Bonding Exercises
“Mama, when can I hold the baby?”
“In a minute, honey.” Natasha told her oldest. “She’d drinking her bottle right now.”
Alya heard her sister’s voice and immediately moved to sit up, whining when her mother didn’t allow the action.
“No, no.” The redhead shook her head. “You stay right there and finish your drink.”
“I done.” Alya grinned, pushing the bottle away. “No moloko. I get up now. Play wif Sissy.”
“You are not playing with Sissy until you finish this, Baby.” Natasha warned. “Wanda? Would you mind going outside to play? She’s getting distracted and I really don’t feel like fighting her on this right now.”
Wanda pouted at the thought of not being able to spend time with her baby sister, but she nodded all the same. “Okay.”
“I’m sorry, honey. I’m not trying to get rid of you. I just want her to drink this. She doesn’t eat enough as it is.”
That was true. Alya was a nightmare at dinnertime. When she didn’t like something, she made sure that everyone knew it.
Bucky and Natasha tried almost everything. They tried being tough and they tried giving her something they thought she might enjoy, but Alya just didn’t budge.
She even refused to eat ice cream.
The Red Room certainly did a number on her. Wanda was glad that Bucky and Natasha found her. When her parents first brought the baby home, Alya was practically skin and bones, not chubby like babies were supposed to be.
Wanda was terrified of even looking at her the wrong way because she thought the little one might break. But little by little, Alya started to gain weight as she was fed properly. She did still struggle, which was clear, but she wasn’t starving the way she was before.
Which was why it was so important for her to finish her milk.
So she didn't argue with her mother on this. She just nodded and skipped out to the yard to go play on the swings.
“I play!” Alya protested, trying to push herself up with a whine.
She didn't want to be left behind!
“Drink.” Natasha insisted.
She didn't ever want to see Alya in the condition she was in when they first laid eyes on her. She had never seen a baby so thin and it scared her to think that it could happen again if Alya didn't eat properly.
Bucky assured her that it wouldn't happen again because they wouldn't allow it, but the mama in her still worried.
“No!” The baby slapped at her mother’s chest in protest.
Why wasn't she letting her go?
Wanda was outside playing without her!
She had to go right now!
“Don’t hit.” Natasha narrowed her eyes, very lightly tapping the little one’s thigh. “That’s not nice.”
Alya’s eyes watered from the shock of the reprimand and her bottom lip quivered in response. It didn’t take but a few seconds for her to start crying fully.
Why did her mama just do that? She didn't understand and she didn't like the way she was looking at her either.
Her mama was supposed to smile at her all the time.
“Oh, stop it.” Natasha placed the bottle back in the baby’s mouth. As much as she hated to hear Alya cry, it was probably better this way. In order to soothe herself, Alya would accept the bottle and finish off the milk without the fuss. “You’re fine.”
Alya pushed the drink away to respond in complete gibberish before she resumed drinking, chugging hungrily.
“Uh huh, I know.” The Russian woman pretended as if she understood what Alya was babbling about. “I’m so mean for making sure that your tummy is full.”
Fat tears rolled down Alya’s face as she finished off the milk, looking directly into her mother’s eyes. She was not happy about this and she was going to make sure her mother knew it.
Without thinking twice, being that she had no impulse control, the little toddler threw her bottle across the room just in time for her father to walk through the front door.
“Alyona, get up and pick that up right now.” Natasha placed the toddler onto her feet. “We do not throw things. It isn’t nice.”
She thought she wouldn't see the 'terrible twos' for a while, but Alya was proving her wrong. It looked as if she was going to have to call Laura for advice on how to deal with these kinds of situations. Alya was stubborn, so she was going to need all the help she could get.
“Mean!” Alya stomped her little foot.
She wasn't really sure what she was upset about anymore, but she felt mad, so she was just going with it.
Throwing that bottle felt good. She wanted to do it again.
“Yes, it’s very mean.”
“You!”
“Alyona Cassidy?” Bucky’s stern voice cut through the air like a knife. “Are you giving your mama a hard time?”
