Little's Academy

Giggles and tears

Alex kicked his feet, becoming restless as the seconds ticked by. He raised his sleeve to mouth again, looking for something to do to pass the time. He felt his caregiver rustle around before pulling the sleeve from the boy's mouth and replacing it with something rubber. The boy felt the object with his tongue slowly. It was a weird shape that he had never felt before. He took his hand and felt the outside. All he felt was a plastic thing over his mouth. He sucked on it slowly out of curiosity and as soon as he did, he realized what was happening. Golden boy had given him a pacifier. How dare he. How dare he! Alex quickly pulled it out of him mouth and attempted to throw it. He was however stopped by Samuel who simply took the pacifier and clipped it to the boy's sweater. He then placed the pacifier back in the boy's mouth and ruffled his hair. Alex sat there, now fuming. He looked up at Samuel with a pout. The man only chuckled lightly. 

"I told you if you kept putting your sleeve in your mouth, you'd get your paci instead." The man said simply, pressing the middle of the pacifier like a button.

"No!" The boy said around the pacifier. 

"No?" The man asked, amused. 

"No." Alex repeated, taking the pacifier out of his mouth. 

"Uhuh and why not?" Samuel asked, genuinely curious 

"Cause it's not mine." Alex corrected, attempting to wiggle off of his caregiver's lap, only to be brought closer. 

"If it's not yours, then who's is it?" The caregiver asked, curious to what answer the little would come up with. 

"Um.." He began, "Yours!" He went with, now giggling as he lifted the pacifier up to show the caregiver. 

Samuel laughed, genuinely amused by the little's rationalization. 

"What? Mine?" He asked, to which the little nodded, trying to put the pacifier in the caregiver's mouth. 

"Then why," He began, "Is it in your  mouth?" He continued, placing the pacifier back in the boy's mouth. 

The boy furrowed his brow, processing the statement made to him. His head felt fuzzy and warm. He hummed softly, rubbing his eyes. If he could only get the fuzzy feeling to go away-

"Hello, pairs and trios. I hope your day has gone by smoothly so far. By now I'm sure that all the little ones are all fussy and sleepy. Go ahead and use whichever nap time method you feel will work best for your little. If you need help, We have veteran caregivers near the front by my desk who will be observing and correcting. Good luck." The teacher said before stepping away behind her desk. 

As if. He would never need a mid afternoon nap. 

"Since you're so adamant about being a big boy, I'll let you choose how you go to sleep. Bottle, paci, teddy, crib, or mat. What combination of those do you like?" He asked, bouncing the boy on his lap lightly. 

"Noo.." Alex whined, rubbing his eyes. He didn't want to sleep. He wanted to go back to his dorm and- and sleep. Okay so maybe he did want to sleep- just not here like this. 

"C'mon, sweet thing. Let's take a little nap. It'll be real quick, I promise." The caregiver bargained. 

"No!" The little begged, burying his face in the caregiver's chest. 

"Baby, you have to take a nap. We have two more classes to go and you're gonna be tired." Samuel tried 

"No.." The boy mumbled as the tears began. He didn't understand what was going on. His head felt fuzzy and he wanted it to stop. He didn't know why he was crying. He just knew that now he was. Once the tears began, they didn't seem to want to stop. He just felt so tired and hungry. The pacifier fell out of his mouth as the sobs continued. He just felt so vulnerable and so very small. Samuel sighed, petting the boy's hair.