A Second Chance

Part 3

Becoming a Baby

I didn’t wake up so startled the next morning. I think I was already starting to get used to my new home, which was strange because it normally took me weeks to get used to waking up in a new foster home. I had slept really well the previous night even though I had slept most of the preceding day. I found myself covered in a warm, fleece blanket and a flannel sheet. I felt very cozy. When I opened my eyes I immediately noticed that the mesh cover that had been over my crib yesterday wasn’t there this morning. That was nice, I suppose. I decided to sit up, but it took me a while to do it because it was hard to sit up with both of my arms in casts. When I was finally sitting I pulled my legs up and sat Indian-style and looked out into the nursery. I didn’t know what time it was, but I could tell from the light coming in through the windows that it was already light outside.

I looked across the room and could hear deep breathing coming from the other crib, so I assumed that Billy was still asleep. I knew I couldn’t get out of the crib by myself—actually I wasn’t sure I was physically able to even if I was allowed to—so I decided to just sit there for a while.

It wasn’t until then that I noticed that my diapers were wet, but it didn’t especially surprise nor upset me. I had finally accepted the realization that I wasn’t going to be punished here for wetting the bed. In fact, since I was now a baby, I didn’t have any choice but to go in my diapers at night whether or not I was awake.

It was then that I realized that I actually needed to pee. I hadn’t consciously peed all day yesterday, and I was surprised that I needed to go now considering I had already had an accident in my sleep. Still, I needed to go, so I decided to just let it out. I sat there in the crib and tried to relax and get my pee flowing, but my bladder wouldn’t cooperate. I then tried pushing my urine out, but nothing came no matter how much I pushed. I decided that I couldn’t go sitting down like I was, so I decided to lay back. I reclined back, propping myself up on my elbows, and I lifted my knees and spread my legs apart a little. I tried to relax again. I finally gave a little push, and I was able to get a slow trickle of pee going. I felt the warm pee flow down my crotch, between my legs, and onto my butt before it was absorbed into the cloth diapers. That slow trickle soon turned into a raging river as my bladder completely relaxed and gave up its contents. It felt good to finally be relieved.

When the stream of pee finally stopped, I sat back up and resumed my former, Indian-style position. I spent the next few minutes exploring the feelings of my freshly warmed, wet diapers. I thought it would be kind of gross to wet my diapers, but it really didn’t feel all that bad. There was a squishy feeling all over my groin and crotch, and I actually kind of liked that wet squishiness.

After the novelty of my wet diapers wore off, I just sat there wondering when someone would come get me out of my crib. I thought back to how yesterday had gone. Though I hadn’t done much of anything, and I pretty much slept all day, I still couldn’t help but rank it as one of the best days of my life. I hadn’t been hit or talked meanly to once, and, other than the three days I spent on the streets alone, I couldn’t remember too many days in which I didn’t get hurt in one way or another. I don’t remember ever being loved, cared for, and nurtured so much in my life.

I wondered how much longer I was going to be here. I was usually only in a foster home for a few months to as long as a year before I got moved to a new place. I don’t know why I was moved so much, but I think, at least some of the time, it was because all of my foster families eventually got tired of my bedwetting. I was starting to believe that that wouldn’t be a problem here, but I still wasn’t sure if I’d be staying here for a while. With my luck I probably wouldn’t be here long. These nice people would eventually find something they didn’t like about me, just like all my other families, and then they’d get rid of me. That was how it always worked.

I tried to push that out of my head for now and think about how good things had gone for me, so far. I had had a great day yesterday. Even though I was still in pain from my bruises and broken bones, everyone had been so nice to me. They really made me feel special, something not many people had ever done for me before. They all seemed happy to have me here, and they treated me like I was one of the family. I even remembered them telling me that they loved me last night before I fell asleep.

Then, it suddenly hit me—I hadn’t told them that I loved them back last night when they told me they loved me. I suddenly felt really bad about that. I should have told them I loved them. Why didn’t I? I felt really dumb for not saying that. I guess it was because it had been so long since anyone had told me that, that I just forgotten that I was supposed to say something back. I hoped they weren’t mad at me. What if they decided they didn’t want me because I didn’t tell them I loved them? I was abruptly scared and very worried. What if they sent me back to the other foster home? I didn’t want to go back there. I was tired of getting beat up, and spanked, and called names, and being hungry all the time. I realized that I had probably messed up badly. If only I had just told them I loved them back, but I hadn’t. I just forgot. Now, I had probably messed up everything! I probably wouldn’t be here much longer. That was too bad. I think I was really going to like being a baby here.

I got so upset that I started to cry over the whole thing. I sat there for the next several minutes quietly crying as I thought about what a dumb, stupid idiot I was. I wiped my eyes and nose on the shoulder of my t-shirt, since I couldn’t reach my hands up to my face.

I was still crying when I heard Billy stir in his crib across the room. He sat up rubbing his eyes. He yawned before he finally looked over at me.

“Hey, Taddy,” he said with a smile.

I barely glanced at him and then looked down shamefully.

“Hi,” I squeaked, trying not to sound like I was crying, but failing miserably.

“What’s wrong, Taddy?” he asked me with sudden and genuine concern.

“Nothin’,” I replied curtly.

“Then why are you crying?” he asked reasonably.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I loved you last night when you told me you loved me,” I blurted. “I just forgot. I’m sorry.”

“Oh,” he said with a confused look. “That’s all? Don’t worry about that. It’s no big deal.”

“Yes, it is,” I said. “I should have said I loved you back.”

“So, you forgot,” he said. “That’s nothing to cry over.”

“Everyone probably hates me, now,” I sobbed. “I’m so stupid!”

I looked down and sobbed wishing that I could bury my face in my hands. I suddenly stopped crying and looked up when I heard the now familiar sound of a crib opening. I saw Billy climbing out of his crib. His obviously padded butt was facing me. I noticed that he was wearing a one-piece, footed sleeper. His feet touched the ground and turned to face me. He started waddling in my direction. I was suddenly horrified.

“Billy, what are you doing?” I asked urgently. “We’re not allowed to get out of our cribs!”

“I know,” he replied uncaringly.

He came up to my crib and worked some kind of latch mechanism on either end of the side of the crib. In a second he had the side of my crib dropped down, and he was climbing into my crib

“But, you’ll get a spanking,” I told him.

“So?” he shrugged as he lifted a leg over the side of the crib and got in with me.

He plopped down onto the mattress with me and faced me. He leaned forward, grabbed my shoulders and hugged me.

“You need a hug,” he said. “Some things are worth getting spanked for, and taking care of my little brother is one of them.”

“You mean you’re not mad at me?” I asked in confusion as I continued to cry.

“Of course not, silly,” he said. “So you forgot to tell me you loved me. So what? You were tired, and Mommy had just given you that medicine. And, trust me, I know you can forget about a lot of things when Mommy is holding you in the rocking chair feeding you a warm bottle of milk. I know you love me, too. Forgetting to say it back once isn’t going to make me stop loving you.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Really,” he assured me. “I promise.”

“But what about everyone else?” I asked. “Do you think they’re gonna be mad at me.”

“No, Taddy,” he said slightly exasperated. “No one is going to be mad at you. Just wait and see.”

“Okay,” I said wiping my eyes on my shoulders as best I could.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go sit and talk until someone comes to get us up.”

“Shouldn’t you go back to your crib?” I asked.

“Nah,” he replied. “I’ll just wait with you. I’ll tell them why I got out of my crib, and they probably won’t spank me. The thing you have to learn about Mommy and Daddy is that the rules are kind of flexible so long as you have a really, really good reason to break them. Except for the one about taking off your own diapers. I can’t think of any good reason why they wouldn’t spank us for that.”

He reached over and pulled the side of the crib up. It slid up on its rails and latched into place. We then crawled back to the side of the crib that was up against the wall and leaned up against it. He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked me.

“Pretty good,” I said. “It takes a little while to get used to sleeping in these thick diapers.”

“Yeah, but you do get used to it,” he assured me. “Give it a couple of weeks and you won’t even notice them.”

“It’s hard to go in them,” I said. “I had to work really hard to pee earlier.”

“I kind of remember it being that way when I first went back into diapers,” he told me. “I was only five, though, so I don’t really remember. Now, I just go whenever, and I usually don’t even know when I’m doing it. I’d probably have major accidents if I went without diapers.”

“You like wearing them?” I asked.

“Like? I love them,” he told me. “I can’t imagine not wearing them.”

“Hmm,” I replied. “I hope I will, too.”

“You will, little brother,” he told me. “You will.”

“Billy, what do Mommy and Daddy do?” I asked, changing the subject.

“You mean their jobs? Mommy is a lawyer,” he said. “She works in some big law firm in Dallas. She makes a lot of money.”

“Wow,” I said. “She argues in court in front of judges and stuff?”

“Yep,” he said.

“Cool,” I replied.

“And Daddy is a psychiatrist,” he said.

“What’s a psy-, psych-,” I stammered.

“Psy-chi-a-trist,” he pronounced it slowly. “That’s a special type of doctor that helps people who have been through bad experiences or are having problems dealing with certain things like their feelings.”

“Really?” I asked. I wasn’t sure I understood what he was talking about.

“Yeah,” he said. “He specializes in child psychiatry, which means he helps kids mostly. He works at a big hospital in Dallas. He helped me a lot when I first got here, and I’m sure he’ll spend a lot of time talking to you.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Uh huh,” he said.

I was about to ask him about Celli and Andy, but the door to the nursery suddenly opened, and we saw Mommy come in.

“Good morning, babies,” she said happily.

Then she abruptly halted in her tracks. Her hands immediately went to her hips, and she got an angry look on her face.

“Billy, just what do you think you’re doing, young man?” she asked angrily. “What are you doing out of your crib?”

She didn’t raise her voice at all, but I could tell she was not happy.

“Taddy got a little upset,” Billy said immediately. “He needed a hug, and I don’t think he could wait, so I came over and got in his crib with him.”

“Hmm,” she said. “Is that true, Taddy?”

“Uh huh,” I said with a shaky, squeaky voice.

“Well, I guess that’s okay, then,” she said. “Just don’t make a habit of it, okay, Billy?”

“Okay, Mommy,” he said. “I won’t.”

She came up to us and dropped the side of the crib down. She reached over to Billy, lifted him up and out of the crib, gave him a good morning hug and kiss, and set him on the ground next to her. She then picked me up. She immediately held me close to her and gave me a hug and kiss.

“How’s Mommy’s little baby?” she asked me.

“Okay,” I said quietly.

“So, why were you upset, baby?” asked me.

I suddenly wanted to cry again. My bottom lip began to quiver, and my eyes began to water uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I loved you last night when you said you loved me,” I whimpered. I was starting to cry. “I just forgot. Please, don’t be mad at me. I promise I won’t do it again.”

“Oh, baby,” she said, hugging me even tighter. “It’s okay. I’m not mad at you. You were really tired last night, and you had a bottle in your mouth anyway. Now, you just hush and stop crying.”

“Okay,” I replied, still whimpering a little. “I love you, Mommy.”

“I know, baby,” she said. “Mommy loves you, too. You weren’t upset about that all night, were you?”

“Only since I woke up,” I replied.

“Well, it’s nothing to get worked up about,” she told me. “You can tell Daddy and the girls you love them when we go downstairs.”

“Okay,” I replied.

She then shifted me around so that I was sitting on one of her hips. She reached around behind me with her free hand, and I felt a finger go inside my plastic pants for a few seconds.

“You’re not that wet,” she informed me.

I then felt her put her hand on my butt and give my diapers a squeeze.

“No pooh-poohs, either,” she said. “You’ll be okay for a few hours. Now, sit on the floor, baby, while I check your brother.”

She gently sat me down on the floor on my butt. She bent over to Billy and turned him around so his back was to her. She unzipped a zipper that ran down the back of his sleeper. She stuck her hand inside his sleeper and inspected his diapers.

“You’ll be okay for a while, too,” she told him. “We’ll just wait until after breakfast to change you. Daddy’s making pancakes this morning.”

She zipped Billy’s zipper back up and gave him a swat on the butt. She then turned around and reached down for me. She put her hands under my arms and picked me back up and planted me on her hip.

“Do you like pancakes, Taddy?” she asked me.

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“Haven’t you ever had them?”

“I don’t know,” I repeated.

“Hmm,” she replied. “Well, I guess we’ll find out, today. Come on, Billy.”

She reached down with her free hand and took Billy’s hand. She led him out of the nursery as she carried me. We went downstairs and into the kitchen.

“Good morning, babies!” Celli told us happily when she saw us come in.

Billy pulled away from Mommy and waddled over to his sisters, whom were both sitting at the kitchen table. He gave each of them a good morning kiss on the cheek. He then climbed into Celli’s lap.

“Everybody,” announced Mommy, “Taddy has something he wants to say.”

Everyone got quiet and stared at me. That made me a little nervous, and I was about to hide my face in Mommy’s shoulder.

“Go ahead, baby,” she cajoled me gently.

“Um. I’m sor-,” I began.

“No, baby,” Mommy cut me off. “You don’t need to say you’re sorry. Just tell them what you wanted to tell them.”

I nodded nervously.

