A Dangerous Enigma

41. The calm before the Storm

"Open up baby," I cooed, as I tried to get the last few spoonfuls of Luca's food in his mouth.

"Who loves carrot purée," I said in a silly voice, trying to get him to open his mouth.

"Luca loves carrot." I shook his favourite rattle around, in desperate hope, but nothing worked with this baby of mine.

I admit, carrot purée wasn't the tastiest thing but Luca was still getting used to solid food and I read that carrot was the best thing to start off with. Usually, he liked apple, but I needed to get him to eat something savoury and not just sweet all the time.

"Come on baby, open up for mama," I begged, as Luca still kept his mouth firmly shut.
I would've laughed at his face because it was covered in the food I was trying to get him to eat. Somehow, more of it was on him rather than in his stomach.

I heard the front door open and close shut and I knew that Leo was home. It didn't take him long to get to the kitchen and as soon as he did and appeared in the doorway, Luca began waving his arms in delight. He was happy that his daddy was home and I had to admit, so did I.

Leo made his way over to us, he leaned down and pecked me on the lips softly, and turned to Luca, giving him a bright smile.

"Hey little man," he greeted, caressing his chubby cheeks.

I couldn't help but stare in awe at my husband and baby's relationship; it was all that I could hope for and more.

"Er Leah, the idea is to get the food in his mouth, not on his face and bib," Leo chuckled, gesturing for me to get up.

"I know that he's just stubborn and doesn't like carrot," I sighed getting up. Leo sat down in my place and took the baby bowl of food from me.

"Let me try," he said and dipped the spoon in the bowl.

I watched as Luca opened his mouth as soon as the spoon was near his mouth. My own mouth flew open in shock.

"What the f-"

"Don't curse Leah!" Leo scolded with a smirk.

This was completely unfair, why was Luca allowing Leo to feed him, and not me?!

Before I could say anything else, Leo has fed Luca another spoonful, and all I could do was stare in shock.

"You can go and get ready, we have to be there at 7," Leo said, spooning more purée into our baby's mouth.

I just stared dumbfounded and nodded my head.

The family gathering evening had rolled around and to say I was dreading it was an understatement. I had a feeling that something bad would happen I just didn't know what. I didn't particularly want to go but I had no choice, and just hoped that I wouldn't have to attend anymore.

I sighed again heavily, as I watched Leo feed Luca. He wasn't so great at the night feeds and getting up whenever Luca screamed his head off; that was all down to me. But at least he was getting somewhere with feeding Luca solid food, I had to at least appreciate that.

"Do you want me to iron your suit?" I asked Leo, paying attention to his 'fatherly' skills, as he fed Luca.

"Does it need ironin- Luca look at me son, come on open wide!"

"I'll check, and hey shake the toy around and distract him, it sometimes works," I suggested. I could see that the problem wasn't just me, it was the fact that Luca found eating boring.

"It's amazing how he loses focus on eating at such a young age... or maybe the food you're giving him is boring," Leo said. He lifted a spoonful of the carrot purée and instead of feeding Luca,  Leo put the spoon in his mouth. I watched as he instantly pulled a face and swallowed with a grimace.