A Second Chance

Part 2

My First Day

I woke up with a sudden start. Where was I? What had happened to me? I opened my eyes and looked around. I was shocked when I saw that vertical bars surrounded me. I looked around me and saw that I was indeed in a bed, but it had bars around it. I looked up and there was a weird looking mesh sort of thing over the top of the bed. Was I in a cage? I vaguely remembered those nice people bringing me to their house last night, but I couldn’t remember anything after that.

I then turned my attention to myself. I lifted my head off of the pillow it rested on and looked at myself. I saw the two casts on my arms, which reminded me about what happened yesterday. My arms rested on little pillows on either side of my torso. I had a clean, white, but baggy t-shirt on. I looked further down and saw my left leg in its cast sticking out from underneath a blanket and sheet that covered me. The sheet was really soft and baby blue in color. The blanket was made out of fleece and had a very childish pattern on it.

I then felt a very weird feeling down in my groin and abdomen. I reached down with one hand and lifted he covers up off of me. I was in shock when I saw that I was wearing a pair of strange, clear, plastic underwear, underneath which was some very thick cloth that seemed to surround my entire butt and private area. What kind of clothes were those? I reached down and tried to stick my hand in the waistband of the plastic underwear, but there was a tight band around the waist that I could barely even get my fingers under. I then frowned when I realized that I was wet on the inside of these strange garments. I must have peed myself during the night like I did every night.

I was getting scared and upset like I always was about being wet. Of their own accord, tears began to roll down my cheeks. I was still quietly sobbing a few minutes later when I heard a door open. I looked through the bars of my cage across the room. My vision was distorted by my tears, but I saw what looked like a woman come through the doorway. She came over toward me. A second later she leaned over my cage and looked at me through the mesh over the top. It was Mrs. Bradshaw.

“Hi, Thaddeus,” she said. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Why am I in a cage?” I asked pitifully. “Was I bad?”

“Oh, sweetie,” she said. “You’re not in a cage.”

She moved to undo the mesh and she removed it from the top of the cage—or whatever it was that I was in. She reached down toward me, and again, I flinched as she put her arms under my armpits and lifted me up.

“This is a crib, sweetie,” she informed me as she held me to her chest and hugged me. “I only put the top over it because we were afraid you might try to climb out by yourself and hurt yourself. We won’t use that again.”

“Okay,” I whimpered. Then, I admitted my transgression, “I wet my bed. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t wet your bed,” she told me. “You wet your diapers.”

“Diapers?” I asked. “Is that what’s on me?”

“Yep,” she said. “We figured you would probably have another accident, so we put you in diapers. I’m sorry they’re a little big on you, but that’s all we have right now. They’re your brother’s diapers.”

“My brother’s diapers?” I asked.

“Uh huh,” she replied. “He wears them, too. Come on. Let’s go change you.”

She turned and carried me across the room. I kept my encased arms wrapped around her shoulders as best I could. We went over to the opposite wall of the room to a table. She laid me down on the padded top of the table. It was kind of a funny table to have a padded top that was covered with plastic. The plastic had little bears, blocks, rattles, and other baby toys printed all over it.

“So, how did you sleep, sweetie?” she asked me as she knelt down in front of the table and began fumbling with stuff that were in the cabinets under the tabletop.

“Okay,” I said timidly.

She stood back up and set a stack of white, folded cloth on the table next to me. She then produced a tiny, shiny thing from the pocket of the slacks she was wearing. I realized that it was a key when she moved it towards me. She went to the waistband of my plastic underwear and reached for a tiny lock there. She inserted the key into the lock, and there was click as I unlocked.

“Why are these things locked?” I asked.

“Oh, we use locking plastic pants at night so they won’t come off if you roll around in your sleep,” she informed me.

She pulled the plastic pants off of me and began undoing safety pins on the diapers. She unpinned three of the diapers and pulled them away from me. I noticed the inside of the inner diaper was darker and stained slightly yellow from my accident. My damp groin and privates suddenly became cool as they were exposed to the air. She then put one hand under my knees and lifted my lower half up so she could pull the diapers out from under me. She bundled the diapers up and took them over to what looked like a trashcan at the foot of the table. She returned to me, and took a wet wipe out from somewhere underneath the table. She reached up and began to gently wipe the area that had been covered by the diapers.

“Am I gonna get a spanking?” I asked cautiously as she wiped me.

“For what, sweetie?” she asked me.

“For wetting the bed,” I replied.

“Honey, I told you, you didn’t wet your bed,” she responded. “You wet your diapers. And no, we would never spank you for that. It was just an accident. You couldn’t help it.”

I just nodded.

“Did you get spanked for wetting the bed at your old foster home?” she asked me.

“Uh huh,” I replied. “Spanked or just hit. They did it at all of my foster homes. ”

“Well, not here, sweetie,” she told me.

She stopped wiping me and leaned over me. I flinched again as she gave me a kiss on the forehead. She got back up partway stopping with her face about a foot from mine. She ran her fingers through my hair.

“Sweetie, why do you always jump when someone gets close to you or touches you?” she asked me.

I looked down and frowned. I suddenly wanted to start crying again.