“Well. I forgot to tell you all that I loved you back when you guys told me you loved me last night,” I explained. “So, I just wanted you all to know that I loved you, too.”

“Aw,” my two sisters both cooed together.

“We love you, too, Taddy,” Andy said.

“Yeah,” Celli agreed. “We knew you loved us back. You were just really tired last night.”

“Let’s go get you a bottle of milk,” Mommy told me.

I nodded as she carried me into the kitchen. We stopped by the counter where Daddy was cooking pancakes on an electric griddle. Mommy held me up to Daddy, who leaned over and gave me a kiss.

“Morning, big guy,” he told me. “Did you sleep well?”

“Uh huh,” I replied.

“Daddy loves you,” he said.

“I love you, too, Daddy,” I said with a grin.

With that Mommy took me over to the refrigerator. She opened the right-hand door and reached in. I noticed that there was a shelf that was half full with probably a dozen baby bottles full of milk and different-colored juices. She pulled out two bottles of milk, and then carried them and me back to the table. She handed one bottle to Celli, who still held Billy in her lap. She then went around the table to Andy.

“Sit with your sister, baby,” Mommy told me, “And she’ll feed you your bottle while I help Daddy finish breakfast.”

She lowered me down into Andy’s open arms. Andy got me situated in her lap, and she took the offered bottle from Mommy. She held the bottle up to my mouth and pressed it to my lips. I immediately accepted it and went to work sucking the contents out of the bottle. I rested my head on her shoulder as I drank.

A few minutes later Daddy delivered a plate stacked high with pancakes to the table. Mommy brought a plate full of bacon and a dish full of scrambled eggs. Mommy carried me over to the highchair while Billy went over to Daddy’s lap to be fed. We both had bibs put on, and then we were fed our breakfast after everything was cut up for us.

I very quickly decided that I really liked pancakes, even though I couldn’t remember ever having them before. I probably ate five or six of them, along with a few strips of bacon and a pile of eggs. I also drained two sippy cups of orange juice. Mommy said she was glad I was a good eater because that would help me grow up to be big and strong. I was so small that I wasn’t sure she was right, but I sure hoped so.

After breakfast, I was starting to hurt so Andy and Celli took Billy and me into the den. I was given a bottle of Kool-Aid with my pain medicine in it as I lay on the couch with my head in Celli’s lap. Everyone else watched TV while I fell asleep. I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping just like I had done the previous day. I only vaguely remember Mommy carrying me upstairs to change me out of my wet, night diapers.

I woke up sometime later in the day. I was surprised to find that I was outside. I was lying on my back, and I saw the blue sky with patches of fluffy clouds when I opened my eyes. I was a little worried until I felt that I was lying next to someone. I also felt an arm wrapped around my chest under my arms. I turned my head and looked to see that I was lying next to Celli. We were lying together on a padded deck chair outside of the house. I was a little surprised to see that she wasn’t wearing much of anything. All she had on was a two-piece swimsuit. She was wearing a pair of sunglasses, and she was holding a book in her free hand.

“Hi, baby,” she greeted me when she saw that I was awake. “Did you have a good nap?”

I smiled and nodded.

“Why are we outside?” I asked.

“Well, it turned into a nice, warm day,” she replied. “So I decided it would be a good day to get some sun, since who knows when we’ll have another warm weekend. And, I figured you could use some sun too, little man.”

“Where is everyone?’ I asked.

“They all went to the park,” she responded. “I told them I’d stay to keep an eye on you.”

“What time is it?” I asked.

“About three,” she said. “You’ve been asleep for a while.”

“I’m sorry I’m sleeping so much,” I said as I rested the side of my face on her chest.

“Don’t be sorry, Taddy,” she said. “You’re hurt, and you need to rest so you can heal.”

I just nodded.

“Are you getting hungry?” she asked me. “It’s been a while since breakfast.”

“Uh huh,” I said. My stomach started growling as I thought of that.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s go inside, and I’ll get you something.”

She pushed me up into a sitting position. She got up, and then bent over to pick me up. We turned to go inside when she had me planted on her hip. I noticed that all I was wearing were the usual, thick cloth diapers and a t-shirt. The t-shirt must have been one of Billy’s old shirts. It was bright blue with Blue from Blue’s Clues ironed onto the front. It was very childish looking and pretty small on me. It was kind of tight, but not uncomfortably so.

I was able to look around and get a glimpse of the backyard. The yard was really huge, and a brick and metal fence surrounded it. There were lush green grass and patches of big trees all over the place. I then looked closer to the house and saw a cool little playground with a swing set and neat structures to climb all over. It was too bad I couldn’t climb on any of those right now.

Celli carried me into the house and to the kitchen. She set me in the highchair and got me snuggly strapped into it before she put the tray on.

“So, what would you like to eat?” she asked me.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged.

“Hmm,” she said. “Well, we’ll be eating dinner in just a few hours, so how about just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

“Okay,” I replied.

She went into the kitchen and got out stuff to make me a sandwich with.

“What smells so good?” I asked.

“Mom has a pot roast cooking in the crock pot,” she told me. “That’s what we’re having for supper.”

A few minutes later she brought a toddler plate, along with a sippy cup of juice, over to me. She pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me.

“Now, Billy is usually allowed to eat his sandwiches by himself, but since you can’t I’m going to feed you yours,” she told me. “You just have to promise not to bite me.”

“I won’t bite you,” I giggled.

“Okay,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure.”

She fed me a peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich that she had cut up into tiny little squares. There were also some mini-Ritz crackers and baby carrot sticks, which she fed to me. I was very careful not to bit her fingers as she placed bites of food in my mouth. Every so often she held my sippy cup up to my mouth so I could wash my food down with grape juice.

“Celli, why are there these straps thingies on the tray here?” I asked between bites.

I had been wondering about those straps since I first saw them yesterday.

“Well, you’re brother sometimes likes to takes being a baby just a little too far, and he starts throwing food and stuff,” she told me. “When he does that we strap his hands and feet down so he can’t make a mess. I think he does it on purpose. I think he likes us tying him down.”

“He doesn’t get in trouble for throwing food?” I asked in amazement.

“No,” she shrugged. “Babies do that kind of thing. But he knows not to take it too far or do it too often. He knows he’ll get a spanking if he does it too much.”

“Oh,” I said.

I had never heard of such. I was baffled by the very thought of a twelve-year-old being allowed to throw food without getting in major trouble. I wondered if I could do the same thing. I doubted it. They’d probably get rid of me if I started doing that.

A few minutes later I was finished with my meal.

“Thank you, Celli,” I told her as she stood up with my empty plate and sippy cup.

“You’re welcome, baby,” she told me.

Celli left me in the highchair while she went to clean up the kitchen. While she was doing that I used the fingers of one hand to try and get into the cast on the other arm. I was itching pretty badly up on my left wrist, but I couldn’t get to the itching spot.

“What are these casts made of?” I asked while Celli was still washing dishes.

“Um, it’s called fiberglass,” she told me. “It’s sort of like a plastic.”

“Oh,” I said. I was grimacing, still trying to get at the itchy spot.

“Do you want some more medicine, baby?” Celli asked a minute later as she returned to the breakfast area.

“No, thank you,” I replied. “I’m okay right now.”

“Don’t put your fingers in your casts, baby,” she told me. “You could hurt yourself.”

“But, I’m itchy,” I told her.

“Come on,” she said. “We’ll see if we can take care of that.”

She took the tray off of the highchair and upstrapped me. She picked me up and carried me out of the kitchen. We went up the stairs and she carried me down the hall to the nursery. We went over to the changing table and she sat me down on it. She reached down to one of the cabinets in the table. She pulled out the canister of powder that was used when Billy and I got our diapers changed.

“Last summer, Billy broke his arm,” she said. “The doctor told us that baby powder helps with the itchiness.”

“How do you get it in the cast?” I asked.

“Watch,” she said.

She reached up and sprinkled powder into the top openings of my two arm casts up near my shoulders. She then had me hold my arms up with my hands pointed up in the air, and she sprinkled more powder into the openings around my fingers. She then told me to sit there and wait, and she left the room. She returned a minute later with an electric blow dryer. She brought it over to the table and plugged it into an outlet near the table. She turned it on and it hummed as she held her hand over it checking the temperature.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ve got it set on cool so it won’t get you hot.”

She held it up against the openings on my casts and I felt cool air blow into the spaces between my skin and the inside of the casts. It felt really good.

“That feels nice,” I told Celli.

“Good,” she said.

She turned the hair dryer off a few minutes later and set it down.

“Thank you, Celli,” I told her.

“You’re welcome, baby,” she said as she leaned over and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

She then lifted my t-shirt up and put her fingers inside the waistband of my plastic pants. She felt around the tops of my diapers.

“You’re not too wet,” she said, “But a change won’t hurt. Besides, I haven’t gotten to change you yet, so now is as good a time as any.”

“Um, can’t we wait for Mommy to get home to change me?” I asked.

She just looked at me with an arched eyebrow.

“I thought Mom and Dad told you the rules,” she said.

“They did,” I nodded.

“And do you remember the rule about all grown-ups can change you?” she asked.

“Uh huh,” I nodded.

“Well, I just said you need to be changed, so that means you get changed,” she said. “Okay?”

“Okay,” I said unenthusiastically.

She then leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the nose.

“Don’t worry, stinker,” she said. “I do it just as good as Mommy.”

She helped me lay down and she lifted my legs up onto the table. She picked my legs up and lifted my butt up so she could pull my plastic pants off. When they were off she unpinned my diapers and removed them. I was a little embarrassed because she hadn’t seen me naked before. That was the main reason I really didn’t want her to change me. I wasn’t used to girls seeing me naked. I must have been glowing red in humiliation, and Celli quickly saw that.

“You don’t have to blush, baby,” she told me. “I’ve seen it all before, and I’ll be seeing it a lot more.”

“I’m just not used to girls seeing me naked,” I said.

“Yes, you are,” she said. “Mom has changed you a lot.”

“But, she’s not a girl,” I replied. “She’s Mommy.”

She just laughed at me. By now she was about done wiping me. She slid a stack of diapers underneath my butt, and then she started sprinkling powder all over me.

“Um, Celli, what happens when I need to go number two?” I asked cautiously as she started rubbing the powder into my skin.

“Babies go pooh-pooh in their diapers, and you’re a baby, so you just go whenever you want,” she explained reasonably. “And speaking of that, you haven’t made pooh-pooh since you got here, have you?”

I glowed red in discomfiture.

“No,” I squeaked bashfully.

“You need to try to go soon,” she told me. “Mom pretty much makes sure Billy goes every day. If he doesn’t he gets a laxative or a suppository.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“They make you poop,” she said. “Of course, that’s not much of a problem with Billy. Seems like there’s always something coming out of his butt.”

By now she was almost finished pinning my diapers on. The diapers seemed thicker than the ones she had just taken off of me.

“Why are these thicker?” I asked.

“Oh, I folded up and extra diaper and put it in the center,” she told me. “I think your butt needs to be a little puffier. You’ll look much cuter.”

“What?” I asked in disbelief.

“Boys look cute with puffy, diaper butts,” she informed me.

“Ha,” I laughed at her lightly.

“We like our diaper boys to be very padded around here,” she said.

“So, what if I decided I didn’t want to be a baby anymore?” I asked “Would you all still love me as much?”

“Of course we would, silly,” she assured me. “But Andy and I would figure out some way to make you want to stay in diapers. We made a rule a long time ago that all boys have to wear diapers in this house.”

“Daddy doesn’t wear diapers,” I said.

“Daddy is the only exception,” she said. “All other boys have to be diapered.”

“But why?” I asked.

“Like I said, boys look cute with puffy, diapered butts,” she told me.

I just smiled thinking she was pretty much nuts.

By then she was pulling a new pair of plastic pants onto me. She got them on and helped me sit up. Then, she got my pants properly adjusted.

“So, what do you want to do now, Taddy?” she asked me as I sat there with my legs dangling off the side of the table.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged.

“Hmm,” she folded her arms in front of her and thought for a moment. “I know. You haven’t really seen the house yet, so why don’t I give you the dime tour?”

“Okay,” I said. That sounded kind of fun.

She picked me up and carried me out of the nursery. She proceeded to give me a thorough tour of the house. It didn’t have the hundreds of rooms that I originally thought it would, but it was still pretty big. There were four other bedrooms upstairs in addition to the nursery. Two of them were Andy’s and Celli’s. Each bedroom had its own private bathroom. There was also a large game room at one end of the floor. It had a big-screen TV, a pool table, and a pinball machine. I thought that was really cool.

There was also a big trophy case on one wall of the game room. Celli showed me all of the trophies she, Andy, and Billy had won over the years. She played softball and basketball, Andy played softball and soccer, and Billy played football and baseball. They each had several trophies, some of which were about half my height. I thought that was really cool, but it also kind of worried me. I had never played sports mainly because I was too small to keep up with everyone. I liked soccer and baseball, but had never been good at either sport, and I certainly hadn’t had anyone to encourage me or teach me to play. I hoped I would fit in with this family if I weren’t too athletic.

