Tommy's First Birthday

"You know Didi, I'm glad we decided to keep things small," Stu said with a smile as he watched the babies playing with Tommy's birthday presents. "This could have been a massive mess if we'd tried and go all out."

"I know, right?" she said, shaking her head. "I mean… a full puppet show? Maybe for Angelica's birthday party but that would be far too much for a bunch of babies."

"It's fine, we realized we were going overboard," Stu said, wrapping his arm around his wife and giving her a hug. "All that matters is Tommy is happy. He's never been into fancy toys and needed elaborate entertainment… I swear he's happy with a cardboard tube and his imagination."

"Yeah… just look at him," Didi said as Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil played around with Tommy's gifts, giggling happily.

"Hey bro," Drew said, walking over to Stu, munching on a piece of carrot cake. "You said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yeah. I was wondering if sometime you and Charlotte could sit down with me and talk about the new toy I made. It's a flying saucer that actually flies!"

"That… sounds amazing! I bet a ton of people would love to buy that!"

"I know, right?" Stu said with a grin. "I was working on something for Tommy's birthday and suddenly inspiration struck. It's too complex for him but for teenagers? It could be the next model airplane. But I want to make sure I market it right." He laughed. "Could you imagine if I thought that was a great idea for a BABY and didn't even consider anyone else using it?"

Drew laughed at that. "You might be crazy sometimes, Stu, but you aren't an idiot. And listen, I'll talk to Charlotte and we'll arrange for- uh oh." Drew nodded towards the playpen, which Tommy had managed to open. "Baby escape!" he teased, helping Stu and Didi round out the kids. "You know… this thing is low enough that we can get into just by walking over it. And we just put the babies down in it… why does it even have a latch?"

"Huh… good point," Stu said as he put Tommy back inside. "I'll glue it close tomorrow."

And so Tommy and his friends were stuck in the playpen for the rest of his birthday. But Angelica did try some of Spike's dogfood only to find it disgusting AND it didn't turn her into a dog. So she was rather annoyed at that but it isn't like that one moment would motivate her to spend the next 10 or so odd years tormenting Tommy and his friends…