Natasha knew that if Alya wasn't going to respond to her, then she was going to respond to her father. He had a certain way with the kids that made them a little more hesitant to ignore him.
“N-No!” Alya rubbed at her eyes with her fists, which told her parents that she was in desperate need of a nap.
She was so mad!
"Are you sure? Because I just saw you throw that bottle across the room. That’s a big no-no.” Bucky arched a brow.
Alya whined and bounced on the balls of her feet. “N-No!”
“Come over here and pick this up.” He pointed to the item that was right by his foot.
Alya sniffled and toddled over to him, bending down to pick up the bottle before holding it up to show him that she did it. She might've been upset, but that didn't mean she didn't want his approval.
“It’s perfectly fine for you to be upset.” He bent down so that he was at her level. “We do not throw things. It’s not nice and someone could get hurt. What do you say?”
“S-Sowwy, Daddy!” She hiccuped so adorably that Bucky almost melted right then and there.
She was so cute and part of him was glad that she was behaving this way. It meant that she wasn't delayed in her development and she wasn't terrified of them.
“Give me a kiss.” He accepted her sloppy little peck before he wiped her tears away. “Go give Mama one.”
“Mama, k-kiss.” Alya hiccuped as Bucky took the empty bottle from her so she could walk over to her mother.
Natasha scooped her up onto her lap and pressed a gentle kiss to her pudgy little cheek. “Thank you. What do you say to Mama?”
“S-Sowwy, Mama.” The brunette sniffled miserably.
“Say, ‘I won’t throw things’.”
“I-I not frow fings.”
“Good girl.” Natasha smiled. “I think it’s nap time for you.”
“N-Nap.” Alya shockingly agreed. “Go n-now.”
“Can I play with the baby now?” Wanda asked her mother later that day.
“No, Sweetheart.” Natasha shook her head. “She’s still taking her nap.”
“But you said I could.”
“I know, but today was a busy day. Why don’t you go play with Uncle Steve?”
“Everyday is a busy day.” Wanda stomped her foot, much like her sister had hours before.
She didn't understand. Natasha told her that she could play with her baby sister and now she couldn't.
“Don’t stomp your feet at me, little one.” Natasha was confused as to where this new attitude was coming from and she wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. “I’m sorry you’re so upset, but I’m sure you can find other things to do to occupy your time.”
“No!”
“Ssh.” The Russian, put a finger to her lips, still cradling Alya in her arms. It was the only she could get her to go to sleep. “Keep your voice down.”
“Mama!”
Why didn't her mother understand why she was so upset?
“What’s with all the yelling?” Bucky peeked his head through the doorway, having heard the commotion from down the hall.
Wanda didn’t answer him, she just whined and crossed her arms in protest.
“Whoa, okay.” The man was a little shocked by this new behavior his oldest was displaying.
Wanda was normally very docile and easy going, but every child had their bad days. He guessed that this was Wanda's.
At the noise, Alya stirred a little, prompting her mother to rock back and forth very gently in the chair she was occupying. Alya’s chubby little fists reached up to rub her eyes before her thumb found its way into her mouth.
“Wanda, go with your father.”
“No!”
Bucky and Natasha shared a look before he scooped the irritated child up and carried her out of the room, sitting down on the chair by the wall in the girl's own room, placing her to stand in front of him.
“Hmph.” Wanda grumbled as she was held in place.
She didn't feel like talking and she knew her father wasn't going to leave her alone until she told him what was wrong.
It just wasn't fair!
“What’s going on, kiddo?” Bucky asked gently, tucking some hair behind her ear.
“Nothing.” She grumbled.
“Now, I know that’s not true. If you don’t tell me, I can’t make it better.”
“Everybody gets to play with Alya except me!” Wanda stomped her foot once again, unable to keep it all inside. “It’s not fair! I wanna hold her, too! Nobody will let me! I’m not gonna hurt her!”
“Hey, we know you won’t hurt her, kiddo.” Bucky swiped away at some stray tears on Wanda’s face.
“Then how come no one will let me play with her?”