We went downstairs where I was shown all the rooms down there. I saw Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom, which was huge. She showed me the two studies that Mommy and Daddy both had. There was also a library with a bunch of books. I had never heard of a library in a house, so I thought that was cool. There was a big, formal living room and formal dining room, I saw the kitchen and den, which I already knew well, of course, and then she showed me the two poolrooms.

One poolroom had a pool table and a wet bar in it. Celli told me that was Daddy’s favorite room, and he spent a lot of his free time playing pool. The other poolroom was even cooler. It had a real, indoor swimming pool in it. I had never seen such a thing. It was a big room with glass walls that provided a nice view of the backyard. The pool was pretty big, and it had a hot tub attached to it, and there was a waterfall that had water flowing out of it into the pool. There was also a sitting area and a picnic table.

“Wow,” I said when we were in the room. My voice echoed throughout the large, open space, which actually scared me.

“You like it?” Celli asked. “Mom and Dad added this room on a couple of years ago because we all like to swim so much. That way we can swim all year long. Do you like to swim?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged.

“Do you know how?” she asked.

“No,” I said looking down slightly shamefully.

“Well, we’ll have to teach you how,” she said. “It’s not that hard. Of course we’ll have to wait a little while. If we put you in the pool, now, you’d probably sink right to the bottom with those casts.”

“You think so?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t know,” she said. “How about I toss you in, and we’ll find out?”

“No!” I gasped abruptly. “No. Please, don’t do that.”

“Oh, silly,” she said. “I’m just kidding. I’d never do that.”

She hugged me tightly and rubbed my back comfortingly.

“Did I scare you?” she asked me.

“Well, maybe a little,” I admitted.

“I’m sorry, baby,” she said. “I was just joking. Now, how about we go back to the den, and we can watch some TV?”

“Okay,” I replied.

She carried me out of the poolroom, and we went back to the den. She lowered me down onto one of the couches. She laid me down and put some pillows behind my head and shoulders and another one under my broken leg.

“I’m going to go change, okay?” she informed me. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

I just nodded.

She reached over to the coffee table where the TV remote was sitting. She picked up the remote and turned the TV on. She then handed me the remote. As she handed me the remote, she leaned over and gave me a kiss on the nose.

“You watch TV, and try not to get into trouble while I’m gone,” she told me.

“Okay. I won’t,” I said with a smile.

She tweaked my nose with her fingers and rose to leave. She left me there and I turned my attention to the large TV screen in front of me. I had to look at the big remote to find the buttons to change the channel with. It was hard to hold the remote and push the button at the same time with the casts on my arms, but I managed to do it by using both hands.

I flipped through several channels looking for some cartoons or something to watch. There were a lot more channels on this TV that they didn’t have at my old foster home. I finally found the Cartoon Network. I didn’t recognize the cartoon on it, but I really didn’t care. I realized that I was actually watching what I wanted for the first time in a long time, a very long time. I never got to watch cartoons or anything of my choice at my last few foster homes.

I watched the cartoon show for the next few minutes. When a commercial came on I looked around to see if Celli was coming back. She had been gone for quite a while. I wondered what had happened to her. I hoped nothing had happened to her. It seemed like she had been gone forever.

A few minutes later I was starting to get worried. What if she didn’t come back? What if something had happened to her? I felt very lonely. I was getting scared. I hadn’t been alone since Friday, and I didn’t like it. I suddenly hated being alone. Where is she? I thought in despair.

Finally, when I was just moments away from starting to cry, I heard footsteps on the stairs and Celli came into the room. She was now wearing a pair of cutoff denim shorts, and a soft, pink t-shirt. The shirt ended before it got to her shorts, and I could still see her belly button.

“Where were you?” I asked, trying to hide my distress.

“I told you I was changing, sweetie,” she told me as she came up to me.

“What took you so long?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied.

She bent over and picked me up.

“Were you getting scared?” she asked.

“Um… No,” I replied, fibbing just a little.

“Uh huh,” she said skeptically. “Well, I’m here now, okay?”

I nodded.

“How would you like a bottle of milk?” she offered.

“Yes, please,” I replied.

“Okay,” she said as she put me back down on the couch. “Do you want it warm or cold?”

“Um, maybe a little warm, please,” I said.

“Comin’ right up,” she said. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

She left me there and disappeared into the kitchen. A minute later she came back with a baby bottle. She set the bottle down on the end table next to the couch. She picked me up and sat down. When I was cradled in her arms she picked up the bottle and pressed its nipple into my mouth. I sucked on the warm milk and relaxed as she held me. I was actually pretty close to falling asleep again by the time I was done with the bottle.

Just as she pulled the empty bottle from my mouth and set it down we heard the front door open. We both looked over to the room’s entrance, which was always where the entryway was.

“We’re home,” I heard Mommy say.

Then, we saw everyone come into the room.

“Mommy!” I said excitedly as I sat up in Celli’s lap.

“Hi, baby!” she greeted me.

“Hi, Mommy,” I said. “Hi, Daddy! Hi, Andy! Hi, Billy!”

I was surprised at how happy I was to see everybody. Mommy came over and picked me up out of Celli’s arms. She gave me a kiss and a hug.

“I missed you, Mommy,” I said.

“We missed you, too, baby,” she told me.

She gave me another kiss. I then looked up and saw Daddy standing next to us.

“Hi, big guy,” he greeted me.

“Hi, Daddy,” I replied happily.

He took me from Mommy’s arms and held me closely.

“How are you feeling, baby?” he asked me.

“Um, I’m okay,” I said. I was actually hurting just a little bit, but I was tired of sleeping, so I didn’t want any medicine.

“What have you guys done all afternoon?” he asked me.

“Not much,” I said. “Celli showed me the house, and she gave me a sandwich and stuff.”

“That’s good,” he said.

I then greeted Andy and Billy. Andy held me and gave me a hug and a kiss. Billy even gave me a kiss in greeting. They were both kind of smelly like they had been outside, but they had been outside, so that wasn’t too surprising. I also noticed that Billy was dressed kind of funnily. He was wearing a pair of purple overalls with short legs, under which was a white t-shirt with horizontal, purple stripes on it. He looked pretty silly, and it was pretty easy to tell he was heavily padded underneath his clothes.

After our mini-reunion, it was suggested that Billy and I should go up to the nursery and play while we waited for supper to be finished. Andy carried me up the stairs while leading Billy by the hand. She took us to the nursery and deposited me onto the floor in the middle of the room. There was a soft, padded play mat on the rug there.

“You babies stay in here and behave,” she told us. “And, Billy, remember Taddy isn’t allowed to stand up or walk on his own, so you’ll have to get everything for him.”

“Okay,” Billy replied happily.

She bent over and gave me another kiss, and then she stood up and gave Billy a rather hard swat on the butt.

“Andy, can I take my short-alls off?” Billy asked.

“Yes, you may,” she said. “Just put them in the hamper because they’re all sweaty and dirty.”

He nodded as he started to fumble with the clasps on the outfit’s shoulder straps.

“Bye, babies,” Andy told us as she left the room.

“So, what do you want to do?” Billy asked as he stepped out of his short-alls and turned to take them over to the hamper next to the changing table.

He was wearing thick cloth diapers, but they didn’t look quite as thick as mine. He plastic pants were clear, just like mine.

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“Do you like Legos, or G.I. Joes, or Hot Wheels?” he asked me.

“Um. I don’t know,” I shrugged.

“Well, what kind of toys did you play with at your old home?” he asked.

“Um, none,” I looked down at the floor embarrassedly.

“They didn’t have any toys?” he asked me.

“Well, their kids did,” I explained. “But they didn’t let me play with them, and I’ve never had any toys of my own that I can remember.”

“Well, they suck!” he declared forcefully.

I gasped at his language.

“Let’s play with Legos, okay?” he said. “We can do a lot of stuff with Legos.”

“Okay,” I said.

He went over to some shelves next to one wall of the room and pulled out two large, plastic bins. He brought them over to me. He opened them up and I was amazed as he dumped out thousands and thousands of different colored blocks into a pile in front of me.

“Don’t tell Mommy and Daddy I said ‘suck’, okay?” he requested.

“Oh, I won’t,” I said immediately. “I promise.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Here.”

He handed me a big, green, flat, Lego plate.

“You can build whatever on that,” he said.

I nodded. I had seen commercials for Legos before, so I at least knew how they worked. Within a few minutes we were both building things. I decided I wanted to build a boat, so I started on that. A few minutes later, Billy got up and went back over to the shelves. He brought over another bin, and I was again astonished as he dumped out more Legos.

“How many do you have?” I asked in wonderment.

“There’s three more bins over there,” he said.

As he sat back down he squatted down, and I heard what sounded like a muffled fart come from him. A few seconds later, I smelled the strong odor of what could only be his poop coming from him.

“Did you just poop?” I asked.

“Yep,” he said with a big grin.

He then dropped rather hard onto his butt, and I watched as he slid his butt back and forth on the floor for a few seconds.

We then sat building things for the next little while. We talked quietly as we built things. He told me about what they had done at the park today. I was actually a little jealous of all the fun he had, and I wished I could have gone. The smell of his dirty diapers never went away. If anything it only got more pervasive.

After a little while, I decided I needed to pee. I hadn’t gone since that morning, at least not while I was awake, and my diapers were actually still dry. I sat there for a few minutes trying to go. I found I had the same problem I had had in the morning. I just couldn’t make myself go sitting there. I tried shifting around to different sitting positions to find one I could pee in.

“What are you doing?” Billy asked when he noticed me getting antsy.

“I gotta pee,” I said.

“Hmm,” he said. “Well, just relax and pretend you’re sitting on a potty or something.”

I nodded and tried to do that. Finally, I was able to pee when I was leaning back and resting on my elbows and my legs were spread out in front of me. Within a few minutes I had flooded my diapers, and my crotch and butt felt wet.

“Do you like it when you’re diapers are wet or poopy?” I asked Billy as I returned to playing.

“Of course!” he said adamantly. “I love it.”

“So, you don’t mind having to wear diapers everywhere, even to school?”

“Well, after being in diapers for seven years, I really don’t have a choice anymore,” he explained. “But, it’s not so bad. After a while I just started ignoring people staring at me and saying things. At school it’s harder for people to tell since the disposables aren’t quite as noticeable, but everyone there knows I wear diapers anyway.”

“Hmm,” was my only reply.

I wondered if I would be able to go out in public and not be embarrassed. I didn’t really think so. I was starting to think that being a baby might not be such a good idea.

Probably an hour later, Daddy came up to summon us to supper. He carried me downstairs while Billy tagged along with us. We went to the kitchen where I was put into the highchair and Daddy strapped me in. The highchair was on the other side of the table tonight for some reason. The table was already set for dinner and the food was already laid out. Everyone else sat down, and, somewhat to my surprise, Daddy said a prayer. After grace we all ate. Billy’s and my food had already been cut up. My plate was full of roast, potatoes, and vegetables that had been cut up into tiny pieces and mixed into sort of a stew.

I quickly found out that that the highchair was on the other side because Andy had asked if she could feed me tonight. She put a bib on me and began feeding me my food. The pot roast turned out to be a very good meal. It was the best meal I had had here, yet. Andy was also not as adept at feeding me as Mommy was, and she got food all over my face. She and Celli thought I looked hilarious when I was done eating, but they also said I looked cute. Mommy even got up and retrieved a camera to take a picture of me. I kind of think Andy might have done that on purpose

After supper, Mommy and the girls stayed to clean up the kitchen, and Daddy took Billy and I back upstairs to the nursery. He played with us with the Legos for maybe half an hour, but then he said we needed to have our baths. He went to the bathroom and started bath water running for us, and then came back to us. He picked me up and carried me over to the changing table. He set me down at on end of the changing table, and then picked up Billy and set him down in the middle of the table. He had Billy raise his arms, and he removed his t-shirt. Billy lay down on the table, which was big enough that I could still sit at the end and there was plenty of room for him to lie down. Daddy pulled his plastic pants off and began unpinning his diapers.

It wasn’t until Billy’s diapers were unpinned and Daddy was removing them that I noticed that his diapers were different than the ones I had on. They were rectangular, but they had half-circular cutouts where his legs were, and it looked like there was elastic at the top where his waist was.

“What kind of diapers are those?” I asked curiously.

“Oh, these are contour diapers,” Daddy told me. “They’re kind of like disposables, except made of the same cloth as the pre-folds you have on. They’re custom-fitted for your brother. We use the pre-fold diapers as stuffers in the middle of these. We’re going to get you some of your own diapers pretty soon.”

“I get my own diapers?” I asked.

“Yep,” Daddy told me. “You sure do kiddo.”

“Cool,” I said quietly.

The only things I had ever had of my own were my clothes, and I didn’t even have those anymore, since the last clothes of mine that I had worn were cut off at the hospital. It would be kind of nice to have something of my own, even if they were diapers.

I watched as Daddy continued to remove Billy’s diapers. Billy had been wearing three of those contour diapers. I could tell just by looking that all three diapers were wet at least up front. When the last diaper came open I saw Billy’s pee-pee stand up. There was a large pile of reddish brown poop in the bottom of his diapers. It disappeared under his butt and pressed right up by his balls under his penis. I was amazed at how much of it there was. I didn’t think I pooped nearly that much.

