Family-type rp, anyone?

[Kaidus]

Grace bends down and lifts up Maddie before thinking that Willow will want to hear, so she checks to see if she's still awake.

[justagirl4fun]

Willow lifts her head when she hears her bedroom door open. She's stopped crying by now, though her cheeks are still flushed and tear-stained.

[Kaidus]

"Would you like to hear the bedtime story?" Grace says holding out a hand hoping Willow will accept it.

[justagirl4fun]

Willow sat up slowly and nodded, accepting Grace's hand. She followed her back to the nursery.

[Kaidus]

Grace puts Lilian in her bed and sits in the rocking chair after moving it into the middle of the room so Willow can curl up into her lap; she then begins to read Goldilocks and the 3 bears.

[justagirl4fun]

Lilian pouts, wanting to sit with her mother. She gets out of bed and tries climbing up on Grace's lap, not caring that she's pushing Willow aside.

[Kaidus]

Grace gets a stern look at Lilian;

"Lilian, you've already had mommy time and now it's Will-Will's turn" she says equally stern before pointing to Lilian's bed with a snap.

[justagirl4fun]

"No, up!" Lilian demanded with a foot stomp, her lower lip trembling as she gave Grace the best sad puppy-dog eyes she could muster.

[Kaidus]

Grace sets Willow on the floor for only a moment;

"I'll be right after Lilian can come to an understanding" she tells Willow with a kiss to her forehead.

She then proceeds to lift Lilian up into her arms and carries her down to the basement which is reserved for punishment purely with spankings, but she stops in the kitchen along the way seeing Michael continuing to scrub the caked-on dishes.

[justagirl4fun]

Willow frowned. She wasn't thrilled with Lilian's constant demand to be at the center of attention, but she didn't like seeing her get punished either. Even at her young age she knew it took her little sister longer to grasp things than her typically-developing peers and tried to be patient with her.

[Kaidus]

Grace enters the basement and begins the punishment.

[justagirl4fun]

(yeah that would be best)

Willow sits patiently waiting for her mother and sister to return, hoping the punishment isn't too harsh, and almost feels guilty for agreeing to the story; had she declined, Lilian could have had Grace's lap to herself.

[Kaidus]

(I'm glad you said so)

Michael finishes the bathroom just as Grace comes back up to the 2nd floor with a crying Lilian in her arms even as Grace sternly points at the mess of books to pick up which he does;

"Let's try this again" Grace says as she retucks Lilian into her bed and gives her a pacifier before sitting back into the chair for Willow to come back up; "You okay Will?"

[justagirl4fun]

Willow nods and climbs back up on Grace's lap; she can't bear to see Lilian's tear-streaked cheeks so she directs her gaze at the floor. "Can we read Corduroy after this one?" she requests, referring to her favorite bedtime story about a little stuffed bear.

[Kaidus]

"Of course" Grace answers before beginning to read Lilian's favorite story first (your call) while Michael reshelves the books Lilian scattered.

[justagirl4fun]

"Mommy, why can't bubby stay for story time?" Willow asks; it never occurred to her that her older brother probably wasn't interested in the pre-school fare that amused her and Lilian.

[Kaidus]

"Because he's too old for story-time and took too long doing the kitchen" Grace answers.

[justagirl4fun]

"Oh." Willow paused to think for a minute. "Mommy, how come bubby has to do all the chores? I could have picked the books up, if you asked me to."

[Kaidus]

"There are some chores you can't handle and mommy has her hands full with your sisters and you" Grace answers; "Besides, bubby's older than all 3 of you combined, so he has more responsibilities than you."

[justagirl4fun]

"Oh. Okay." Willow leans back and snuggles into her mother so story time can continue.

[Kaidus]

Grace continues with the stories while (thought I might do this) Maddie makes like she's blowing a kiss to Willow; Michael finishes cleaning himself from his thoroughly used diaper and just goes straight to bed after tidying up from it.

[justagirl4fun]

Willow giggles and slips off her mother's lap to run over to the crib, giving her sister a kiss through the rails. "I wuv you Maddie Moo," she coos

[Kaidus]

Maddie temporarily removes her pacifier and kisses Willow back smiling; Grace allows Willow to return while not having broken from her reading.

[justagirl4fun]

By the end of the books Maddie and Lilian are asleep and Willow is yawning on Grace's lap.

[Kaidus]

Grace returns the storybook to the shelf where it was before carrying Willow to bed with a suspicion: she finds it best to put Willow into one of her old potty-training pull-ups since she most likely didn't go potty yet.