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“Say chichi.”

“Mama.”

Nikolaus was incredibly difficult.

“Chi.”

“Ti.”

“Chichi.”

“Mama.”

I groaned in frustration and wiped my hand down my face. He was finding this hilarious.

“What am I doing?” I asked.

The knock on the baby’s door distracted me.

“Am I interrupting something?” Leslie asked and sat on the arm of the chair. “He won’t call you if you persist. It’s a gradual process.”

“He calls Bennett something other than mama.”

“Because of Lennon calls him that and Ben is his dad. You don’t have to compete with Ben. I think you should be proud to share that name with me while he’s small. He doesn’t know what it means. He’s a baby.”

Leslie ran his fingers through Nikolaus’ hair.

“He sees you a lot often than he sees Ben. When he was a newborn, you were always the one carrying him around and feeding him because I needed rest and babies learn from observation. He must have learnt the people who are always around should be called mama, so don’t force it, be proud. It’s not like I’d want to