I couldn’t help but stare as Daddy took out some baby wipes and started to clean my brother’s diaper area. It took him a while to get all the poop wiped off of him, much longer than it took to clean me, but, of course, I had still never pooped in diapers. I kind of wondered what that was going to be like when I finally needed to poop.

Finally, Daddy finished cleaning Billy up.

“Okay,” said Daddy. “Let’s trade places. Billy, hop off the table so I can get your brother out of his diapers.”

Billy did as he was told and climbed off the table. Daddy picked me up and laid me down on the table. He pulled my plastic pants off and started unpinning diapers again. Billy took my former place down at the end of the table. He watched intently with a little smile on his face as I lay there. I was a little embarrassed to have him watching me, but I guess I really couldn’t say anything considering I had just watched him get changed.

Daddy got me out of my diapers and I squirmed a little as he wiped me up. He then put a diaper on my privates in case I had an accident, and he picked me up again. He carried me into the bathroom as he led Billy along by the hand next to him. He told Billy to climb into the tub and turn the water faucet off as he set me down on the edge of the tub.

“No splashing at all tonight, Billy,” Daddy warned him. “We don’t want to get your brother’s casts wet.”

“Okay, Daddy,” replied Billy. “I’ll be careful.”

Daddy then proceeded to give me a sponge bath with a wet washcloth and baby body wash as I sat on the edge of the tub. Billy quietly played with some bath toys while he waited for his turn. When I was all clean and rinsed off Daddy dried me with a thick fluffy towel. He wrapped me in the towel so I wouldn’t get cold, and then he sat me on the floor next to him. Next, he had Billy stand up, and it was his turn to get a bath. Ten minutes later, Billy was washed and rinsed, and Daddy was drying him off. Daddy then picked me back up, and we all returned to the nursery.

“Taddy gets to go first this time,” Daddy announced.

He set me down on the table and helped me lay down after he took my towel from me. He pulled out a stack of diapers and folded them up. He then lifted my legs up and slid the diapers under my butt. Next, he thoroughly powdered me with a liberal amount of baby powder. He then pulled the front of the diapers up between my legs and started to pin them on. He got them securely pinned around me, and then he took out a fresh pair of plastic pants and pulled them up my legs.

“Billy, go get one of your white t-shirts for you brother,” Daddy said.

Billy scurried over to his chest-of-drawers by his crib. He opened a drawer, pulled out a shirt, and brought it back over to us. By then I was already sitting up on the table. I raised my arms up, and Daddy pulled the shirt onto me.

“All done, big guy,” he said.

“Thank you, Daddy,” I told him as he picked me up.

“You’re welcome, baby,” he told me.

He gave me a kiss and then set me down on the floor. Then, he picked Billy up and set him on the table. Billy immediately lay down as Daddy pulled out a stack of fresh diapers for him. He unfolded four of those contour diapers. He then folded up one of the pre-folded diapers like I was wearing lengthwise and laid it out down the length of the other diapers. Next, he lifted Billy’s butt off of the table and slid the thick stack of diapers under him. He then used probably thirty pins to pin on Billy’s diapers, and a pair of plastic pants completed the ensemble. Daddy sat Billy up and gave him a kiss.

“Do you want a sleeper on, yet, or do you want to just wear a t-shirt like your brother?” Daddy asked him.

“Um, just a t-shirt, I guess,” replied Billy.

Daddy got him another t-shirt from his bureau and put it on him.

“Okay. It is now one hour until bedtime,” said Daddy, looking at his watch. “Do you guys want to play up here, or would you like to go downstairs with everyone and play in your playpen?”

“Let’s go get in the playpen,” Billy said.

“How’s that sound, Taddy?” asked Daddy.

I was actually surprised to be asked my opinion since I so rarely got a say in what I did.

“Um, that sounds good,” I replied.

Daddy nodded and reached down for me. He picked me up, perched me on his hip, took one of Billy’s hands, and we left the nursery. He carried me downstairs and to the den where we found the females watching TV and chatting. Daddy took me over to Mommy and set me in her lap while Billy waddled over to the couch his sisters occupied to get some attention from them.

“Did baby have a nice bath?” Mommy asked me as she hugged me.

“Uh huh,” I replied. “I just wish I could take a real bath.”

“Tomorrow we’re going to see if we can take care of that, okay baby?” she told me.

“Okay,” I replied.

Daddy then brought a big, folded-up thing into the den. He set it over in an out of the way corner of the room and began unfolding it. It was like a low cage or coral. I guess it was about a six-foot square. The vertical, wood bars on the sides were a couple of inches apart and probably about two-and-a-half or three feet high. There was a wooden floor in the bottom of it upon which Daddy unfolded a big pad that was covered in the same baby-printed plastic stuff that was on the changing table. When it was unfolded all the way, Daddy came back over to me.

“Let’s go get in the playpen, kiddo,” he told me.

I raised my arms up to him as best I could as he reached down for me and picked me up. He carried me over to the playpen and set me down in it. Billy ran over to us, and Daddy picked him up and set him down next to me. Daddy then left the room once more and returned with a laundry basket, which he set in the playpen with us. It was full of toys.

“Now, Taddy, the rule with the playpen is that you can’t get out of it without asking permission, first,” Daddy informed me. “But, since you’re not allowed to stand up or walk now anyway, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Okay, Daddy,” I said.

“Good boy,” he told me. “Now you boys play nice and behave.”

We both nodded as he walked away and joined everyone else.

Billy proceeded to dump out the basket of toys. It was full of toys, but they weren’t big-kid toys. They were Fisher-Price and Little Tykes toys. Toddler toys. There were all kinds of trucks, cars, tractors, and airplanes. There were also blocks and a few other miscellaneous little-kid toys.

“What do you want to play with?” Billy asked me.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged.

“Okay,” he said. “Well, I’m going to play with this airplane and a couple of cars. You just play with whatever you want.”

I nodded. Billy took his toys and crawled over to one corner of the playpen. I had never seen so many toys in my life, so, needless to say, I had some difficulty picking some out. Finally I decided on a few cars and trucks along with some blocks. I built a tunnel with the blocks and sent the cars and trucks through it. I was surprised at how much fun I could have with baby toys. I was very quickly lost in my own little world. It was a little hard to move around and play with things with my three casts, but I managed okay.

I got so lost in playing with the toys that I was surprised when Mommy and Daddy came up to us and told us it was bedtime. The hour had surely gone by quickly. Mommy picked me up while Daddy picked up Billy. We told Celli and Andy goodnight, and then we were both taken up the stairs and down the hall to the nursery. Mommy took me over to the rocking chair in the corner of the room and sat down with me. She had a bottle of juice with her, which she proceeded to feed to me.

“This has some medicine in it for you, baby,” she informed me.

I was glad for that because I had been hurting for a little while. I had been able to ignore my pain while I was playing with the toys, but now I really wanted some medicine.

“Did you have a good day, baby?” asked Mommy

I just smiled and nodded as I continued to suck on my bottle.

She continued to hold me for the next few minutes as I sucked on my bottle. It felt very nice and comforting to be held as she gently rocked me. By the time I was done with the bottle I was about to fall asleep. Mommy set the bottle down, and picked me up. She carried me over toward my crib. I noticed that Daddy and Billy were sitting over in the opposite corner of the room in the little sitting area over there. It looked like Daddy was reading to Billy from a children’s book.

Mommy put me in my crib after giving me a goodnight hug and kiss. About then, Daddy was carrying Billy over to his crib. He put Billy into his crib and told him goodnight. Mommy and Daddy then switched places, and he came over to me. Daddy told me he loved me and gave me a kiss and a hug too. He told me goodnight, and then he and Mommy left. They turned out the lights in the nursery and closed the door partway as they left. The soft glow from a couple of nightlights left a little light in the room.

“Goodnight, Taddy,” I heard Billy say from across the room.

“Goodnight, Billy,” I said as I lay down. Then, I abruptly sat back up, “Oh, Billy? Thanks for letting me play with your toys.”

“I didn’t let you play with my toys,” he said, sitting up in his own crib and looking at me. “Those are our toys, now. They’re both of ours. My toys are your toys.”

“Really?” I asked in amazement.

“Yep,” he said. “Now, go to sleep. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” I repeated as I lay back down.

“I love you, baby brother,” Billy said.

“I love you, too,” I said softly.

I smiled to myself as I got the covers pulled up around me. I rested my head on my pillow. Within a few minutes I drifted off to sleep.

I didn’t wake up the next morning until Mommy came in and gently nudged me awake. I had turned over on my stomach during the night, which was how I was lying when I woke up. I rolled over on my side and looked up to see Mommy standing there.

“Good morning, baby,” she said to me. “It’s 8:30. You need to wake up.”

I smiled and sat up.

“Morning, Mommy,” I greeted her.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked as she dropped the side of the crib down.

“Uh huh,” I replied.

She reached into the crib and picked me up.

“We’ve got a big day today,” she told me as we went over to the changing table.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yep. We’re going to run some errands this morning, and then we’re going into town to have lunch with Daddy, and then you have to meet with your caseworker.”

“Is that Miss Shelly?” I asked.

“Uh huh,” she said. “She’s your caseworker.”

“Good,” I said happily. “I like her. She’s really nice.”

“Yes, she is,” agreed Mommy.

She set me down on the table and pulled my t-shirt off of me. She helped me lay down and then she began to undiaper me. As she did that I figured out how to get a thumb up to my eyes so I could wipe the sleep from them. I had to lift my head up and meet my thumb partway, but I was able to accomplish that simple task. I decided it was going to be a long ordeal having these casts on for so long. I had just woken up, and I was already itching from the casts. When I was done rubbing my eyes, I tried to get my left index finger up into my right arm cast to get at an itch up there. It was probably futile since the itch was way up on my forearm, but I still tried.

“Don’t put your fingers in your casts, baby,” Mommy told me.

“But, I’m itchy, Mommy,” I whined.

“Okay,” she said. “We’ll do something about it in a minute. Let me finish changing you.”

She had already removed my diapers and wiped me up. Of course, my diapers had been wet, indicating I had had yet another accident in my sleep. She lifted my butt up and put a stack of diapers under me. She pinned them onto me, and I noticed that there were only three of them. I wasn’t sure why she put one less diaper on me, but I decided not to ask. When she finished pinning them on me I could definitely tell my diapers were thinner. I was already so used to having the thick diapers on me for the last two days that I actually missed the extra diaper.

A minute later she had a pair of plastic pants on me. She left the room for a second and returned with the same hair dryer Celli had used yesterday. She picked up the canister of baby powder, which she had left out, and we went through the same routine of sprinkling a little powder into my casts and using the hair dryer to get a little air into them. That felt really good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was greatly relieved when the itching finally stopped.

When that was done, Mommy went into the room next to the bedroom, which I had found out was a walk-in closet. She returned a few minutes later with a pile of colorful clothes. She set the pile down next to me and picked up a shirt and unfolded it. It was a small, yellow-orange t-shirt with bright, red, horizontal pinstripes on it. She put the shirt on me and then unfolded the other garment. It was a pair of short overalls like Billy had worn yesterday except they were bright red. She opened them up and fed my legs into the garment. She then had to lift me up with one arm while she used the other to pull the short-alls the rest of the way on me. The short-alls barely squeezed over my diapers even though they were thinner than I had become used to.

She got the straps of the garment fastened over my shoulders. She then went to Billy’s bureau and took out a pair of socks and brought them over to me. She unfolded them, and then put just one of them on my right foot. The sock was short, coming up to just a few inches past my ankle, and it had two red stripes running across the top.

“Mommy is going to put this other sock in her purse,” she told me, “Just in case your toes on your other foot get cold while were out today, okay baby?”

“Okay,” I replied. “So is this what I’m wearing today?”

“Yep,” she replied. “And you look very cute.”

I looked down at myself once more. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go out in public in this rather juvenile outfit. In fact, I was pretty sure I didn’t want to. I was about to say something, but then I remembered the rule about not arguing about what I was dressed in. I decided I’d just be a good boy and not say anything.

“Okay. Let’s go meet Rosie, and then I’ll feed you breakfast,” said Mommy as she picked me up.

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“She’s our housekeeper, and she’s Billy’s and your nanny during the week when we’re not home,” she said.

“Oh,” I replied.

She carried me out of the room and downstairs. We went through the den and to the kitchen. I immediately saw a strange woman there. She was short, but pretty big and plump. She was a dark-skinned, Hispanic woman. Her, short, black, curly hair was starting to turn gray, so I figured she was pretty old. She immediately turned around when we came in the room. Her face looked kind enough, but I was still a little nervous to be meeting another new person. I hoped she was going to be a nice nanny.

“Oh,” she said. “So, this is the new niño?”

She had a pretty thick Mexican accent, and I wasn’t sure what that last word was.

“Yes,” said Mommy. “Rosie, this is Thaddeus. Taddy, this is Rosalinda.”

“Hello, Taddy,” she said pronouncing my name sort of funny.

She came over with her arms open. Mommy immediately passed me over to her, and Rosie gave me a hug. I sort of pulled away from her even though she was holding me simply because I was a little apprehensive because I didn’t know her.

“Hay precioso,” said Rosie.