“Because the only time anyone ever gets close to me,” I sniffled. “Is to hit me or hurt me.”

“Oh, sweetie,” she said. “That’s not going to happen here, okay? It won’t ever happen again. Do you understand?”

I just nodded tersely. I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure she was telling the truth, but she seemed sincere enough.

She finished wiping my nether region, and then she took out a white canister. She sprinkled some sweet smelling powder all over my lower abdomen. She slowly and gently rubbed it into my skin down there. I couldn’t help but squirm and giggle just a little as she rubbed the powder into my little pee-pee and balls. Her rubbing me there felt really good, and I felt my penis get a little bigger.

After she was finished powdering me she unfolded the stack of white cloth next to me. There were four pieces of cloth. They each looked like the ones she had just taken off of me. They were rectangular with strips running down the center of each of them that looked thicker than the rest of the cloth. She folded them up and stacked them on top of each other. She then grabbed me behind the knees again and lifted my butt off of the table. She slid the stack of cloth underneath me and gently set my butt down on top of the thick, soft pile.

She then spread my legs and pulled the front of the diapers up between them. She pulled them up into my crotch snuggly and fanned them out over the front of my pelvis. She used the same pins removed from the other diapers to pin on the new ones. She pinned them snugly around my waist using six or eight pins on each diaper. It took her a while to finish, but when she did they felt very secure and snug around me. The diapers were so big came up all the way to several inches past my belly button, almost to my nipples. The diapers added at least a few inches of girth to my lower torso, and it felt like my butt was at least a few inches off of the table. She picked up a new pair of plastic pants and slipped them over my ankles. She had just a little trouble pulling the pants over my leg cast, but she eventually got it. She lifted my butt up one more time as she pulled the plastic pants up and over my diapers. She tucked in the leg and waistbands around the diapers.

“There,” she said. “I know these pants are a little big, but I think they’ll do for a few days.”

“But, why did you put more diapers on me if I’m awake?” I asked in confusion.

“Well, for one thing, it’s probably going to be hard for you to go to the bathroom with those casts on your arms, sweetie,” she explained, “Since you can’t pull down your pants or wipe yourself. For another, you’ll probably be sleeping a lot today, which means you’ll probably have more accidents.”

“Why will I be sleeping a lot?” I asked.

“Do you hurt?” she asked.

“Um, yeah,” I said with a frown.

I had been aching pretty much all over since I woke up.

“Well, the pain medicine the doctor gave us for you is supposed to make you sleepy,” she said.

“Oh,” I replied.

“Also, we don’t have any boys underwear for you, so diapers are all you can wear,” she said.

“Oh,” I said again.

“You don’t mind, do you?” she asked.

“I guess not,” I said.

It wasn’t like the diapers were uncomfortable or anything.

“Now, how would you like some breakfast?” she asked. “Are you hungry?”

I nodded vehemently. I was starving. I still hadn’t eaten anything in days that I knew of.

She reached down, put her hands under my armpits again, and lifted me up off the table. She planted my thickly padded butt on her left hip, and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders again. It felt kind of weird to be wearing these thick diapers, not bad, just weird. It was like I had a pillow or something wrapped around me.

“Do you want some medicine first, or do you want to eat?” she asked me as she started to carry me out of the room.

“I’m really hungry,” I said.

I figured I could ignore my pain for a little while, but my stomach was rumbling loudly.

“Okay,” she said.

She carried me down a hallway, and then we went down a wide, curved stairway. She carried me through big open rooms in the house. I looked around in awe at the place. I was amazed at how clean and bright everything looked.

Finally, we were in a big kitchen. It had huge, long counters surrounding it, and stainless steel appliances. The countertops were made out of some sort of greenish-black stone. It was the biggest kitchen I had ever seen in my life. A long counter separated the kitchen from a big table. She carried me over to the table. I expected her to sit me down in a chair at the table, but instead she took me over to a highchair. I couldn’t believe it, but there was an actual baby’s highchair next to the table. She held onto me with one hand as she used the other to pull the tray off of the highchair. She set the tray on the kitchen table, and then lowered me down into the seat of the highchair. I wandered why the chair was so big. In fact, I was kind of small for it. There was no way any baby could use it. She helped me get my arms through shoulders straps that connected to a seatbelt at my waist. She clicked the belt shut and then cinched the belt and the shoulder straps so that they held me tightly but not uncomfortably.

“Lift your arms up for a second, sweetie,” Mrs. Bradshaw instructed me.

I did as she said, and she slipped the tray back on and there were two clicks as it locked into place. I noticed that the tray had straps on either side that looked like they were to tie the occupant’s hands down. I could feel down on the footplate that my feet were on that there were more straps that were probably for the ankles.

“How about some oatmeal?” Mrs. Bradshaw suggested.

“Okay,” I nodded. I really didn’t care what I got so long as it was food.

She went into the kitchen and put a pot of water on the stove to boil. After getting a canister of oatmeal out from a cabinet, she went to the refrigerator. She came back to me a minute later with a bowl and a spoon.

“Let’s have some fruit while we wait for the water to boil,” she said.

