Baby Steps

2

Grace age update: 3 - 6 months

Carlisle's POV

Throughout the weeks, everyone grew more attached to little Grace. There were often arguments to whose turn it was to put her to sleep, who gets to feed her and who gets to be her personal pillow. However, they all seemed to leave the diaper changing to Esme and Rosalie, while Alice made it her life focus to dress her, which was her bonding time with little Grace.

In the beginning, everyone was hesitant to get too close to her. Rosalie, Esme, Renesmee and I were the only ones holding and taking care of her. Slowly but surely, after getting tired of missing out on the fun, Bella also joined in. Being a young vampire in age and experience, she had to concentrate on controlling her strength to prevent herself from crushing the tiny person. As soon as she got a hang of it, she instantly became more involved in feeding, bathing, dressing and putting Grace to sleep. I would often pass the family room on my way to my office and catch a glimpse of her snuggling with little Grace while watching Disney movies for the fun of it.

Alice seemed to felt being left out as well and started observing from a distance every time Rosalie dressed Grace. She'd give her advice on what outfits to choose and what not. Eventually, Rosalie grew tired of Alice's constant nosing and butting in that she insisted she dresses Grace herself. Alice had no idea how to dress fragile human babies and asked Esme for help. Let's just say Grace would easily win the award for the most stylish dressed baby in history.

Edward was the first of my sons to get involved since he had the most experience with children of the three of them. He'd join Bella on the couch and ask to hold little Grace, then she would happily oblige and I would have the pleasure of watching his facial features soften and his muscles relax. In those few minutes, Edward was in his most vulnerable state, completely in his own little world.

That only left us with Emmett and Jasper.

Emmett always seemed to mysteriously disappear when we needed someone to watch Grace during hunting times. It bothered Rosalie more than the rest of the family. She wanted nothing more in the world for him to get the 'fatherly feeling' like she had the motherly feeling. However, we all had a plan to get Emmett more involved.

All at once, we went out to hunt, leaving him and Rose alone at home. She faked her thirst and handed little Grace to Emmett before speeding off. She joined the rest of us in the trees where were kept an eye on Emmett to see what he would do. He only stood there holding Grace awkwardly in the air, too afraid to move in case he might hurt her. She made a few soft baby noises, almost like cooing, and flashed him that toothless smile. Emmett immediately smiled back and held her closer.

"You're actually cute, you know that?" he spoke to her, "Just think, all the things I could teach you. Maybe I could even get you one of those mini cars that work with batteries and install some sick speakers in it. Yeah? You like that? Me too."

We spent almost an hour watching Emmett playing with Grace. He would cover his eyes with his hands, pretending he's gone, then reveals himself and yelling "peekaboo", causing Grace to erupt into giggles. When he grew bored of that game he entertained her by pulling funny faces and eventually started tickling her feet. We returned just in time to save little Grace from laughing herself to death. Rosalie was beyond happy and wasn't afraid to show it to Emmett in their room that night. Since that night Emmett was constantly seen holding little Grace and 'chilling' with her.

All who was left was Jasper, although none of us pushed him to do something he wasn't comfortable with. He seemed alright with it though, not complaining at all when no one asked him if he wanted to hold Grace or not. It didn't even cross one of our minds to get him involved - unless he asked himself.