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"This confusing." Ting sighed, staring at the pieces of white wood spread around in front of her. Eventually, all these peices would become the baby's crib. Well, if she ever managed to get it put together that is. Adani looked over from her spot on the newly built, alright, not really built, more.. Glued together, rocking chair, trying to think of how to help without standing up. After all, last time she tried to help Ting tried to pick her up to carry her back to the chair, apparently she should be keeping off her feet. "Maybe you should read the instructions?" She offered, thinking it would have been the first thing she should have done. Ting shook her head, "Bah, long an' boring." Adani pouted, "Well, maybe C goes with R, and I with B?" Sadly enough, the younger woman actually tried that before she realized it was a joke, a little action that cause Adani to break out into laughter. "Not funny!" Ting whined, though she was starting to crack up herself. "Seriously, why not try A to B?" Adani suggested, wondering why the girl hadn't thought of it before. She'd started to warm up to this one, not so much to her husband, he questioned things too much. But this girl, she saw the fun in everything she did, plain and simple. Ting nearly screamed her joy when the two pieces locked together easily, "It work!" Who'd have thought, it followed the alphabet. "Now, where C go?" Adani just shook her head.

"Mrrrrew." Ting looked up, confused by the noise. She looked over to her husband, reading silently, then toward Adani, who now lay dozing on the couch. How odd, they didn't seem to be making the noise, so where was it coming from? "Mreeeeww." There it was again! Rising to her feet, she scuttled over to the kitchen to try and find the source. She got down on her knees, shuffling around on the mahogany floor. Andreas looked up for a second, slightly confused by her actions, "Ting, honey, what in the seven hells are you doing?" She looked up with a little pout, "Tryin to fin' noise." There it was again! This time a bit louder, "Mrewwww!" There! There it is! She yanked the cupboard open, revealing a mottled brown kitten in place of the key Adani had been kepping there. Ting picked it up, staring at it with a bit of an evil smile, brought on by her instincts, "Well what we have here? I think to call you... Hateya!" By now Adani had awoken, and made her way into the door frame, "I'd hoped I would be gone by the time that one appeared, but I guess not, it's good to see you, Hateya is it?" The little kitten simply mewed.

"You will like this," Ting brooded, toting Isabella against her chest, "It too cold for outside swimmings, so we swim inside today!" Isa squeaked cheerfully through her scarf. The infant was bundled up as if she were in the arctic, though it was nearly 75 degrees and her mother was clad in her usual jeans and a belly shirt. She was barely visible through the layers of purple and pink fleece, further proving that Ting was overprotective. She even wore a little poofball hat with the strings tied carefully to her jacket. In Ting's mind though, you could never be too careful. They took the subway across town, Ting loved to sniff all of the people and Isa seemed to enjoy it too, then got off near the cathedral Andreas liked them to attend every other week at the least. Ting wasn't interested in salvation today though, instead, she turned her attention on the brightly colored building across the street, making her way down to the corner before crossing so she wouldn't get in trouble for jay-walking again.

The YMCA was the perfect place, they had a nice big pool, and plenty of other kids around for Isa to play with. Andreas stood outside with a duffel bag over his shoulder, leaning up against their car. He was still dressed in his suit, having come straight from work, but he didn't seem to mind the wait. Quite the opposite. He smiled when the two came into view, jogging up to them to give Ting a kiss on the cheek. She stopped him before he managed to open his mouth to ask what had held with a cheery, "We take shortcut!" Isa squeaked loudly at this and giggled a bit, remembering all of the lovely, and not so lovely, smells from the way over. After a few minutes of chatting and Andreas commenting on the way Isa was dressed, they all headed inside to change. Ting had gone shopping especially for the occasion and had gotten matching suits for Isa and herself. Her's was a simple lavendar one piece with white piping around the sides and a little white flower on the chest, while Isa's was identical, but for the addition of a short white ruffled skirt attatched to it. They moved a bit slowly, and found that Andreas was already waiting by the shallow end of the pool. He beamed when he saw them, speaking out his pride in a way that seemed to embarass Ting a bit, "Well, aren't my two girls just the loveliest girls in the world?" Isa cooed and waved her arms at him, eager to be let down to crawl and stumble toward him on her own. When she was finally let out of her mother's grasp, she tottled over to the side of the pool and gurgled for Andreas to pick her up. Not wanting to upset Ting, Andreas snagged a little floating turtle seat and placed Isabella carefully into it, then struck up a little game of peekaboo, dunking himself underwater and then springing back up. Isa squeaked and giggled with each burst, obviously amused by her father's antics.

