Crazy In Love (Anthony Rizzo)

Missing Tooth

Anthony

Spring training flies by in a blast and next thing I know I'm packing my things up more than ready to go home. It was a good training camp, we got to have karaoke days and play with bear cubs and had dance parties and so much more. Kris and I even got a Bryzzo commercial to play for games and on MLB network, it was really funny, even if Jess and Melissa thought otherwise.

But it was about time to head back to the farm and start this season knowing that it's going to be the best one of my life. We can find out the gender of the baby and embark on this wonderful journey we call life.

"I don't want to leave yet! I want to get tan" Mallory claims as she sits in my suitcase in protest.

"You're six, why are you worried about being tan" I ask.

"Because mommy is tan and you said she looks really good with a tan and I want to look good too" she explains.

"Baby, you look perfect just the way you are" I say as I cup her chin and she smiles big at me.

"Alright, then I don't need a tan. But I still want one" she claims.

"I'm sure your mom will love to hear that" I insist.

"She already said she can't take me tanning. That's why I'm asking you" she claims and I laugh at her.

"Oh, we're starting this already" I notice.

"She has to finish school and setting me up for school so she won't take me to the pool. But you can take me" she claims.

"Well in that case let me finish packing and we can go to the pool one last time" I promise her. We won't be swimming any time soon back in Chicago, not outside at least.

"Okay" she cheers as she climbs out of my suitcase. I set my swimwear to the side before packing the rest of my things away.

After I was done I change and get Mallory changed before taking her to the hotel pool. Usually there were some of the guys there with their families but everyone's probably still trying to get ready to leave or just staying in for the last day here.

I always loved swimming with Mal because the only time she will swim is if I'm with her. When we went to Hawaii and Florida and even here the only time she will actually get in the water was when I'm with her. She wouldn't even take swim lessons if I wasn't there with her so she was very dependent on me. But that's okay because I love swimming with her, I loved how tight she held me when we messed around. It made me feel secure, made me feel like I was more than a baseball player.

"Come on Mal! Jump" I encourage as I stand in the shallow end of the pool. She stands on the ledge as she looks at the water between her and my arms.

"I can't do it daddy" she claims but I shake my head.

"Hey now, look at me" I say softly and she looks from the water into my eyes. "I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you, okay?"

"Okay" she sighs.

She takes a deep breath before bending her little legs. She launches herself into the air and I easily catch her in my arms. Immediately she starts to giggle as she splashed around and it made me smile so big. 

"That was fun! Again again" she yells.

"See, it's not bad" I tease.

"I want to do it a hundred more times" she claims as my eyes grow big. She wasn't going to count but she probably could go a hundred more times and never slow down.

"Alrighty then. Up you go" I say as I put her back on the ledge. She turns to me with the biggest smile ever before winding up.

She jumps high in the air as her wet curls fly around her. Her arms reach out for me as I reach out for her. She lands safely in my arms and she starts to giggle again. Such a beautiful sound.

"Can we go get ice cream" she asks after about 20 jumps and I laugh

"We just got here! I thought you wanted a tan" I say.

"I did, and now I want ice cream" she claims.

"How about we go to the hotel real quick and get a few cones and eat them poolside" I suggest.

"Okay! But one more jump before then" she says holding up her little pointer finger.

"Just one" I smirk.

She jumps about five more times before we get out of the pool. I buy us each a ice cream cone and I'm finished with mine before she even gets to the cone. But I let her take her time and sing along to whatever songs they were playing at the pool.

"Uh oh" she announces rather loudly and I freeze. The last thing I needed was something wrong with her or for her to go number two in her bathing suit.

"What's wrong" I ask trying to keep my cool.

"My tooth came out" she claims as she points to the new empty space and I sigh. That's it?

"That's cool! Where is it" I ask.

"I swallowed it" she says and I stop. I feel my heart beat faster once I realized she really did swallow the tooth.

"I'm sorry... you what" I question.

"It came out when I bit into the cone, but I accidentally swallowed it" she explains and my eyes go big.

"Is that dangerous" I ask.

"I don't know. I'm more worried about how the tooth fairy is going to get it out" she claims and I laugh.

"I'm sure she'll figure it out. But let's get you back to your mom and see what she has to say" I insist.

"But I feel fine" she says.

"Yeah? Well I'm a little worried your mom is going to kill me" I laugh.

After getting her to stop protesting we go back to our room. She goes into the bathtub to get cleaned up and I find Melissa still working hard on her computer.

"Hey babe, I got a random question. Just off the top of my head" I start.

"Sure. What do you want to know" she asks and pause for a second.

"Let's say this dad gave his kid ice cream to get her out of the pool for a little while and she lost her tooth when she bit into the cone but accidentally swallowed the tooth. Should this dad be concerned? Is the mom going to murder the dad" I ask and she laughs.

"I'm assuming Mallory swallowed her tooth she's been messing with" Melissa asks and I sigh.

"Yeah, she did" I admit.

"She's going to be fine, in fact it happened to me when I was a kid. The tooth will dissolve in her stomach and I'll still leave a dollar under her pillow" she assures me.

"Oh thank god" I gasp.

"So how was the pool" she wonders as she closed her laptop.

"It was fun. She even got a little tan" I smile.

"Good for her" she laughs.