Open Different Milestones

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Open after Rowan posts with Kahurangi

Angel didn't like to think about the passage of time much. As far as he was concerned, time had stopped sometime after he'd hit 25 and he'd just stopped paying attention. Unfortunately, having a one year old daughter had rather put a kibosh on that mindset as Angel couldn't look at her for longer than two minutes without becoming aware of how fast time was passing. And how quickly she was growing up already. Glancing tiredly over at Professor Josephs and her daughter, Angel figured at least he probably wasn't alone in the uncomfortable revelation, not being the only relatively new parent at the school right now.

He was watching idly as Amanita pulled herself to her feet, no longer interested with the stuffed puffskein she'd previously been squeezing ruthlessly. She'd gotten pretty good at taking a few wobbly steps now and Angel knew it was just a matter of time before he was going to start having stress dreams about all the stairs in the castle. "Ama, where you going," he murmured, not really intent on an answer as Amanita made a few steps vaguely in Hinemoa's direction before dropping back down with a string of satisfied vowel sounds. Angel wasn't sure if that had been what she'd been intending to do, but he was proud of her none-the-less.

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

It had surprised Kahurangi a little to learn she wasn't the only member of Hogwarts staff with a baby. She hadn't spent much time with Angel or Josephine previously, but it was some comfort not to be alone in her journey. Balancing work and parenting brought new challenges every day, and at least she wasn't the only one learning to navigate that balance. Plus, it was nice for Hinemoa to have someone her own age to play with. She watched with amusement as Hinemoa took a few tries to stand up, toddling the rest of the distance over to Amanita and plopping down next to her, waving a soft toy at the other girl with a loud string of babbling. Kahurangi wasn't ashamed to admit she had cried when Hinemoa's first word had been Māmā, but the majority of her speech was still just a jumble of disconnected sounds. She smiled slightly, glancing at Angel for a moment. "Both getting quite talkative, aren't they?" She commented, a little sadness creeping into her voice as she thought ahead. "I bet they'll be whispering to each other through their own sorting ceremony one day..." Though there was a decade ahead before Hinemoa would be beginning her studies, the last year had flown by impossibly fast, and Kahurangi knew the next ten wouldn't be all that much different.

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel groaned when Kahurangi mentioned Amanita being sorted, shaking his head. "I can't talk about that yet, I'll break out in hives or something at the thought," he said, making a point to shudder dramatically, mollified some when it made Ama giggle. "If only my students were that easy to impress huh, Ama," he said softly to her, wiggling his fingers in hello to her as she waggled a fat arm at him excitedly. That was another thing Angel didn't think he could handle; whenever Amanita got old enough to stop being so easily impressed with him. With his track record, that would happen sooner rather than later, he thought grimly. "It's bad enough she's working out the walking thing already, I swear she was just a little loaf of bread like two days ago," he commiserated, figuring surely if anyone else got it, it might be Kahurangi. He tucked his chin in his hand, watching as Ama clumsily grabbed for the toy Hinemoa had in her hands, ready with the stuffed puffskein in case he needed to break up a fight. He wasn't totally confident Ama had the concept of sharing down just yet. Or that Hinemoa would appreciate how quickly the toy was going to go in Ama's mouth.