his son to his room. He peeked in to see how his wife was doing before placing his son down but saw that she was sitting up, eating her breakfast.

            She saw him and waved him in. Zelo sat on the bed next to her and she took Seunghong from him. “How are you taking care of my baby?” she asked.

            “As well as I’ve been taking care of you,” he smiled.

            She stuck out her tongue at him and laid her head on his shoulder. “You’re so sweet. How’d you know I needed this night’s sleep?”

            He took the baby from her and fed her a bite of the omelet. “Because I’m perfect.”

happy birthday to polariskpop and the playfulstar

I'm sorry you had to wait so long and the story was so lacking. I just- really hit a dry spell