"He is an awesome friend to have," Staas agreed. He wondered if he should explain that the sleepovers only happened because of the blizzard, but he left it. Not out of any desire to confuse, but Emi hadn't really seemed to pick up on it, and calling attention to it now would just make it weirder.
Staas bent to set Alida down as Mr. Ira and Miss Emi shook hands, and as he stood straight, Theo latched himself onto Staas' leg, standing on his foot. He rested a hand on his son's head affectionately, and shook his head at the teacher. "Actually, we need to head over to the office. I want to fill out the papers to name Ira as emergency contact, and to authorize him to pick the kids up if need be."
He tried to bounce on his toes out of habit and nearly fell over, barely catching himself with his free foot and a hand on Ira's arm. He straightened up easily and quickly, out of years of practice, and smoothly kept on talking, as though nothing had happened. "I just wanted to come in here first, maybe introduce Ira to you guys so he doesn't get harangued for ID and all the first time he comes to get them." He said it with a smile, since he actually loved the security involved in picking a child up. But he did want to make it easier on his friend.
He reached down and swung Theo up, holding him horizontally across his arms, in the crook of his elbows. "You want to stay here and play, buddy, or come with us to do boring old paperwork?"
"I wanna play!" Theo exclaimed with a giggle or five. Especially as Staas raspberried his son's tummy. Staas set him down and he ran back over to his friends, to rejoin the game of rolling the ball.
"What about you, meisje? Stay and play, or come hang with us while we be all boring and adult-like?"
She took his hand and looked up at him seriously. "I'll come with you," she said, as though she was saving him from a terrible fate.
"You sure?"
She nodded and he laughed. "All right then. Is there someone in the office right now?" he asked Emi.