I knew she was speaking Spanish, but I didn’t understand what she was saying. I immediately gave Mommy a questioning look.

“That means she thinks you’re cute, baby,” Mommy told me.

“Yes, he’s very cute,” said Rosie. “But the pobresito. He’s all broken. Do you hurt mijito?”

I wasn’t sure why she was calling me “mijito”, or what that meant, but she was obviously talking to me.

“Not really,” I said. “I’m okay, right now.”

“Bueno,” she said. “Your mamá has told me all about you. You’re just as pretty as she said you were. You’re a very brave little boy.”

“Say thank you, baby,” Mommy told me.

“Um, thank you,” I said bashfully.

“Are you hungry, mijito?” asked Rosie.

“Um, yes, please,” I said.

“Oh, and he’s so polite,” she commented.

“Yes. He’s very gentlemanly,” Mommy agreed. “Rosie, could you start making him some oatmeal while I go finish getting ready. We need to leave soon because our appointment with Molly is at 9:30.”

“Sí. Of course, Mrs. B,” replied Rosie. “Right away.”

Mommy turned and left the room while Rosie carried me over to the highchair. I wasn’t at all happy about Mommy leaving me alone with this stranger, but Rosie seemed nice enough, so far. She got me strapped into the highchair with the tray locked in front of me. She returned to the kitchen and put a small pot of water on the stove to begin heating.

“Would you like some toast, mijito?” she asked me.

“Yes, please,” I replied.

“Very well,” she replied happily.

She went about making my breakfast as she softly sang some little song in Spanish that I couldn’t understand.

“Ms. Rosie, what does ‘me-he-toe’ mean?” I finally worked up the courage to ask.

“‘Mijo’ means ‘my child’ or ‘my son’,” she explained. “‘Mijito’ means ‘my little one’ or ‘my little boy’.”

“Oh,” I said.

“You don’t speak any Spanish?” she asked me.

“No,” I replied slightly ashamed.

“That’s okay,” she said. “Señora Rosie will teach you. Your big brother, Billy, knows a lot of Spanish, now.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Sí. Él es muy inteligente,” she said. “He is very smart. You look very smart, too, so I’m sure you’ll learn just as fast.”

“I look smart?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” she said. “You look muy inteligente, very smart.”

Wow. I don’t think anyone had ever called me smart before, especially after just looking at me. I didn’t do all that well in school, but maybe I was smart.

A few minutes later she brought a bowl of oatmeal and a plate of toast over to me. She set them down on my tray and then returned to the kitchen for a bib and a sippy cup of orange juice. She tied the bib around my neck, and then pulled a chair up to feed me.

“I put lots of leche y azúcar in this for you,” she told me. “That’s milk and sugar.”

“Okay,” I said happily. Getting fed and learning new words at the same time was kind of fun.

She put a spoonful of oatmeal in my mouth. It was very good.

“Está bueno? It is good?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s very good, thank you,” I told her as she pushed another spoonful into my mouth.

“That’s good, mijito,” she said.

She continued feeding me my breakfast. Every so often she’d let me take a bite of toast or a drink from my sippy cup.

“Where is everybody at?” I asked after a while noting how quiet the house was.

“It’s Monday, Taddy,” she said. “Billy and your sisters are at school, and papá is at work already. They all left around 7:00.”

“Oh,” I replied as I received another spoonful of oatmeal.

A few minutes later I was finished with my breakfast. Ms. Rosie wiped my face with the bib and removed it. She was just taking away the dirty dishes when Mommy returned.

“All done, baby?” she asked.

“Uh huh,” I smiled.

“Good,” she replied. “Let’s go get your teeth brushed, and then we’ve got to run.”

“Okay,” I replied.

She came up and unstrapped me and removed me from the highchair. She carried me back upstairs and back to the nursery. We went to the bathroom and she set me on the counter by the sink. She pulled out the spare toothbrush I had been using and brushed my teeth for me. I think I could have probably figured out how to brush my teeth by myself, but it was kind of nice letting Mommy do it for me. A minute or two later that was done, and we headed downstairs. Before we left the nursery Mommy stopped at the changing table, and she set me down. She produced my two little slings for my arms and put them on me to hold my casts up. She then grabbed a baby-blue satchel bag by the changing table.

“What’s that, Mommy?” I asked as she carried the bag and me out of the room.

“That’s Billy’s diaper bag,” she said. “You two can share it for now, but we may have to get you a bigger one later when we take both of you out. I can only fit a couple of changes of your cloth diapers in there.”

“You mean you might change me somewhere, today?” I asked apprehensively.

“We’re going to be out for quite a while, baby,” she said. “I’ll probably have to.”

“Okay,” I nodded sadly.

By then we were downstairs in the kitchen again. Mommy set me down on the kitchen counter and told me not to move. She went over to the refrigerator and pulled some baby bottles out and stuffed them into the diaper bag.

“I’ve got your medicine and some regular Tylenol in here in case you start to hurt, baby,” Mommy told me. “If you do, just tell me and I’ll give you some.”

“Okay,” I nodded.

“Let’s go,” she said as she came back over to me.

“We’ll be back this afternoon, Rosie,” Mommy said as she picked me up again.

“Okay, I’ll see you then,” Ms. Rosie replied. “Have fun, little Taddy.”

“Okay. Bye, Ms. Rosie,” she said.

“Bye, bye, mijito,” she told me.

Mommy carried me out the back door of the kitchen to the garage. The house had a really big garage with room for three cars in it. Right now there was only one vehicle in it, a tan SUV. It was a smaller vehicle than the big, maroon SUV Daddy had driven me here in. I saw that it said “Toyota” on the back when Mommy was carrying me around to the driver’s side. She opened the back door and I was amazed to see a large car seat strapped to the bench back there. It looked just like a toddler’s car seat, but it was bigger, a lot bigger. Mommy shifted me around and set me down in the seat. It was actually a little big for me.

“Where did you get this?” I asked.

“It’s your brother’s car seat,” Mommy told me. “This is what he rides in. We’re going to order you one of your own today while we’re out.”

“Really?” I asked.

“That’s right,” she confirmed.

She got me adjusted in the seat and reached around behind my head to pull down some straps over me. The straps made up a harness of sorts with two padded shoulder straps, a belt that went around my waist and a final strap that came up between my legs. Everything connected into a padded latch over my pelvis. With a couple of adjustments and two secure clicks, Mommy had me strapped into the seat. We actually had to take my arm slings off again to get the harness on properly. She then had me lean my head forward so she could pull a three-sided foam headrest down a little. I put my head back and it was enveloped on the back and sides in the very comfortable headrest.

“Are you comfortable, baby?” Mommy asked me.

“Uh huh,” I said.

Actually, I was very comfortable. The car seat was very thickly padded and the seat pan and seatback came up on the sides to wrap me up on three sides. I felt very cozy and secure in the car seat.

Mommy leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek as she set the diaper bag on the other side of me on the bench. She closed my door and went up to the driver door. She slid into the front seat and pushed a button on the ceiling that opened the garage door. A moment later the car was started and we were backing out of the garage.

“Billy is usually asleep in that thing before we even get out of the driveway,” Mommy told me. “So you just doze right off whenever you want to, okay?”

I just nodded.

A minute later we were on the road. I got a look at the rest of the neighborhood for the first time since it was dark and I had been nearly asleep when I first came here. The other houses in the community were just as big and fancy as Mommy and Daddy’s house. I guess a lot of rich people lived here.

Mommy drove us out of the neighborhood and through the town. I discovered that McKinney was actually a pretty large town. There were neighborhoods and shopping centers all over the place.

I was enjoying the scenery, but the car seat was so comfortable that I couldn’t help but get sleepy. I was just about to doze off when Mommy pulled into a shopping strip. She parked in front of one store and got out. She first went to the back of the SUV and opened up the tailgate. She made a lot of noise back there, but I couldn’t see what she was doing since the car seat prevented me from seeing anything to my rear.

A minute later she opened the door by me. She reached in and got me unfastened from the car seat. She picked me up out of the seat and pulled me out of the car. I looked down and noticed a large stroller next to us, which Mommy proceeded to set me down in. Like the car seat, it was much bigger than a baby’s stroller would be. It looked like it folded up like a baby stroller would. The seat was made out of blue, nylon material. When I was sitting in it, I noticed that it wasn’t nearly as padded as the car seat, but my thick diapers provided enough padding that it was still pretty comfortable. It had a restraining harness system similar to the car seat, which Mommy pulled over my shoulders and clicked into place after adjusting it to fit me. She pulled the diaper bag out of the back seat.

The whole time I was looking around to see who might see me. I was more than a little nervous about being out in public wearing such juvenile clothes, my thick diapers, and being pushed around in a big stroller. I hoped people weren’t going to stare or laugh at me.

Mommy apparently had everything out of the car, and she pushed me toward the store we were in front of. I looked up over the door and saw that sign said, “Molly’s Custom Fashions.” I guess that was the name of the place was. I didn’t quite know what “Custom Fashions” would be, but I was sure that I’d quickly find out.

Mommy pulled the glass door to the place open and pushed me inside. I noticed several mannequins in the front of the store with various types of clothing on them. There was a long counter with a cash register on it behind which I couldn’t really see much, as I was sitting down. Mommy went up to the counter. A woman suddenly appeared there.

“Hello, Mrs. Bradshaw,” the lady said. “So good to see you again.”

“Good morning, Molly,” replied Mommy. “Good to see you, too. And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Jan?”

Molly either didn’t hear or ignored the question, because she looked down at me and smiled.

“So, this is the new little one you told me about,” she said. “He’s adorable.”

“Yes, this is Thaddeus, Molly,” Mommy introduced me. “Taddy this is Molly. She makes all of your brother’s baby clothes for us. Say hi.”

“Hello, Ms. Molly,” I said trying to remember to be polite even though I was almost shaking with nervousness.

“Hi, Mr. Taddy,” she said.

I wanted to laugh about being called Mister again. That was so funny.

“You’re just cute as a little button,” she said with a smile.

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said blushing in embarrassment.

“Ooh, so polite,” said Molly.

“Yes he is,” Mommy said. “And that’s completely his own doing. He’s been the perfect little gentleman since the moment we got him.”

I blushed again, but it was really nice to have Mommy complimenting me.

“I thought you said he was ten,” Molly said next.

“He is,” Mommy confirmed.

“He’s so tiny,” Molly said.

At that I frowned a little and looked down.

“Yes, he is,” said Mommy. “He’s small for his age, but we’ve got him eating a lot, and he’s going to grow up to be big and strong like his brother and Daddy.”

“Of course he is,” Molly agreed giving me a warm smile. “But until then we need to get you dressed in some new clothes, don’t we?”

“That’s right,” agreed Mommy.

“Okay, well, you guys come on back to the fitting room, and I’ll get our little guy measured myself,” said Molly.

She went over to a small gate through the counter and held it open as Mommy pushed me through it. I could now see the rest of the place. There were several large tables all over the room, and I saw several sewing machines and other weird looking machines. Along the walls were bolts of fabric stacked up in racks. I saw two other ladies hunched over sewing machines. Mommy greeted them. They both said hi, and gave me a look. They looked nice enough, but I was still very bashful and nervous, and I tried not to meet their eyes. We went back to a door and through it into a little room that was pretty empty. It had a bench on one wall along with several mirrors all over the room. There was also a short, little carpeted platform in the center of the room.

“Why don’t you go ahead and get him undressed,” Suggested Molly. “It’ll be easier to measure him that way.”

“Sure,” Mommy replied.

She got down on her knees in front of me and began to undress me. First, she unfastened my stroller restraints. Then, she unstrapped my short-alls and pulled my shirt off. She then had to get me out of the short-alls, which was a little harder to do since I couldn’t help her much. Eventually, I was sitting there in the stroller in just my diapers. I was very embarrassed to be practically naked in front of this woman who was still pretty much a stranger to me. My ears and cheeks burned, and I knew I was blushing very deeply. Unfortunately, I was about to be even more embarrassed.

“Should we take the diapers off, too?” Mommy asked.

“I think we’ll have to,” replied Molly. “There’s no way I can get accurate measurements with diapers that thick on him.”

“Okay,” said Mommy.

She reached for and grabbed the diaper bag off of the back of the stroller. She opened it and pulled out a folded up bundle. She unfolded it, and I saw that it was some sort of pad made out of plastic. The plastic was in a bright, babyish print. One side of it was covered in a plain, white cloth of some kind.

“Come on, baby,” Mommy said to me when she had the pad spread out onto the floor. “Let’s get on the changing pad so Mommy can take your diapers off.”

She picked me up out of the stroller and laid me down on the ground. She began to pull my diapers off.

“Do we have to do this, Mommy?” I asked squeakily.

“Yes, baby,” she told me. “Ms. Molly needs to get your measurements so she can make you some clothes. You want new clothes, don’t you?”

I nodded shallowly, but didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure if I wanted clothes if I had to go through all this to get them.

“Good,” she said. “Now, be a good boy for Mommy.”

I nodded again. I was probably more embarrassed than I had ever been in my life, but I really wanted to be a good boy.

She unpinned my diapers and discovered, like I already knew, that I was still clean and dry. She pulled the diapers out from under me and folded them.