She set the bowl down in front of me, and then pulled a chair over from the table to sit down in. She sat down in front of me and stirred up the fruit in the bowl. I noticed it was a mix of fruit. There were some strawberries, bananas, grapes, and some fruit that I didn’t even recognize. She picked up a little piece of fruit with the spoon and moved it toward myself.

“I’m not a baby,” I said. “I can feed myself.”

“Okay,” she said. “Here. Try.”

She dumped the fruit back into the bowl and handed me the spoon. I took it in the fingers of my right hand and moved it toward the bowl. With the thick material of the cast covering almost my entire hand, it was actually hard just to hold the spoon. I managed to get a piece of some sort of orange fruit onto the spoon. Then, I had to figure out how to get the spoon to my mouth. With my elbow stuck in a ninety-degree angle I didn’t have much leeway in how I moved my arm. I tried to move my head and arm together to meet in the middle, but I ended up dropping the fruit on the tray. I frowned looking at the mess I made. The fruit splattered all over the tray. I suddenly wanted to cry because I usually got in trouble for making such messes, and getting in trouble usually meant getting hit.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted immediately.

“That’s okay, honey,” she said. “See? You can’t really feed yourself, so why don’t I help you?”

“Okay,” I replied.

She took the spoon from me and used it to start spoon-feeding me the fruit.

“Am I gonna get in trouble for spilling the fruit?” I asked worriedly.

“No, sweetie. Of course not,” she said. “You couldn’t help it.”

I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

“Sweetie, did you get hit a lot in the other foster home?” she asked me.

My lower lip started to quiver. I looked down at the tray as a tear rolled from my eye.

“Uh huh,” I whimpered.

“Well, don’t worry about that anymore, okay?” she told me. “We don’t hit here. We do spank, but that’s it, and we haven’t spanked any of the kids in a while.”

I just nodded. I hoped she was telling the truth.

I sat there as she continued to feed me my fruit.

“What’s that orange stuff?” I asked as she moved a piece of it towards my mouth.

“That’s cantaloupe,” she said. “It’s a melon. You haven’t ever had that?”

I shook my head.

“It’s good,” I said with my mouth full.

“Good,” she replied with a smile. “I’m glad you like it.”

She finished feeding me my fruit and returned to the kitchen. She started making the oatmeal for me.

“Whose highchair is this anyway?” I asked as she was stirring the cereal.

“It’s your brother’s,” she said. “You didn’t see that it said ‘Billy’ on the seatback?”

“Oh. No, I didn’t,” she said. “He uses it?”

“Uh huh,” she said.

“I thought he was twelve,” I said.

“He is,” she said. “But he uses it.”

I frowned at that thinking it was sure strange for a twelve year old to eat from a highchair. I wanted to ask why, but by then she was bringing me my food, and that was much more important. She sat down in front of me with a big bowl of oatmeal. She had already added milk and sugar to it, and she stirred it up. She lifted a spoonful out and blew on it to cool it down. Then, she moved it to my mouth.

“Let me know if it needs more sugar,” she said.

“It’s good,” I said with my mouth full again.

She continued feeding me my cereal. It was really good.

“So, Thaddeus,” she said. “Is there something else we can call you? I heard Shelly call you Tad last night. Is that what you go by.”

“I guess,” I said.

“Well, what did they call you at your other foster homes?” she asked.

I frowned again.

“Usually things like ‘stupid’, ‘idiot’, ‘bastard’, ‘son-of-a-bitch’,” I said.

She gasped when I told her that.

“No one really ever called me by my real name,” I said.

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” she said reaching forward to stroke the side of my face. “They were really mean, huh?”

I sniffled and nodded trying not to cry again.

“How would you like us to call you ‘Tad’?” she asked.

“Okay,” I replied.

“You know what? How about ‘Taddy’?” she asked. “I like that. It’s cuter.”

“Okay,” I said again. Anything was better than being called “stupid.”

She finished feeding me my oatmeal.

“I’m still hungry,” I said as she started to get up.

“You are?” she asked. “Well, do you like scrambled eggs?”

“Uh huh,” I replied.

“Okay,” she said. “Comin’ up.”

She took my empty bowl to the kitchen and put it in the sink. She went to the fridge for a second and then went to the stove. A few minutes later I heard and saw her crack some eggs and dump them into a frying pan. I also saw her put some bread into a toaster.

“Where is everybody?” I asked as she was cooking.

“Billy had a game this morning,” she said. “He plays peewee football. So, everyone went to see that. You could have gone too, but we decided it would be best for you to just sleep in and get some rest. They should be back early this afternoon, and you’ll get to meet your brother and sisters then.”

“Do you think they’ll like me?” I asked cautiously.

“Of course they will, silly,” she said. “They’ll love you.”

“I hope so,” I replied.

“They will, Taddy,” she assured me.

By then she came over to me with a plate of eggs. She had cut two pieces of toast into triangles and spread what looked like strawberry jam all over them. I noticed that the plate was a plastic plate with a babyish design all over, and it was divided into three sections. It was a toddler’s plate. I didn’t realize until then that the spoon she had been feeding me with was also a little kid’s spoon. She made sure the eggs were chopped up, and then she gave me a spoonful.

