Cece Spills

Cece rose with the sun. She bounded into her parents’ bedroom and leaped up on the bed.

“Hi, Mommy!” she chirped.

Cece pulled back the covers. She was confused to find that the bed was empty. Dad was probably at work, but where was Mom?

“Mommy?” she called out.

Cece jumped off the mattress and landed with a thud on the floor. She ran down the hallway.

“Mom? MOOOOM!” she cried.

Cece kicked the bathroom door open and peeked inside.

“Mom?” she shouted again.

Her voice echoed in the empty room. Cece heard a door open behind her. She turned to see her mom leaving her baby brother’s room.

“Shhh. Don’t wake Isaac. Let’s go downstairs,” Mom whispered, pulling the door shut behind her.

Cece took the steps two at a time. When she reached the last one, she stomped down on the landing with all her might. The walls shook, and the windows rattled.

“Shhh! Your brother is teething and was up all night. I don’t want him to wake yet. We need to be quiet,” Mom scolded.

“Sorry,” Cece grumbled.

She followed Mom into the kitchen, and asked for some cereal. Mom set a bowl on the table, then shuffled over to the pantry to find something to fill it with.

Cece rushed to follow behind her, and knocked into Mom. 

“Sorry,” Cece whispered, when she saw Mom’s furrowed brow and frown.

Mom’s face softened at the apology.

“I can do it myself. I want to pour it,” Cece blurted out.

She reached for the cereal box at the same time as Mom, knocking it to the floor. Mom groaned as cereal spilled all over.

“Sorry!” Cece whispered again.

Mom closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Cece, I am tired today. I don’t have a lot of patience. I need you to slow down and think before you act,” Mom explained.

“I can help clean it up!” Cece offered.

She didn’t wait for Mom to reply. She grabbed at the broom that was hanging in the corner of the pantry. The broom’s handle was longer than she realized. Cece accidentally knocked several cans off the shelf as she dragged the broom over to the spill.

“Cece, go sit down at the table and don’t move. Don’t touch anything,” Mom instructed.

Cece did as she was told. She sat still, and silent. When Mom was done cleaning up the mess, she poured her some cereal. Cece knew better than to remind her that she wanted to do it herself.

“Mom, can you paint my nails today?” Cece wondered, as she chomped on her breakfast.

“Cece, I don’t know. Maybe after you finish eating,” Mom sighed.

“I want blue and red polish,” Cece continued to chatter.

Mom poured herself a cup of coffee, then sat down next to Cece. Baby Isaac started crying before she even had a chance to take one sip.

“You keep eating. I’ll be back down in a minute,” she said. 

Cece scooped up her cereal one piece at a time. She chewed each piece ten times before swallowing. When her bowl was finally empty, Mom still wasn’t back. She ran upstairs to find her. 

“Mom!” she shouted. 

She burst through her baby brother’s bedroom door. Isaac, who had been nearly asleep in Mom’s arms, started to wail.

“Mom, can you paint my nails yet?” Cece wanted to know.

“Cece, does it look like I can paint your nails right now?” Mom snapped.

“When do you think you can do it?” Cece asked.

“I. Don’t. Know. Go to your room and play. I will come and get you when it’s time,” Mom barked.

Cece trudged out the door, and accidentally slammed it closed. She covered her ears as Isaac cried harder. She ran to her room. 

Cece opened her closet door, and pulled a dress off of a hanger. She grabbed a pair of leggings out of her dresser. She changed out of her pajamas, ran a brush through her hair, then curled up on her bed with a book.

Cece scanned the pages for letters she could recognize. Next, she paged through, studying each illustration. It felt like a million years had passed, and Mom still hadn’t come to get her. 

Cece rolled to the edge of her bed, then dangled her body headfirst over the side. She put her hands down to catch herself as she slid slowly to the floor. After a second, she popped up.

Cece shuffled to the door and crept down the hallway. She frowned when she saw that Isaac‘s door was still closed. It wasn’t fair. Mom was always busy with that baby, and she always had to wait.

Cece was tired of waiting. If Mommy couldn’t help her, she would paint her own nails. She was four years old, and fully capable. She knew exactly where Mom kept the nail polish.

Cece opened the hall closet, and there it was. On the middle shelf, just out of reach, was a whole basket of polish. She tiptoe to the bathroom and picked up the stepstool. She carried it back to the open closet.

When Cece stepped up onto the stool, she was the perfect height to grab the basket. She brought it into her bedroom and closed the door. Cece sat on the bed and dug through the bin. She couldn’t believe all the color choices. 

She found red and blue, but there was also several shades of pink and purple. Cece found a couple bottles of yellow, orange, and green. There was even nail polish that shimmered, and some that had sparkles mixed in. Cece immediately knew that she would paint each of her finger AND toe nails a different color.

She selected a bottle of glittery red and painted her left thumb with it.  Next, she chose a dark blue for her left pointer finger. She picked pink for the left middle finger. When Cece stopped to admire her work, she accidentally dribbled some polish on her dress. 

She wasn’t worried. She reached for the box of tissues on her night stand and blotted at the stain. She crumpled the tissue and tossed it to the floor. Then she painted her left ring finger with an orange polish. This time, she was careful not to drip any on her clothes. Cece was having trouble deciding between green and purple for her left pinky.

She eventually settled on a shimmery pale purple color. She swiped it across the pinky, then held her hand up to admire her work. She felt fancy, and she couldn’t wait to show her Mom how beautiful her nails looked.

Cece blew on her painted fingers. When they seemed dry enough, she got started on her right hand. She wanted to paint that thumb silver, but it was more difficult to paint with her left hand. The polish dripped all over her thumb. Cece grabbed another tissue off of the night stand and wiped her nail clean. 

She tried again with the silver polish. This time, the paint stayed where it was supposed to. She opened a deep red color to paint on her second finger.

In Isaac’s room, Mom gave up on getting him back to sleep. She cradled the baby in her arms as she walked out of the nursery.  She gasped when she saw the step stool and the open hallway closet. She was afraid she knew exactly what was happening. 

“Cece? Cece, where are you?” Mom called.

When there was no answer, she became more upset.

“CECELIA JUNE! Where are you?” she shouted.

Inside her room, Cece froze. Mom whipped the door open, and Cece hunched over the basket of polish, trying to hide what she was doing. In the process, she knocked over the open bottle of red nail polish. It rolled off the bed, leaving behind a trail of color. When the bottle hit the carpet, the rest of the polish spilled  out.

“Cecelia, I am SO angry with you right now. I can’t even tell you how angry I am. I can’t say it. Go on. Get out of here, so I can clean up. And, you BETTER NOT make ANY more messes!” Mom growled.

Cece burst into tears. She turned and ran down the stairs. When she got to the living room, she hid behind the couch. She sobbed so hard that she fell asleep.

A short time later, she was woken by the sound of Mom’s voice.

“Cece? Cece, where are you? I’m so sorry that I yelled. Please come out from where you’re hiding so we can talk.”

Cece could hear the panic in Mom’s voice, but she wasn’t ready to talk yet. Remembering what had happened set off a fresh round of sobs. While trying to hold them back, Cece’s body did a sort of sniffle/snort/sob, giving her away. 

A moment later, Mom was peering over the back of the couch.

“I’m so sorry that I yelled at you like that. I should not have lost my patience. Grandma is coming to babysit Isaac so you and I can go to the playground. I know you haven’t gotten a lot of time with me since he was born, but today we’re going to change that,” she said.

Cece crawled out from behind the couch and climbed into her mom’s lap. All was forgiven from both sides. Mom wrapped her arms around Cece and hugged her until she was ready to be let go.