“Does he need to stand up?” Mommy asked.

“That would be best,” replied Molly.

“Come on, baby,” she said.

She put her hands under my armpits and picked me up. She carried me over to that little platform in the center of the room. She set me down on it.

“Now, baby, I want you to put all your weight on your left foot, and don’t put any on your broken ankle, okay?” she instructed me.

I nodded.

“Mommy will stand behind you the whole time to make sure you don’t fall,” she assured me.

With that Molly came up to me. She had a measuring tape, a pencil, and a small notepad with her. She got down on her knees in front of me.

“Now, don’t worry, Taddy,” she told me. “There’s no reason to be embarrassed. I’ve seen it all before. I’ve got four boys of my own at home.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yep,” she replied as she started to wrap the measuring tape around my chest and shoulders.

“In fact, the three oldest ones go to the same school as your brother, Billy,” she said. “My oldest is one of Billy’s best friends.”

“That’s right,” Mommy confirmed. “Matty is over at our house all the time.”

“Uh huh,” Molly agreed. “I’m sure you’ll get to meet all of my kids pretty soon. I’ve also got a daughter that’s your age.”

She took measurements of various places on my body. It seemed like she measured every single part of me from the neck down.

“Now these casts will probably throw off his sleeve measurements,” Molly said. “But what I’ll do is not put any elastic in the cuffs and leave the sleeves just a little long. When the casts come off, you can bring all of his clothes back and I’ll re-hem them and put elastic ribbing on them.”

“I think that would be fine,” responded Mommy.

“Okay, then,” Molly said. “You can get him diapered and dressed again. You’re a very good boy, Taddy. A lot of boys squirm around and won’t stand still when I measure them.”

“Thank you,” I said bashfully.

Mommy picked me up again and took me back over to the changing pad. She laid me down on top of my diapers after she refolded them and laid them back out. She powdered me up with a little baby powder, and began to re-pin my diapers.

“So, what do you want me to make for him?” Molly asked.

“Well, diapers for one,” Mommy said immediately. “Just like the ones you make for Billy.”

“Okay,” she replied. “Standard thickness?”

“Just like you do for Billy,” Mommy said.

“Okay,” she said. “How many?”

“Um, let’s start with three dozen in Taddy’s size, and three dozen just a little bigger,” said Mommy. “Hopefully he’ll have a growth spurt soon, and we’ll need bigger diapers.”

“Okay,” Molly said again as she made notes on her notepad. “What about clothes?”

“Well, he definitely needs some sleepers,” said Mommy. “It’ll be getting cold soon. Other than that, make him a few onesies, both long and short-sleeved, maybe a playsuit or two for cold days when he can’t just go around in diapers, and we have to have some of the cute t-shirts you make for Billy, probably a dozen of those. Oh, and make him two pairs of cute overalls like the ones he’s wearing.”

“Do you want the sleepers footed?” Molly asked.

“Make four footed ones and two without feet,” said Mommy.

“With the zippers in the back, as usual?”

“Of course,” said Mommy. “We don’t want our little baby trying to get out of his sleepers.”

By now she had finished diapering me, and she pulled my plastic pants back on. She put my shirt and short-alls back on and then put me back in my stroller. Before long I was fastened back into its seat.

“What colors and patterns shall I use?” Molly asked.

“What’s your favorite color, Taddy?” Mommy asked me.

“Um, blue,” I replied.

“Use mostly blues, then,” Mommy told Molly. “But a few other bright colors won’t hurt. Do you have any cute, new prints that you haven’t used on Billy’s things? I want Taddy to look a little different so he can have his own little identity.”

“We just got a shipment of cloth in,” said Molly. “Why don’t you come to my office and we can sit down and look at some swaths?”

“Okay,” said Mommy.

She started to push me out of the room.

“Mommy, I’m starting to hurt,” I said quietly trying not to whine.

“Okay, baby,” she said. “Mommy will give you a bottle in just a second.”

We went to another room in the business that was a small office. Mommy sat in one of the chair in front of the desk while Molly went to get some fabrics. While we waited Mommy took a bottle of red Kool-Aid out of the diaper bag. She also took a little bottle of medicine out. She used a little measuring cup to measure out the medicine, which was also red, but it was thick and syrupy. She dumped the medicine in the uncapped baby bottle, recapped the bottle, and shook it up. After she put the bottle of medicine away, she unstrapped me from the stroller again, and picked me up. She cradled me in her lap, and then pushed the nipple of the bottle into my mouth. I lay there sucking on it even after Molly came back in with a stack of cloth. She just cooed at me and said how cute I was again. I was embarrassed, but I wanted my medicine, so I really didn’t pay attention to her.

Mommy and Molly went through several stacks of cloth and a few binders that had swaths of fabric in them to pick out stuff for me. I just continued sucking on my bottle. Mommy asked me if I liked a few of the prints, but all I did was nod at her without giving the swaths much more than a glance. All I cared about was that there was medicine in my bottle, and I wanted it to be in me so the aching in my arms and leg would go away.

Finally, they were done choosing fabrics and patterns. Mommy asked how much Molly was going to charge her. Molly didn’t say anything. She just wrote something on the list of clothes she was going to make for me, and showed it to Mommy.

“That sounds fair,” said Mommy. “I’ll pay you an extra hundred if you can have it done in two weeks.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Molly said.

“In fact, the weekend after next, let’s all get together at our house for a little cookout before it gets really cold,” said Mommy. “That way your husband and kids can meet our new baby. We’ll have a great time. You can bring everything then, and I’ll just write you a check.”

“That sounds great, Jan,” replied Molly.

“I’ll give you a call a week from Wednesday to see how everything is going and to confirm our get-together.”

“Very good,” Molly said.

Mommy put me back in the stroller again and fastened me into it. She put my empty bottle away and returned the diaper bag to its position hanging behind the stroller.

“You stay cute for us, Taddy,” Molly said to me. “And the next time I see you we’ll get you fitted with some nice, new clothes.”

“Okay. Thank you, Ms. Molly,” I said.

“You’re welcome, baby,” she said. “Tell Billy I said hi.”

“Okay,” I nodded.

Mommy and Molly told each other goodbye, and I was pushed out of the store. Mommy put me back in the car seat and strapped me into it. She returned the stroller to the back of the SUV, and a moment later we were on the road again. I was already getting tired from my medicine, so I pretty much just sat there in a stupor and paid little attention to the ride. I was just about to fall asleep when we pulled into a large shopping center. Mommy got me out of the car seat once more and into the stroller again. She pushed me towards one of the stores. It said “Pharmacy” over the door. We went inside and straight back through the store to the pharmacy counter. An older lady came up to the counter.

“Hi, Jan,” the lady greeted Mommy. “Good to see you.”

“Hello, Carol,” the lady said. “Good to see you, too.”

“So, this is the new little one?” she asked looking down at me.

I wondered if the whole world knew who I was now.

“Yes,” replied Mommy. “This is Thaddeus. Taddy, this is Carol.”

“Hi, Taddy,” Carol said.

“Hi,” I squeaked shyly.

“You’re just the cutest little thing,” she told me.

Why did everyone keep saying that?

“Thank you, Ms. Carol,” I replied politely, but still blushing.

“So, you want to get him all fitted out, then?” Carol asked.

“Yes,” said Mommy. “We just left Molly’s place. She’s going to have us a bunch of stuff made within a couple weeks. I need to get some prefolds in his size to hold us over until she has his fitted diapers made. Of course, we’ll need plastic pants in his size, as well.”

“Excellent,” said Carol.

“And we’ll need to go ahead and order another stroller and car seat for him,” said Mommy.

“Certainly,” she said. “Do you want the same models as what you have for little Billy?”

“Yes,” Mommy replied. “All the same stuff.”

“Okay. Well, let’s go look at some diapers first, shall we?” Carol suggested.

She came out of the pharmacy and we went over to a secluded corner of the store. I found that we were in the diaper aisle. Except it wasn’t the baby diaper aisle. It was the adult incontinence section. Carol led us over to a section where I saw stacks of prefolded diapers like I was wearing.

“How big is he?” Carol asked.

Mommy opened her purse and took out a little sheet of paper.

“Those are the measurements Molly just took,” Mommy explained.

Carol looked at them for a second.

“He’s about three sizes smaller than Billy,” she said. “The child mediums should work fine for his waist size.”

She reached down and picked up a bundle of diapers in a plastic package. She tore open and end of the package and pulled out a diaper. She handed it to Mommy.

“Seems a bit small,” said Mommy. “He’ll probably be growing a lot soon.”

“You could go with the child large size,” said Carol. “Then there’s an extra large, and then you get to the adult, extra small, which is what Billy has.”

“Hmm,” said Mommy. “Well, that’s what Taddy is wearing now, but they’re pretty big. Let’s try some of the child larges and extra larges. We’ll start with a couple dozen of each of those sizes.”

“Okay,” said Carol.

She grabbed several packages of diapers and carried them back to the pharmacy counter. She came back and then they went a few feet down the aisle to the section that had plastic pants. Mommy picked out several pairs of plastic pants. They were all clear or mostly clear plastic. We then returned to the pharmacy counter.

“I’d like to go ahead and get him a case of disposables as well,” said Mommy.

“Okay,” said Carol. “He’s sort of right between baby-size diapers and youth diapers. You could probably put him in toddler diapers, but youth-size diapers would be more absorbent.”

“Well, we definitely want as much absorbency as possible,” said Mommy said. “If he wets anything like his brother he’ll need it.”

“I can certainly understand that,” said Carol.

I blushed deeply at them talking about me wetting.

“We don’t stock that size of diapers in the store,” said Carol as she reached underneath the counter. “We can order them by the case, though.”

She produced a binder and began paging through it.

“Would you like the same brand you have Billy in?” asked Carol.

“Oh, of course,” said Mommy. “We’ve tried them all and that’s the best brand.”

“It is,” Agreed Carol. “I try to recommend it to everyone. Um, I see here that it’s available in two absorbency levels in that size: extra and super absorbent. Super absorbent is the best, but they’re quite a bit thicker.”

“We better get those,” said Mommy. “We can’t take a risk not having enough protection.”

“I must agree with you there,” said Carol. “They come in cases of ten dozen. The company can ship them within forty-eight hours, and they take seven to ten days for standard shipping, but I can get them here in three or four business days, if you need me to rush them.”

“No, no,” said Mommy. “No rush. We can keep him in cloth for now.”

“Okay,” said Carol. “Now let’s see about the stroller and car seat.”

I would have listened to the rest of the conversation, but about then I lost my battle with the medicine-induced grogginess that I was fighting. I didn’t wake up again for quite a while. The next thing I knew, Mommy was pulling me out of the car again. I opened my eyes as she set me down in the stroller.

“Hi, baby,” said Mommy. “Did you have a good nap?”

I just nodded sleepily.

“Where are we, Mommy?” I asked groggily.

“We’re at the outlet mall in Allen,” said Mommy.

I didn’t know where that was.

“We’re going to get you some big boy clothes,” said Mommy.

“Oh,” I said tiredly.

“Why don’t you just go back to sleep, sweetie?” she suggested. “I can tell you’re still sleepy, and there’s really no reason for you to be awake.”

“Okay,” I said quietly.

I needed very little encouragement. The last thing I remember before falling asleep again was her pushing me toward a big store with a blue sign over it that said, “Oshkosh B’Gosh.”

The next time I woke up I was being put back into the car. I didn’t say anything as Mommy strapped me into the car seat and then took the stroller to the back. She climbed into the driver’s seat and we were off again. Before we pulled out of the parking lot I noticed that my diapers were now wet. I must have had another accident in my sleep. I pretty much decided to just ignore that for now.

“Where are we going now, Mommy?” I asked quietly as we got onto a highway.

“We’re headed into Dallas, baby,” she said. “It’s time to go meet Daddy for lunch.”

I just nodded and looked out the window as I tried to wake myself up.

“How are you feeling, baby?” Mommy asked me after a few minutes.

“I’m okay,” I said. I wasn’t hurting at the moment. I actually felt pretty good, especially cradled in the comfy car seat.

“Sweetie,” Mommy said from the front seat. “We need to talk.”

Uh oh, I thought. That didn’t sound good. I looked up at the rearview mirror to see the look in Mommy’s face. I silently prepared myself for some really bad news. A thousand things went through my head. What if they had decided they didn’t want me? What if she was taking me back to Dallas to give me back to Miss Shelly, who would then send me back to my old foster home, or yet another home where they would hurt me? I didn’t think I could handle that. I finally found a place that I thought I was going to like, and I didn’t want to leave. I’d stay with Mommy and Daddy forever if they let me, even though I knew that was highly unlikely to happen.

After a few seconds of thought I looked up at the rearview mirror again.

“Okay,” I said quietly.

“You haven’t made pooh-pooh since you’ve been here,” she said. “Have you?”

I let out a mental sigh of relief. I didn’t want to talk about pooh-poohing, but it was sure a lot better than what I had been thinking of.

“No,” I replied shyly.

“When is the last time you went?” she asked.

I shrugged.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Did you go at all after you ran away?” she asked.

“No,” I replied.

“Then that means you went at your old home last, right?”

“Uh huh,” I said.