“Mm, good,” I said as I chewed.

“You like it? I put some cheese and chopped up ham in them,” she said.

She fed me my eggs, stopping every so often to lift a piece of toast to my mouth so I could take a bite. By the time she was done I was finally getting full. She collected the dishes and stared to get up.

“Are you full, now?”

“Uh huh,” I replied. “Thank you, Mommy.”

“Oh. So, you’ve decided to call me ‘Mommy’?” she asked.

“Is that okay?” I asked timidly.

“Of course it is, sweetie,” she said bending over to give me a kiss on the forehead. “I’d love to have you call me ‘Mommy’.”

“Okay,” I replied with a grin.

“That’s the first time you’ve really smiled!” she said with a smile of her own. “You have such a beautiful smile.”

I just blushed as I kept smiling.

She went back into the kitchen to take the dishes to the sink. By the time she returned I was no longer smiling, but instead, I was frowning and about to cry.

“What’s wrong, honey?” she asked me.

“I hurt,” I sniffled.

“Uh oh,” she said. “I guess I should have given you your medicine already. Come on. Mommy will make you feel better.”

She came and removed the tray from the highchair. She unfastened my seatbelt and shoulder straps and picked me up. She set me on her hip again and carried me into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and pulled something out of it, but I was positioned in such a way that I couldn’t see what it was. She carried me out of the kitchen into the next room, which turned out to be a den or family room. It had a big TV in it along with a cozy looking sitting area. She took me over to the couch and sat down still holding me. She sat in the corner and got me turned around so that I was cradled with my head resting on the arm of the couch with her arm underneath my shoulders as extra padding. She put a pillow under my left leg to prop it up. She then held a baby bottle up to my face.

“What’s that for?” I asked in amazement.

“Since you can’t eat, you obviously can’t drink by yourself, either,” she said. “So, that means we’ll have to give you your drinks too, and the easiest way to do that is bottles.”

I sort of frowned at her.

“Come on,” she said. “Open up, sweetie. This has your medicine in it, and it’ll make you feel better.”

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to drink from a bottle, but I did want some medicine to make the hurting go away. I opened my mouth and let her push the nipple of the bottle between my lips. It had fruit punch Kool-Aid in it, which was my favorite flavor of Kool-Aid. I couldn’t taste any medicine in it, so I just had to trust that it was in there.

A few minutes later, I decided that drinking from a bottle wasn’t so bad. In fact, I think it was kind of neat. I could just lay there in the lady’s—whom I was starting to think of as Mommy—arms and suck away and not have to worry about doing anything. It took me about ten minutes to drain the entire bottle, and then she removed it from my mouth and set it on the end table by the couch.

“Was that good?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you,” I replied.

“You’re so polite,” she said.

I just smiled back at her.

“I’ve never drank from a bottle before,” I said. “It’s kind of funny.”

“Yes, you have,” she said. “You had a bottle with medicine in it and another with formula last night while we were giving you a little sponge bath. You were pretty much asleep, though, so I’m sure you don’t remember.

“You look tired,” she then informed me. “Why don’t you take a little nap?”

“Okay,” I replied tiredly.

She was right about that medicine, because it sure was making me tired. I settled back and closed my eyes. It was nice to go to sleep wrapped in such a nice lady’s arms. She gave me a kiss on the forehead and started to run her fingers through my hair as I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up a little later and found myself lying on the couch with my head in Mommy’s lap. She got me a bottle of milk and held it for me as I drank it, and then I went right back to sleep.

The next time I woke up I heard several voices. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still lying on the couch with my head in Mommy’s lap.

“He’s waking up,” I heard an unfamiliar, female voice say.

I looked over and saw some girls sitting on the couch across the sitting area. I started to sit up.

“Let me help you, Taddy,” Mommy said.

She helped me sit up, and she picked me up and sat me in her lap. I looked over and saw a boy sitting in a loveseat. Mr. Bradshaw was sitting at the opposite end of the couch that Mommy and I were on.

“Thaddeus, this is your new brother and sisters,” said Mommy. “That’s Cecilia, that’s Andrea, and that’s Billy.”

She pointed at each of the kids. Cecilia was tall looking, though she was seated, and slender. She was wearing some sort of athletic clothes like a tight-fitting running suit. It was light blue with stripes on the side. She had long, light brown hair. She was very pretty. Andrea was considerably shorter looking and stockier. She was big but I wouldn’t say fat. She was wearing a pair of tight, faded jeans and a t-shirt that was also kind of tight. She had the same color hair as her sister, but it was shorter. She was also pretty, though I thought Cecilia was a little prettier. Billy had darker brown hair, and was definitely a lot bigger than me, though he was pretty slender. I think he looked a little like Cecilia though smaller, younger, and obviously a boy. He was wearing a dirty football uniform complete with padding underneath it. He looked sweaty and dirty. They must have all just gotten home.

“Guys, this is Taddy,” Mommy completed the introduction.

“You can call me Celli,” said Cecilia.

“And I’m Andy,” her sister informed me.

“I’m just Billy,” Billy said with a laugh.

“Can I hold him,” Celli said getting up and coming toward us.