“We didn’t realize that we were taking time away from you playing with your sister, Doll. Things have just been really busy. Tell you what, when Alya wakes up from her nap, she’s going to be pretty hungry. Why don’t you feed her?”
He remembered when Wanda was afraid to interact with Alya and he guessed that everyone just assumed that she still wasn't that enthusiastic about that baby besides a few words in passing.
No one realized that she was this ready to bond with her.
“Really?” Wanda's face lit up.
“Sure, you might be the only she’ll cooperate for.”
“Yay! I get to feed the baby!”
"Ssh." Bucky chuckled. "Keep your voice down. You don't want to wake her up."
"Oh." Wanda smiled sheepishly before she lowered her voice to just above a whisper. "I get to feed the baby."
“Here comes the airplane!”
Alya squealed in delight as a spoonful of applesauce came her way. Her little feet kicked in excitement as it got closer and closer, finally entering her mouth.
“I wonder how it tastes….” Wanda mused.
Alya smiled and pushed the cup of applesauce towards her sister so that she could try some. “Have.”
Wanda hesitated before scooping some of the puree up on the spoon and placing it in her mouth. As soon as the taste hit her tongue, she grimaced. “Gross! How do you even eat this stuff?”
“Yummy!” Alya made grabby hands for it.
“Uh uh.” Wanda shook her head. “I’m making you a sandwich.”
“Mine!” Alya glared at her sister. Who did she think she was? “My appo!”
But Wanda waved her off and placed two slices of bread on the counter, plopping some cold cuts on each side before she slathered some mayonnaise on top. She didn’t bother cutting the crust off because she believed that throwing the crust out would be a waste of food, but she did cut it in half so they could share it.
“Here.” She said, plopping the sandwich down on the child's tray.
Alya looked at her applesauce and then looked at the sandwich. “Appo.”
This was clearly not what she wanted.
“No. That’s a sandwich.”
“Sammish.”
“Exactly.” Wanda nodded and took a bite of her own. “See? Yummy. Try yours now.”
Alya mimicked her big sister and took a decent sized bite of her sandwich, surprised to find that it didn’t melt in her mouth and she actually had to chew it. But it tasted so much better than applesauce. “Yummy.”
“See?” Wanda’s face lit up as she raced to the fridge, pulling out the pickle jar. She grabbed two before putting the jar back where she found it and gave one to Alya.
“Gween.” The baby wrinkled her nose.
She didn't care for anything that was green.
Green was yucky.
“That’s a pickle, Alya. You eat it with the sandwich.”
“What on earth are you two doing?” Natasha startled the both of them with her unknown presence.
She had been watching them for a few minutes and even took a short video to send to her husband. Their kids were just so cute, she could eat them up.
“Busted.” Wanda muttered.
“Bussed.” Alya repeated with a smile. “Mama, yook!” She held the sandwich out to the redhead.
“I see.” Natasha smirked at the guilty look on Wanda’s face.
“I eat!”
“I see that, baby. What is it?”
“Sammish! Yummy!” Alya took another bite.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Sissy’s so nice for making it for you. Can you say, ‘thank you’?” Natasha put Wanda out of her misery.
“Fank ‘oo.”
“You’re welcome. Try the pickle.”
“Here.” Natasha took the pickle from Alya to slice it in half, before cutting it up for her and placing that small amount on the tray of her high chair. “You don’t want to give her the whole thing. Pickles have a lot of salt and it’s too much for her body.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Next time, come and get me or any other adult and get us to cut it up for you. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“Okay.”
Now that the pickle was in slices, it seemed less intimidating to Alya and she was more willing to try it out. “Yummy.”
“That wasn’t as enthusiastic as the sandwich.” Natasha laughed at the look on the baby’s face. “Wanna try it again?”
Alya placed another slice in her mouth, this time, expecting the foreign taste. It still didn't taste very good, but it wasn't something she'd ask for.
“Okay, so not ‘icky’, but not ‘yummy’ either.”
“Iceem?” Alya blew a raspberry to get the taste out of her mouth.
“You and your ice cream.” Wanda giggled.
"Iceem, peas."
"Okay, okay." Natasha playfully shook her head. "I'll get you some ice cream."