“Baby, that’s nearly a week,” she said as though I didn’t know. “That’s too long, baby. You supposed to poop every day to stay healthy. I know you didn’t eat much when you were out by yourself, but we’ve fed you a ton of food since Saturday morning, so you should be ready to go pretty soon.”

I didn’t respond. I just sat there.

“Have you felt the need to poop?” she asked.

“No,” I said.

I honestly hadn’t.

“Okay,” she said. “Well, I want you to be trying for the rest of today. If you haven’t gone by later this afternoon when we get home Mommy is going to have to give you something to make you go. That won’t be a whole bunch of fun, but I have to or you might get sick. You can get really sick if you don’t make pooh-pooh often enough.”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all. I still wasn’t sure I was going to like pooping in my diapers, but I certainly didn’t want to be made to go. I wasn’t sure how she’d do that, but it didn’t sound pleasant.

“Okay, Mommy,” I said. “I’ll try really hard to go.”

“Okay, baby,” she said. “Good boy.”

That ended the conversation, and I went back to enjoying the scenery. Another thing I liked about this car seat was that I put me much higher up above the ground so I could see more than I normally could while sitting in a regular seat.

Before long I could see the skyline of Dallas looming in the distance. The buildings, towers, and skyscrapers got larger with every passing minute. We got all the way into downtown before we exited the highway. We pulled into a large medical center with a big white building that said, “Baylor” on it.

“Is this a hospital?” I asked.

“Yep,” said Mommy. “This is where Daddy works.”

“Is this where I was?” I asked.

“No, you were at the Children’s Medical Center, which isn’t too far from here,” she said.

“Oh,” I replied.

We pulled into a parking garage where Mommy parked. Once again, she got me out of the car seat and strapped me into the stroller. We went into the hospital through a large lobby area. I was extremely nervous the whole time because there were a lot of people all over the place. Several people, including some kids passed by us, and I know they were staring at me. I wasn’t sure if they were looking at my bright, babyish attire, or the prominent diaper bulge around my lower half, but I was extremely embarrassed either way. Several very small children that practically gawked at me especially discomfited me.

Finally, we got on an elevator and went all the way up to the tenth floor. We exited the elevator and Mommy pushed me down a big hallway. She eventually turned us off of the hallway, and we went through a door. We went into a fairly large waiting room. Mommy pushed me up to the receptionist’s desk. A lady at the desk stood up to greet us. She greeted Mommy like they knew each other, and immediately told us to go on back into the office.

We went further into the suite. Down a little hall past the reception desk was a row of offices. We went all the way to the end of the hall through an open door.

“Hi, honey,” Mommy said happily to a chair at a desk that was turned away from us.

The big chair turned around and I saw Daddy sitting in it.

“Daddy!” I said happily.

“Hey, buddy,” he said with a cheerful smile.

He immediately got up and came over to me. He unstrapped me from the stroller and picked me up. He gave me a big hug and a kiss.

“How’s Daddy’s little baby doing, today?” he asked me.

“I’m okay,” I replied.

“That’s good,” he said. “Did you enjoy the drive into town?”

“Uh huh,” I replied.

“We got him some of his own diapers, and I ordered a bunch of stuff from Molly,” said Mommy.

“Great,” said Daddy. “Are you guys ready to get some food?”

“Uh huh,” I said. “I’m hungry.”

“Good,” he said. “Let’s go then.”

He put me back in the stroller and strapped me in. He then got behind me and pushed me out of the office as Mommy walked beside us. On the way out of the suite, we stopped by a few other offices so Daddy could introduce me to some of the people he worked with. There were a couple other doctors and some nurses, and they were all very nice to me.

After that we left the office and headed out of the hospital. We went out the front of the hospital and I was pushed down the street for a little way until we came to a small restaurant. We went inside and were quickly seated. Daddy got a booster seat for me and put it in one of the chairs at our table. He took me out of the stroller and set me down in the booster seat. We had a pretty quiet lunch. Mommy helped me order something from the menu. I ended up getting chicken tenders and French fries. When the food came, Daddy cut my meal up into little pieces and fed everything to me.

We spent a while in the restaurant talking about whatever struck our fancy, but then Daddy had to get back to work, and Mommy had to take me to my meeting with Miss Shelly. We walked Daddy back to the hospital, and then Mommy and I left after he gave me a hug and kiss and told me to be a good boy for Mommy. Within a few minutes, we were on the road again driving around through downtown. There were big, huge buildings all over the place that were so large that I couldn’t even see the tops of them when looking out the windows on either side of me.

Not too long after we left the hospital Mommy parked along one side of the street in front of a big building. She got me out of the car and we went inside and up another elevator. A minute later we were in a large office with several desks and cubicles in it. Mommy asked where we could find Shelly Morgan, and we were pointed over to a desk in one corner of the room. We went over there where we found Miss Shelly working at her desk.

“Hi, Miss Shelly,” I said happily when I was pushed up to her desk.

“Well, hello, Mr. Tad,” she said cheerfully. “How are you doing? Are you feeling better?”

“Uh huh,” I replied.

“Good,” she said. “You look much better. Is that a new outfit you’re wearing?”

“No,” I said. “It’s my brother, Billy’s.”

“Well, it looks very cute on you,” she said.

I blushed in embarrassment.

“Thank you,” I said.

“I guess we should get started, then,” she said. “Let’s go over to the conference room where it’s quieter.”

She got up carrying a file folder with her. Mommy followed her, pushing me along. We went to a small, glass-walled room with a little table and five or six chairs. Mommy and Miss Shelly sat down at the table across from each other. I was kitty-corner to both of them.

“Well, Tad, your former foster father is in jail,” she told me. “He spent the weekend in jail, and had a bond hearing this morning.”

I had no idea what a bond hearing was.

“I went to the hearing, and the prosecutor and I showed the judge pictures of what he did to you,” she told me. “The judge took one look at the pictures and he set bail at $200,000.”

“What’s that mean?” I asked.

“That means he has to pay the judge $200,000 to get out of jail,” she said. “Since he doesn’t have that, he’ll probably be in jail until he goes to trial.”

“What’s a trial?” I asked.

“That’s where the prosecutor has to prove what your foster dad did,” answered Mommy. “When they prove that he hurt you, they’ll probably send him to jail for a long time.”

“That’s right,” said Miss Shelly. “He was charged with aggravated assault and injury to a child, both of which are felonies, which means he could go to prison for years.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yep,” she said. “I’ve already talked to the prosecutor, though, and he’ll probably be offered a plea bargain. If he doesn’t accept the plea bargain the case will go to trial, and you’ll have to testify against him.”

“What’s that mean?” I asked.

“That means you’ll have to go to court and tell a judge and jury what happened to you,” Miss Shelly said.

I got a little nervous at that. Testifying sounded like it was pretty hard.

“We don’t want you to have to do that, which is why he’s going to be offered a plea bargain.”

“What’s the DA going to offer?” Mommy asked.

I didn’t know what a DA was, either.

“He might drop one of the charges,” she said. “Maybe offer him a few years for a guilty plea. I’m pushing hard to get at least some time in state prison.”

“Good,” Mommy said. “He needs it.”

“My supervisor is also investigating to see if we need to take their two children away,” said Miss Shelly.

We spent the next half-hour talking there in the conference room. Miss Shelly wanted me to tell her everything that had happened to me again to make sure she had her report right. I didn’t want to talk about that again, but I did. She asked me how I liked the Bradshaws, and I, of course, told her that I really liked living with them.

“Now, Taddy,” said Miss Shelly. “Before you go, we have one last thing we need to take care of. I need to get you placed in a permanent foster home.”

I didn’t like when she said that. Did that mean that I was going to be taken away and put somewhere else? My bottom lip started to quiver, and I suddenly wanted to cry.

“I was going to start looking for a home to place you in,” she said. “But, Dr. and Mrs. Bradshaw said they’d be delighted to have you.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly, abruptly perking up.

“That’s right,” she said.

“You’re just too cute, baby,” Mommy said to me. “We just can’t get rid of you.”

“So, I get to stay with you?” I asked.

“For a while at least,” she said. “That is, if that’s what you want.

“I do!” I said happily. “I really, really do!”

“Good!” said Mommy.

That pretty much ended the business we had with Miss Shelly. She told us she would be in contact with us soon, and then we left. Before we left, though, she gave me a nice hug and a kiss on the cheek.

We went back outside and Mommy loaded me into the car.

“Ready to go home, baby?” Mommy asked as she picked me up out of the stroller.

“Uh huh,” I said. “I’m kind of tired.”

“Well, you can sleep all the way home,” she told me.

Before she put me into the car she stuck her hand down the back of my short-alls. I felt her stick her fingers in the back of my diapers.

“You’re not all that wet,” she said. “But you haven’t made pooh-pooh, yet.”

“I know,” I said sadly.

“You need to try to go on the way home, baby,” she said. “If you can’t then I’m going to have to give you something when we get home.”

I nodded sadly.

“Try to go, okay?” she said.

“I will, Mommy,” I promised. “I’ll try really hard.”

“Good boy,” she said as she gave me a kiss.

She put me in the car seat and buckled me into it. She put the stroller away, and then climbed into the seat in front of me. A minute later she pulled out into traffic, and we headed back out of the city.

I would have liked to go to sleep, but I ended up spending most of the trip trying to poop. I was able to pee sitting there after some considerable effort. I had needed to pee a long time ago, but I hadn’t been able to go sitting there in front of Mommy and Miss Shelly. I tried to poop really, really hard, to the point that I’m sure my face was flushed with the exertion, but I just wasn’t able to make myself go. I just didn’t really feel the urge to go for some reason. By the time we pulled off the highway in McKinney and were getting close to home, I was getting very upset because I couldn’t poop.

Finally, Mommy turned onto the driveway of the big house. She pulled the SUV into the garage and shut the engine off. She got out of the driver’s seat and came back. I was about to cry by the time she opened my door.

“We’re home, baby,” she announced happily as though I didn’t know.

She reached for me and unbuckled the car seat restraints. She pulled me out of the car seat and set me on her hip. I barely felt through my thick diapers as she gave my butt a squish.

“You didn’t make pooh-pooh, did you, baby?” she asked.

I looked down and shook my head shamefully.

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” I said with a shaky voice. “I tried really hard.”

“I know, baby,” she replied.

“I didn’t mean to be bad,” I said sniffling and fighting back tears.

“Oh, baby, you’re not bad,” she said giving me a hug. “You just couldn’t go pooh-pooh. There’s nothing wrong with that. It just means Mommy is going to have to give you a little help to make you go. You’re not a bad boy. You’re a good boy. Understand?”

I just nodded.

“Let’s go inside,” she said.

She gave me a kiss and then reached into the back seat for the diaper bag. She carried the diaper bag and me into the house. We went through the kitchen and she carried me up the stairs. We found Ms. Rosie upstairs in the nursery collecting dirty laundry.

“Hello,” she said. “Did you two have a good day?”

“Uh huh,” I nodded quietly.

“What’s wrong, little Taddy?” she asked, obviously noting that I was a bit downtrodden.

I just shook my head without looking at her.

“He hasn’t had a bowel movement in about a week,” Mommy said, “And I’m going to have to give him a little suppository to help him go.”

“Uh oh,” said Ms. Rosie. “Pobresito.”

She picked up her basket of laundry and carried it out of the room. As she passed us she leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She left the room and Mommy carried me over to the changing table. She set me down on it and began undressing me. She got me out of my short-alls but left my t-shirt on. She picked my dangling legs up and laid me down on the table.

“You lay right here, and Mommy will be back in just a minute,” she told me.

I nodded as she turned to leave the room. I waited there quietly for a minute or two until she returned. When she came in, she was carrying a baby bottle of milk with her. She set the bottle on the table by my head and then began to undiaper me. She pulled my plastic pants off and unpinned my diapers. She pulled the front of my diapers back exposing my lower half. I then watched her pull a latex glove onto one hand. I wondered why she needed that.

“Okay, baby,” she said. “Here we go.”

She lifted my legs up and pushed them up onto my chest. She held them there with one hand, and then I felt one of the fingers of the gloved hand invade my butt hole. I felt her push something very small up into my rectum. It was so small that I couldn’t even feel it after she withdrew her finger.

“All done, baby,” she said.

“That’s it?” I asked.

“Well, not quite,” she said. “But that’s all I had to do.”

I wondered what she meant by that.

I lay there quietly as she began to put my wet diapers back on me. She pinned them on and then put the plastic pants back on. She then picked me up and put me on her hip. She carried me over to the rocking chair in the corner of the room along with the bottle of milk. She sat down in the rocking chair and got me cradled in her lap. She pushed the bottle into my mouth and I almost instinctively started sucking on it.

“Now, baby, in just a minute you’re going to start to get a little tummy ache,” she told me. “Then you’re going to feel like you need to go pooh-pooh really bad. I want you to try to hold it in just as long as you can before you let it out, okay?”

I just nodded as I sucked on my bottle. I was already starting to feel a little funny down there. My butt kind of burned just a little. It wasn’t too bad yet, but it was a little annoying. Within a minute or two I was getting a little cramping down in my lower abdomen, and within another minute that cramping had turned into a fiery, burning ache. It hurt really badly. I couldn’t even suck on the bottle of milk anymore.