“Can your sister pick you up?” Mommy asked.

I looked at Mommy and then at Celli uncertainly. I was definitely a little nervous. I shrugged and then nodded without saying anything. Celli reached down and picked me up gently. She put me on her hip and looked at me. I think she was about six feet tall, so I was pretty high off the ground.

“You’re so cute,” she said, causing me to blush deeply.

She then gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“I want to hold him,” Andy said, now standing next to us.

“Here,” Celli said passing me off to her sister without even asking me if I want to.

Andy took me in her arms just as gently. She was about half a foot shorter than her sister.

“He is cute,” she said. “But the poor, little thing is all beat up. That black eye is yucky. Does it hurt?”

“Only a little,” I squeaked quietly.

“Such a brave, little guy,” said Andy. She gave me a big hug and a kiss too.

“I want to give him a hug, too,” Billy whined.

“Let’s go see your brother,” Andy told me.

She carried me over to the loveseat and set me down.

“Sit him on the couch, dear,” said Mommy. “Don’t let him stand up.”

“I will, Mom,” replied Andy.

She did just that, and carefully set me down on the loveseat. Billy immediately leaned over and gave me a hug. He was smelly and the plastic shoulder pads he wore were uncomfortable, but it was still nice for him to hug me. It was then that I realized that he was really smelly. He smelled like a toilet that hadn’t been flushed in a while, like he had pooped in his pants or something.

“You’re casts look cool,” he told me.

“Thanks,” I said blushing again.

“It’s going to be so cool having a little brother!” he said excitedly.

“So, has he decided, yet?” Celli asked.

I wondered what she was talking about.

“No. We haven’t even discussed that,” said Mommy. “He’s slept the whole morning, and I was waiting to do it with your father here, anyway.”

What were they talking about?

“Why don’t you girls take Billy upstairs and get him changed,” Mr. Bradshaw suggested, “So we can have that discussion.”

“Okay,” Celli replied. “Come on, squirt.”

“Yeah, you’re stinking up the place, anyway, pooh-pooh butt,” Andy said.

“Like that’s anything new,” Celli commented. “I think he needs a bath, since he’s all sweaty and gross.”

Billy, who still had an arm around me, gave me a gentle pat on the chest as he got up. His sisters each took one of his hands and they led him out of the room. I thought that was kind of weird, but I didn’t really give it much thought.

As they left the room, Mommy came over to me and picked me up. She carried me back to the couch and sat down with me. She got me positioned comfortably in her lap sitting sideways so she could put a pillow under my left leg to prop its cast up.

“Are you hurting, sweetie?” she asked.

“I’m okay,” I replied.

I was aching just a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad.

“Thaddeus,” Mr. Bradshaw said. “What we wanted to discuss with you is an offer we wanted to make you.”

What kind offer would that be? I wondered.

“Now, we know you’ve been through a lot for a little boy of ten,” he continued. “We don’t even know all of the things you’ve been through. Hopefully, as you grow to trust us, you’ll feel comfortable with telling us everything, even the worst stuff, that’s happened to you. Because we don’t think you’ve had much of a childhood, what we’d like to do is let you repeat most of it.”

“What?” I asked in confusion. What was he talking about? I was still right in the middle of childhood. Most of it had been really bad, but how could I repeat it?

“You see, sweetie,” Mommy said. “Your brother, Billy, is adopted.”

“He is?” I asked. I sure couldn’t tell, because he looked kind of like his sister.

“That’s right,” she said. “We got him when he was five years old.”

“And he had been through a lot of bad things before he got here,” her husband said. “Probably some of the exact same things you’ve been through. So, to help him get over that stuff and forget it, we let him repeat his childhood. Specifically, we let him repeat babyhood.”

I scrunched my face up in confusion. I still didn’t get what they were talking about.

“We let him be a complete baby,” he continued. “Including diapers, baby clothes, eating in a highchair, drinking from bottles, getting baths, sleeping in a crib, and everything else a baby does.”

“And it worked,” said Mommy. “He adjusted very well to living in a normal home, and you can’t even tell he went through all that bad stuff. He enjoyed himself so much that he decided he wanted to stay our baby forever, and that was just fine with us.”

“So, what we wanted to offer you,” said Mr. Bradshaw, “is the opportunity to be a baby again.”

“What’s an opportunity?” I asked. That was a big word, and I didn’t know what it meant.

“It means another turn,” he said. “A second chance. Another chance to relive your babyhood.”

“Would you like to do that, sweetie?” asked Mommy.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “What would I have to do?”

“Nothing,” said Mr. Bradshaw. “We would do everything for you. That’s part of being a baby.”

“I’d have to wear diapers all the time?” I asked.

“Yes, but you already are,” responded Mommy. “And they’re not so bad, are they?”

“I guess not,” I replied. “So, Billy still acts like a baby?”

“Actually, it’s more like we treat him like a baby,” she said. “He still does big boy stuff a lot of the time. He plays video games, plays sports, and goes over to his friends’ houses. You could still do all that, too.”

“What about school?” I asked.

