jumped on. "I bet I can swing higher than you." I teased.
"Nuh-uh!" She laughed as she pumped her legs harder and harder. We laughed and swung for awhile.
"Watch this!" I prepared myself and leapt from the moving swing, flying in the air and onto my feet. I spun around. "Ta Dah!" I put my hands in the air and she laughed loudly. "Don't you do that!" I laughed and pointed at her.
She slowed her swing and then hopped off, but her footing wasn't good and she slipped. I ran over. Her little body was now on its hands and knees against the ground.
"Are you okay?" Her eyes were wide and worried as she stood up. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry." She said.
"What for?"
"I'm gonna get us in trouble now." She put her head down and brushed furiously at her skirt.
"Huh? Wait…trouble for what?" I pulled her face to look at mine.
"Look" she motioned to the dirt mark on her skirt. "Daddy will be so mad I ruined my uniform." She started to sniff.
"None of that now," She looked at me curiously. "That," I pointed to her skirt, "is nothing. I'll have it washed before you get into bed tonight." I smiled at her as the corners of her mouth started to turn up.
"You will?" She blushed slightly.
"Yep," I grinned, "No one will know, but you and me." I put my hand over my heart. "Nanny swear!"
"What's a Nanny swear?" Her face scrunched up in confusion.
"A Nanny Swear means it's our secret." I winked at her and took her hand. "We do need to get back to the house though. I've got dinner to make and you have math to do." She groaned and I laughed. "I promise we will make math fun tonight." She nodded and we skipped back to the car together. A leaf had turned over for the both of us.
Once we were home and Victoria was changed, I threw her uniform in the washer and started dinner. Victoria sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen with her math paper while I cooked.
"Urghh! I can't get them!" She pouted and tossed her pencil down onto the counter top.
"Let me see." I slid the paper across the marble top so that it was in front of me. "Ah this is easy. I know what you need." I walked to the cupboard and pulled out a bag of M&M's, opened the bag and dumped them on the counter in front of Victoria. "Okay, so count out eight M&M's for me." She looked at me like was crazy. "Go on."
"One, two, three," her tiny fingers slid the multicolored circles into a pile of eight, "four, five, six, seven, and eight."
"Good. So, your math problem is eight minus three. So, take away three M&M's from the pile of eight." She raised her eyebrow at me and I laughed. I leaned forward on the counter and grouped her pile of eight in between us. "So we have eight M&M's here, right?" I looked up and she nodded. "Eight," I took three M&Ms, "minus three," I popped them in my mouth, "is what?"
She counted the remaining M&Ms.
"Five," She said with a giggle.
"Exactly! See you got it. Try another one." I pushed the paper back over to her and turned back to the stove.
"Nine minus five," I heard the crunch of the M&Ms in her mouth. "Is four!"
I laughed and nodded. Looking over my shoulder I saw her writing her answers down on her paper. Victoria finished her math practice and we sat down for dinner. Once we were done eating, she helped me clean up the dishes and I hung her uniform up to dry before heading up to her room.
"Well, its Friday night, so no school tomorrow." I sat down on her bed. "What do you want to do tonight?"
"Can we watch a movie?" She climbed up on the bed next to me.
"Sure. What do you want to watch?" I already knew the answer.
"The Little Mermaid!"
I laughed and stood up to put in the movie.
"Go get your pajamas on and I'll hurry and get mine before it starts. We'll race." I set up the DVD and tossed the remote on the bed before rushing to my room to change.
I threw my clothes into the hamper and slid on some yoga pants and a tank top. Then I hurried downstairs and popped some popcorn in the microwave. I tossed the bag after dumping out the super