A few minutes into this game, Ting lost interest. It didn't make much sense for her, because he was just coming out of the water and going back in, so she climbed out of the pool. This didn't interest her much either, so she ran down to the deep end, got yelled at by the lifegaurds, and did a swan dive off the high board. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't very aerodynamic, and so she landed with a splash and a smack. Andreas cringed, that had to hurt. It didn't seem to bother her much though, instead, she just broke the surface with a gasp and smiled through the curtain of dripping white hair that hid her face. Paddling, she came back to the shallow end, pushing her hair back in soaked strings when she got to water shallow enough to stand normally. Isabella clapped and cooed happily, kicking her feet in the water. She would have liked to be out of the turtle thing, but daddy seemed to want her to stay in it, and daddy knew what was best for her, so she just wiggled around in it, cheering her mother's silliness on. Stepping back into knee high water, Andreas smiled, "Bring her over here Ting." Careful not to knock the girl out of her safety turtle, Ting pushed her through the water until her little feet touched the bottom. When Isa realized this little wonder, she started moving herself around, pausing every few seconds to flash one of her parents an ecstatic grin.

Watching was making Andreas fidget. He wanted to take her out of the turtle and help her try to really swim. So, that's exactly what he did. Without saying anything to Ting, he'd catch hell for that later, he scooped Isa up and kissed her forehead. She gave an array of happy squeaks and squeals, grabbing for a hold on his dreadlocks. She wasn't very strong, but her tugging did hurt a bit, so he walked them out into water that was just shy of his hips and lowered her down into it, keeping a careful grip on her waist as she half dog paddled, half climbed his arm around. Ting started to protest, but instead she climbed out so she could watch and dry off. A few people made faces as she went by, and eventually she was stopped by one of the lifegaurds that had yelled at her earlier. "Um. Miss?" The teenager quirped, voice cracking a bit as he wrinkled his nose, "I think you and your family should leave." Ting blinked, not sure what the problem was, "Ah?" He swallowed hard, "Um.. You smell like wet dog."


Buckling Isa into her carseat, they wouldn't take the subway when they could use Andreas' car, Ting gave a little giggle. Unable to hold back any longer, Andreas burst out laughing as well, joined shortly by Isa, who didn't know what was funny, but liked to giggle. Andreas was the first to be able to compose himself and started the car, turning to smile at Ting and Isa, "Maybe we should wait for summer, outdoor pools have nice breezes." At this, they all had another good laugh and headed for home. It had been a good day, even if it had been cut a bit short.

Grasping her mother's hand, Isabella walked at a rather slow and clusmy pace, but she was walking, and that was enough to make Ting giddy. The Crested was insanely proud, swinging her other arm back and forth. She hadn't learned to walk until she was much older than Isa was, and this little one could already stand and almost walk, all on her own. "Maaa?" Isa cooed, pointing to a rack of little overalls. Ting looked confused, picking up a pair, "These for boys Isa!" The pup's ears drooped, they looked comfy! Putting them back and looking around, Ting grinned, "We find you a pair for girls Isa!" She scooped the girl up onto her hip and headed for the girl's department, keeping her eyes open for overalls. After browsing through nearly the entire section, and picking up a few pairs of little jeans, shirts, and a few dresses, they finally found overalls, and both let out a squeak at the same time. The first few pairs were nothing special, just plain denim, but the last pair was made of light, faded denim with rolled up cuffs and a purple bunny face on the chest. The buttons were round and metal, easy enough for Isa to do up by herself when wanted to dress herself. They were adorable, just like Isa. Giving the pup a kiss, Ting smiled and the two headed to the front of the store to pay for everything and call Andreas to tell him they would walk home.