“Billy wears regular, big boy clothes to school,” Mr. Bradshaw said. “But he still wears diapers all of the time because he doesn’t have any bladder or bowel control anymore, and they remind him that he still gets to be a baby.”

“I’d have to wear them to school, too?” I asked.

“Uh huh,” replied Mommy. “But Billy doesn’t mind that. He gets changed at the nurse’s office, and he wears disposables that people can hardly tell he’s wearing.”

“So, what do you think, big guy?” Mr. Bradshaw asked me.

“What if I decide and then change my mind?” I asked.

“If you decide to be a baby, and then change your mind, then you’ll go right back to being a big boy,” he told me. “And, if you decide to be a big boy, and then decide you want to try being a baby, you can do that too. This is all your choice. We’re not going to force you to do anything.”

“Except you will have to wear diapers at night,” added Mommy, “At least until you start having dry nights.”

“That’s okay,” I replied. “It’s better than waking up all cold and wet.”

“So, what do you want to do?” Mr. Bradshaw asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“I bet you’d have a lot of fun being a baby,” Mommy told me. “Your brother sure does.”

It sounded like she really did want me at least try being a baby. I thought about it for a few moments. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to wear diapers all the time, but I guess I could try it. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

“Well… I guess I could try it for a little while,” I said cautiously.

“Good boy!” Mommy said. “You’re going to have so much fun.”

“But before we get started,” her husband interrupted. “Let’s go over the rules, first.”

“Rules?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes,” he said. “There are a few rules, but they’re nothing really hard.”

“Okay,” I said a little apprehensively. Rules could be hard to follow sometimes, and I usually got hit when I broke them.

“First, like we said,” he began. “You’ll wear diapers twenty-four hours a day, all the time, no matter where we go or what we do. And, of course, you’ll use them for their intended purposes. Second, no changing your diapers. Someone will do that for you. And you can never, ever take your diapers off for any reason. Three, any grownup can change your diapers if you need a change. That includes your sisters and anyone else we deem capable of changing you. Four, you can’t tell us when you need a change. Someone will check your diapers regularly and change you when you need it, and you get changed when and where you need it. Also, no bathing yourself or feeding yourself at home. Someone will do all that for you, too. And you have to wear whatever you’re dressed in and eat whatever you’re fed.”

“Do I have to eat baby food?” I asked. That sounded really yucky.

“No, sweetie,” Mommy said. “You’ll eat regular food. You just have to let us feed you, but you can’t do that by yourself right now anyway.”

“What happens if I forget the rules?” I asked.

“Well, if you take your diapers off we will spank, because that’s just yucky,” said Mommy, “But on everything else we’ll remind you several times, and then we’ll do timeout or something like that. We’ll never hit you except for spankings on your hiney, and we never spank hard enough to leave bruises or anything like that. We don’t expect you to be perfect. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.”

I guess that didn’t sound too bad. Spankings were lot better than getting beat up.

“Do you have any other questions?” Mr. Bradshaw asked me.

One question suddenly popped into my mind.

“Why are you all being so nice to me?” I asked.

“Because we love you, honey,” replied Mommy as she gave me a hug.

“You love me?” I asked. “But you just met me.”

“So?” Mr. Bradshaw said. “We fell in love with you the moment we saw you lying in that hospital bed.”

“Really?” I asked.

“That’s right,” Mommy said.

Wow. Nobody had told me they loved me in a long, long time. I think the last person to do it was the nice old lady I had lived with. She told me she loved me all the time, but no one else had since then.

“So, are you ready to get started?” Mr. Bradshaw asked me.

I thought about it for another moment. I couldn’t find any reason not to at least try being a baby for a while. They seemed to really want me to be their baby. Part of me was worried that maybe they wouldn’t love me as much if I decided not to be a baby. I decided that I was going to do this. I might not like it, but then again, I might love it.

“Yeah. I’m ready, Daddy,” I said.

“So, you’re going to call me Daddy now, too?” he asked.

“Uh huh,” I replied with as smiled.

“Good,” he replied happily. “I’m glad.”

He reached over and picked me up off of Mommy’s lap. For the first time, I didn’t flinch when he picked me up. He wrapped his big arms around me as he held me to his chest tightly. I suddenly felt very safe and protected in his arms. For some reason, I just knew that he wouldn’t let anything happen to me as long as I was here.

“Come on, you two,” Mommy said as she got up. “Let’s go get the new baby changed out of those wet diapers.”

I had only just then noticed that my diapers were wet. In fact they were considerably wetter than the diapers I had been changed out of that morning. I must have had more than one accident while I was sleeping, which explained why I hadn’t had the urge to pee yet.

Daddy got up off of the couch still holding me. He set me on his hip holding me higher off of the ground than anyone had. He carried me through the house and up the stairs.

“Now, another rule right now, Taddy,” Daddy told me, “Is that you’re not going to be allowed to stand or walk for a while. The doctor said no putting any weight on your broken leg, and, since you can’t use crutches with your arms in those casts, we’re going to have to carry you around for a while.”

“For how long?” I asked.

“Probably a couple of weeks,” he told me.

“And you can use your brother’s stroller until we get you your own,” Mommy added.