“Mommy, it hurts,” I whined, spitting my bottle out.

“I know, baby,” she said. “It won’t last for very long. Just keep holding it for a little while longer.”

Soon enough, just like she predicted, I really, really needed to poop. I almost couldn’t stand it anymore, but I held it as best I could. Mommy wanted me to hold it, so I was going to hold it no matter what. A minute or two later, I was crying it hurt so badly.

“Mommy, it hurts really bad,” I sobbed.

“Okay, baby,” she said. “Go ahead and let it out.”

“Right here?” I asked.

I really didn’t want to poop in front of another person.

“Just go, baby,” she said. “Just relax and let it go.”

I still didn’t want to go in front of her, but I just couldn’t hold it anymore. Finally, I just relaxed my clenched butt cheeks. Without me even pushing, a long, wet fart along with a little liquid of some kind came out of my butt. It was a pretty loud fart, too. Letting the fart out helped me feel just a little, but another wave of cramping quickly followed its release. Again, without pushing, a glob of poop slid out of my butt. I don’t think I could have held it in even if I had tried. I thought pushing that rather large amount of poop out would help, but that really didn’t stop the pain. As soon as that wave of poop came out more cramping started and I had to push more poop out.

I proceeded to poop more than I think I had ever pooped before in my life. Wave after wave of poop came out of my butt. The cramping didn’t seem like it was ever going to stop. Within a few minutes I was crying pretty loudly, only stopping my crying long enough to strain as I tried to push more poop out to make the cramping stop. The whole time Mommy rocked me gently and held me tightly trying to comfort me. It didn’t help with the pain at all, but it was nice to know she cared.

When the poop first started coming out it was pretty firm, like clay, but as I pooped more it got softer and squishier. It went from clay consistency, to mashed potatoes, to peanut butter, to spaghetti sauce, and after a while it was more liquid than anything else.

Finally, the pain in my guts started to subside. The cramping grew smaller and smaller. I let out one last, wet fart and I felt much better. I was winded and exhausted from the long ordeal. The side of my face was resting on Mommy’s chest as she gently ran her fingers through my hair.

“Do you feel better, baby?” she asked me.

“Uh huh,” I whimpered quietly.

I was still upset and crying softly as I panted.

“Just calm down, baby,” Mommy said. “It’s all over now. You did very well. You’re a brave, little baby.”

I finally calmed down and stopped crying. I was suddenly even more tired than I had been when I got home. Without much further thought I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep as Mommy continued stroking my hair.

I woke up sometime later and found myself lying in my crib. I had little pillows under my arm casts and another propping up my leg cast. I was covered in my soft, flannel sheet that I was starting to really love. I sat up and immediately noticed the squish of the humungous lump in my diapers. It felt like I had a football-sized pile of play-dough or mud in my diapers, but I knew it was poop, of course. It went all the way up my butt crack and I felt it pressing up and past my little balls and pee-pee. I then noticed the smell. It was horrendous. I smelled like a backed-up sewer. It was like the worst fart I had ever smelled before, except it didn’t go away.

I sat up the rest of the way and immediately looked over to see Billy sitting in his crib across the room. He smiled and waved at me.

“Hi, Taddy,” he said cheerfully.

“Hi, Billy,” I replied. “Why are you in your crib, too?”

“Because I have to take my afternoon nap after I get home from school,” he said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Well, yeah,” he said as though I should have known. “All babies take afternoon naps, especially ones that go to school. You’ll be taking them, too.”

I reached up and tried to scratch my head, but it was hard to get to the itchy spot on my scalp. I cursed my casts yet again.

“How long until someone gets us up?” I asked.

“Shouldn’t be much longer,” he said. “We only have to take a thirty minute nap. Mommy or one of the girls should be in any minute.

“You stink,” he said next with a big grin on his face. “So, that’s your first diaper poop. What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” I said with a frown as shifted my butt around. “It’s all gushy and squishy in there.”

“I know. Isn’t it great?” he said with a fiendish gleam in his eyes.

“I guess it’s not so bad,” I said. “It stinks really bad.”

“You’ll get used to that,” he said immediately. “I hardly notice my poopy smells anymore. I like mine. You probably will, too.”

Just then the nursery door opened and Andy came in. She was wearing a pair of those short pants that stopped below the knees that girls wore. I couldn’t remember what they were called. The top of the pants stopped just below her hips and a halter-top completed her outfit leaving her bellybutton exposed. She and Celli seemed to like to have their bellybuttons showing.

“Hi, babies,” she said happily.

She immediately came up to me.

“How’s my little stinky butt?” she asked. “I heard you made a big, big poopy today.”

“Yeah,” I said looking down and blushing with embarrassment.

“Are you ready for a change?” she asked me.

I nodded adamantly.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s get the babies into some clean diapers.”

She let the side of the crib down and picked me up. She put me on her hip and gave me a kiss.

“Such a stinker,” she cooed at me as she tweaked the tip of my nose.

We went over to Billy’s crib and she dropped the side of it down so he could climb out. I was then carried over to the changing table. Andy plopped my butt down rather firmly causing my poop to ooze around inside my diapers even more. I must have gotten a funny look on my face from that because Andy kind of laughed at me. She helped me lay down and then she pulled my plastic pants off. She slowly unpinned my diapers and began peeling them back. She finally got to the last one and opened it up.

“Wow!” she said with widened eyes when she looked inside my diapers.

“Whoa!” Billy joined in. He was standing next to his sister watching me get changed. “That’s a big freakin’ load!”

Andy immediately reached down and gave Billy a hard swat on the butt.

“Don’t say ‘freakin’’!” she said. “You know you’re not allowed to use that kind of language. I’ll spank your hiney, young man.”

“Sorry,” Billy said with a gulp.

“That is a big load, though,” she agreed as she looked back down at me. “These diapers sure looked harmless from the outside.”

I finally couldn’t resist the urge to look any longer, so I pushed myself up onto my fiberglass-encased elbows. I look down at myself and was amazed at the disgusting sight of my poopy mess. The inside of my diapers was covered in a swath of brown muck. My abdomen was covered in poop all the way up to a couple of inches above my privates. Even the insides of my legs were coated in my own waste.

“I think I need gloves for this cleanup,” said Andy.

She reached down under the tabletop and produced a pair of latex gloves. She put them on and took out several baby wipes. She then proceeded to thoroughly clean my diaper area. It took her several minutes to get all the poop off of me. When I was finally clean she diapered me up in a thick set of four diapers after she thoroughly powdered me. I enjoyed the feel of the fresh, clean diapers on me. She pulled a clean pair of plastic pants onto me and got them tucked in and adjusted. Before she sat me up she lifted my shirt up and sprinkled some baby powder on my chest.

“We want our little baby to smell nice and fresh,” she said.

I squirmed and giggled as she rubbed the powder into my skin, which tickled a lot.

She then picked me up and set me down on the floor.

“Sit on the floor while I change your brother, baby,” she said.

I nodded as she gave me a little pat on the head.

Meanwhile, Billy was climbing up on the table to take my place. It was only then that I noticed he was actually wearing a disposable. I hadn’t really seen him wearing disposable diapers yet. The diaper was pretty thick, definitely not like a baby diaper, with four tapes on it. The front and part of the back of the otherwise white diaper was tinted slightly yellow, and there was a prominent brown smear in the seat of it. He was obviously wet and poopy.

He lay down on the table and Andy immediately started changing him. She pulled the tapes open and opened his diaper. She got him cleaned up much quicker than she had me, and she pulled out a new disposable from underneath the table.

“Can’t I wear cloth, now, like Taddy?” he asked.

“Nope,” Andy replied curtly.

“Why not?” he asked.

“You shouldn’t have used that bad word,” she said.

“Aw, come on, Andy!” he whined.

“Hush!” She said. “You’re in no position to argue. I can turn you right over and tan your bare, little butt.”

“Come on, Andy,” he said more pleadingly.

“It’s either no cloth diapers, or I’ll go tell Mom you said ‘freakin’’,” she said.

“But you just said it,” he said.

“So,” she said. “I’m not a baby. I know when it’s appropriate to use certain words. Babies don’t know things like that, which is why you can’t use those words. Now, if I hear one more word out of you, Billy Bradshaw, you’re getting a spank, and I’m going to tell Mom what you said.”

He just huffed and lay there. He rather uncooperatively let her put a new disposable on him and tape it up. He sat up and Andy leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“All done, baby brother,” she said. “Now let’s all go downstairs.”

She turned around and reached down to me as Billy slid off of the changing table.

“Do you want a snack, baby?” she asked me.

I nodded. I was getting a little hungry.

“Are you hurting? Do you want some medicine?”

“No. I’m okay,” I said.

She planted me on her hip and took one of Billy’s hands with her free hand. She took us out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen. I found that Celli was home now too, and she greeted me. Andy set me in Celli’s lap before she strapped Billy into his highchair. She then went to the kitchen to get us our snack.

Ms. Rosie was just leaving for the day. She gave Billy and me a kiss, and said that she was happy to meet me, and that she’d see me tomorrow. After she left Andy brought us our snack. It was something called rice pudding. Andy said Ms. Rosie had made it that afternoon for us. It was rice cooked in milk with a cinnamon stick in it and lots of sugar to make it sweet. It was really good, and I ate every bite as Celli fed it to me.

After our snack Billy had to do homework, so the girls put me in the playpen in the den to play by myself until supper. Daddy got home just before supper was ready. He came into the den and picked me up out of the playpen. I got to sit in his lap and cuddle with him as we watched the evening news. Actually, he watched it since I wasn’t really interested in the news. We then ate supper, and then it was time for Billy and me to have our bath.

I finally got to have a real bath tonight since Mommy had purchased some cast protectors for me at the pharmacy today. Basically they were like plastic bags shaped to fit over my casts with a rubber gasket-like thing at the top that sealed around my arms and leg respectively to keep water out of the casts. They worked really well and kept my casts perfectly dry even when completely submerged in water. Unfortunately, I still wasn’t allowed to play around too much in the water because Mommy and Daddy thought that too much movement might cause the cast protectors to leak.

After we were squeaky clean and thickly diapered for the night Billy and I got to stay up for just a little while. We went downstairs where Mommy displayed everything she had purchased for me to the whole family. That was good since I had been pretty much asleep the whole time she was buying it all.

I found that she had gotten me a bunch of “big boy” clothes at the Oshkosh B’Gosh and Tommy Kids stores at that outlet mall. There were a couple of pairs of over-alls, a pair of jeans, and a pair of khaki slacks. That was it for pants. She said we’d worry about a pair of shorts or two later on. She also bought me two pairs of sneakers in addition to a pair of dressier shoes. There were several shirts along with socks and plain, white t-shirts. I noticed that, except for the socks and t-shirts, all of the “big boy” clothes didn’t look all that big-boyish. Everything was kind of juvenile looking. It wasn’t as childish as what I had worn today, but neither was it the things I had seen stylish kids wear at school—not that I had ever had any stylish clothes before. I was going to ask about that, but then I remembered the rule about having to wear what I was told to, so I kept my mouth shut. The clothes didn’t look too bad, and it was more clothes than I had ever had in my entire life, so I supposed that I shouldn’t complain.

Then, Mommy showed me the really special thing she got me. It was my very own teddy bear. That really excited me, as I don’t think I had ever had a teddy bear of my own. She handed him to me and I immediately clenched him to my chest tightly. He was a kind of silly color of orange, and his snout, paws, and the insides of his ears were beige. He had a little brown nose and brown eyes. He had a little, navy blue bib around his neck that was trimmed in red and had an apple embroidered on it.

“Thank you, Mommy!” I said happily. “I never had a teddy bear. I love it!”

“You’re welcome, baby,” Mommy told me as she picked me up and gave me a hug. “I’m glad you like it.”

After that, it was time for Billy and me to go to bed. We told Mommy and our sisters goodnight, and then Daddy took Billy and me upstairs to the nursery. We sat in the padded lounging area on the floor in the corner, and we each had a bottle of warm milk as Daddy read us a story from a children’s book. It was a story for probably a four or five-year-old, but I actually found it interesting after a while.

When the story was finished Daddy tucked us into our cribs. After he gave me a kiss and a hug he laid me down in my crib. He got my pillows adjusted comfortably under my casts and then he pulled the sheet and blanket up over me. He also made sure my new bear was tucked in right next to me. He went over to Billy’s crib and tucked him in, and then he left us telling us goodnight once more as he switched the lights off. Billy and I told each other goodnight and that we loved each other, and then he quickly fell asleep.

I stayed awake for a few minutes thinking about the day. Other than the horrible, suppository ordeal, it hadn’t been a bad day. In retrospect, it hadn’t even been so bad going out in public in really thick diapers and dressed as a big toddler. It had only been my third full day here, but I already felt more at home in this place than I had ever felt in any place before. I wondered if being treated like a baby helped any with that, but I guess it really didn’t matter. I liked thinking of this place as home, and I liked being treated like a baby. If those two feelings happened to be related, so be it.

And with that somewhat cheery thought, I drifted off to sleep.

A Second Chance

Part 4

Spectacles, Home-School,

And Diaper Therapy