“Billy has a stroller?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said. “He’s a baby, and babies have strollers.”

“Wow,” I replied.

By then we were upstairs. We went down the hall to the room we had left this morning. I actually looked around the room for the first time. It was painted in soft, pastel colors with baby blue being the most prominent color. There were babyish looking paintings and pictures on the walls. There were also two big cribs in the room, one of which I had woken up in this morning, as well as the changing table. Each of the cribs had a bureau next to it. In one corner of the room was a huge TV and entertainment center, and in another corner was a colorful padded area with cushions and things. It was like a little padded lounging area for little kids.

Daddy carried me over to the changing table and sat me down on the padded top. Meanwhile, Mommy went over to a door and disappeared through it. He had me lay down and he lifted my butt up so he could pull my plastic pants off. He unpinned my diapers and pulled them off of me.

“What kind of diapers are those, anyway?” I asked. “I’ve never seen diapers like that.”

The only diapers I had ever seen were in commercials, and they were always the disposable kind.

“They’re called pre-folded diapers,” Daddy told me. “Here.”

He reached down below the tabletop and pulled out a clean diaper. He handed it to me so I could feel it.

“The whole diaper is four layers thick, and that thick center panel is call a soaker panel. It’s eight layers thick. They’re made out of a cotton called birds-eye cotton.”

“Why?” I asked. “Do they have birds’ eyes in them?”

“No,” Daddy chuckled. “That’s just what it’s called. It’s a special type of weave that makes the cloth more absorbent.”

“Oh,” I replied.

While he had been explaining that he had already started wiping me down with a baby wipe.

“Why are the wipes warm?” I asked.

“Because we keep them in a baby wipe warmer,” he told me. “It makes them feel good, doesn’t it?”

“Uh huh,” I replied.

They did feel good. Daddy was just as good and gentle at wiping me as Mommy had been earlier. He did have much bigger hands than Mommy, and his skin was a little rougher, but he still did just as good a job. He powdered my butt and crotch up and rubbed the powder in just like Mommy had down. I also giggled and squirmed again. It felt really good to have that powder rubbed into my skin.

“Honey, how many diapers should I put on him?” Daddy called to Mommy.

“I used four because they fill the plastic pants up and make them fit better,” said Mommy.

Just then, she came out of the other room. She had a little bundle of cloth in her hands. By the time she came up to us, Daddy had a stack of diapers folded up. He picked my legs up and lifted my butt up off of the table and slid the diapers underneath me. He pulled them up between my legs and began pinning them on me after he made sure they were snuggly seated in my crotch. While he did that Mommy came up and stood next to my head and gently ran her fingers through my hair. I was getting to really like when she did that. It was really comforting to me. Daddy had the diapers pinned in place within a few minutes. He didn’t use as many pins and Mommy had, but the diapers felt just as snug. He put a pair of plastic pants that were clear on me and got them tucked in around my diapers.

“Now, let’s get the baby’s first baby outfit on,” Mommy said.

Daddy helped me sit up, and he took the t-shirt I had been wearing all day off of me. Mommy then helped me into a very colorful, babyish outfit. It was like a long-sleeve t-shirt, but it was long and had snaps at the bottom that snapped around my crotch and covered my diapers. It was kind of hard for her to get the sleeves over my casts, but the garment was stretchy, t-shirt material, so she was able to make it fit. The t-shirt was checkered in squares that were many different colors. Each squared had something in it; some had baby bottles, some had toy ducks, some had teddy bears, some had rattles, and all kinds of other babyish things.

“What kind of shirt is this?” I asked.

“It’s called a onesie,” Mommy replied. “It’s got long-sleeves to keep you warm. I’m sorry it’s not new. It’s one of your brother’s old outfits that he wore probably when he was six or seven. We’re going to get you your own stuff made, but until then you’ll have to wear your brothers old things. Do you like it?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of nice,” I said.

“You’re going to make a cute little baby,” Daddy said.

He picked me up and gave me a kiss and then a big hug that completely enveloped me. He then passed me off to Mommy who gave me a kiss and a hug as well.

“Let’s go find your sisters and brother,” she said. “I think I hear some noise coming from the bathroom.”

She planted me on her hip, and the three of us headed to another door in the room. Daddy opened it, and I immediately heard laughing and splashing from inside. We went in and I discovered that the room was a private bathroom that was connected to the bedroom. The bathroom was decorated in a babyish theme much like the bedroom. I saw Billy sitting naked in a tub full of water. There were islands of bubbles floating in the water. The tub was a huge rectangle. It was the biggest tub I had ever seen. All of us could probably bathe in it at once. The girls were sitting on the floor next to the tub splashing Billy with water. Billy was giggling as he picked up handfuls of bubbles and blew them at his sisters. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at us when they noticed us come in.

“Well, we’ve got ourselves another little baby,” Mommy announced.

“Awe!” Celli and Andy both cooed together.

“Cool!” Billy said jumping up and splashing water everywhere.

“Hey. Settle down, kiddo,” Daddy said gently but firmly.

“Sorry,” Billy said, still grinning broadly.

“It’s going to be so much fun having two babies, now,” Andy said happily.

“And he’s so adorable as a baby,” Celli said.

“Yeah, you look very cute, Taddy,” agreed Andy.

“Thanks,” I said grinning bashfully.

“I wish you could take a bath with me,” Billy said.

“He will soon enough,” said Mommy, “But we have to get him some covers for those casts first. We’ll try to do that tomorrow or Monday.”

“Can he sit with us while we bathe Billy?” Celli asked.

“You want to stay in here with your brother and sisters?” Mommy asked me.

“Okay,” I said a little nervously.

“Are you hurting, sweetie?” Mommy asked. “You look a little pale.”

“Yeah,” I said with a frown. I had been hurting for quite a while, but I didn’t want to say anything so it wouldn’t look like I was whining.

“Okay,” she said. “You stay here with them, and Mommy will bring you a bottle of medicine in just a minute, okay?”

“Okay,” I replied.

She carried me over toward the tub.

“Here. I’ll hold him,” Celli said.

She picked up a towel that was on the floor by her and used it to dry her hands off. She then crossed her legs, sat Indian-style, and held up her arms. Mommy lowered me down to her, and she to took me and sat me in her lap with my back up against her chest. She wrapped her arms around my tummy.

“Are you comfy, baby?” asked Celli.

“Yes, thank you,” I replied.

“Ooh, you’re so polite,” she said.

“Yes, he is,” Mommy agreed. “He’s a fine, young gentleman. Now, you three make sure he doesn’t get wet because those casts have to stay dry.”

“We’ll take care of him, Mom,” Andy assured her.

“Okay,” said Mommy. “I’ll be back in a minute with a bottle for him. You four behave.”

“We will, Mommy,” Billy promised for all of us.

Mommy and Daddy left us there in the bathroom.

“Come on, squirt,” Andy said to Billy. “Let’s get you bathed.”

She soaped up a washcloth in some kind of liquid soap from a bottle. Billy stood up and walked over to her, and she began to scrub him down from head to toe.

“So, how do you like the house, Taddy?” Andy asked as she bathed her brother.

“Well, I haven’t seen much of it,” I replied, “But what I’ve seen has been really nice.”

“Mom didn’t give you a tour?” Celli asked.

“No,” I replied. “I’ve pretty much slept all day. What time is it, anyway?”

“It’s only a little after 2:00,” Celli said.

We continued talking for the next few minutes. Mainly they talked and I listened. I looked around the bathroom a little more. I was surprised to find that there was a conspicuous absence of a toilet in the room. I didn’t see one anywhere. I found that a bit odd. I also found myself staring at Billy. It was a little strange for me to see a naked boy standing there while his sister bathed him. He didn’t have any shyness at all about all of us seeing him completely exposed. I noticed that his pee-pee was quite a bit bigger than mine, but that didn’t surprise me, as he was so much bigger than me. He was probably a foot taller than me even though I was only two years younger than him.

“So, Taddy,” Celli said, bringing me out of my little reverie. “Tell me something: are you ticklish?”

Without warning, she reached up and jabbed her fingers into the side of my chest trying to tickle me. I was ticklish, but what she did only hurt really badly.

“Ow!” I nearly screamed as I tried to recoil away from her hand.

“I’m sorry!” she said immediately. “What did I do?”

“I’ve got a bad bruise there,” I said sniffling. I was already crying. “That really hurt.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, baby,” she said as she hugged me. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“That’s okay,” said still crying. “You didn’t know.”

She kissed the side of my face and stroked the other side of my face with her hand.

“I’m sorry, baby,” she said again. “Do you mind if I look at it real quick?”

“I guess not,” I said.

She reached down and unsnapped the crotch of my onesie. She pulled the shirt up to expose most of my chest and abdomen.

“Oh my God!” Andy gasped. She and Billy were also looking at me.

“Baby, how much did you get hit?” Celli asked.

“A lot,” I whimpered. “The place where you hit was where John kicked me.”

“He kicked you?” Andy asked.

“Uh huh,” I nodded. “A lot. That’s what happened to my right arm and my leg, too.”

“What about your left arm?” she asked.

“I got that when I fell off the fence when I was running away,” I replied.

“Baby, you’re just one big bruise,” Celli said. She had me leaned forward, and she was looking at my back.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Taddy, I’m sorry you got hurt,” Billy said with a whimper. He was rubbing his eyes, and I think he was starting to cry, too.

“Thanks,” I replied quietly.

“Well, that’s not ever going to happen again,” Celli said firmly as she pulled my onesie back down and got it fastened on me. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t.”

“Yeah. We’ll protect you,” Billy said.

“Thanks, guys,” I said.

Celli hugged me tightly and gently rubbed my chest and stomach to comfort me. About then, the door opened and Mommy came in. She handed Celli a bottle with juice in it.

“Make sure he drinks all of that, dear,” Mommy told her.

“I will, Mom,” Celli assured her.

Celli got me situated so that I was cradled in one arm, and she held the bottle up to my mouth. I accepted the nipple as she gently pushed it through my lips, and I began sucking on it.

“Why’s everyone so glum all of a sudden?” asked Mommy.

“We just saw all of poor Taddy’s bruises,” Andy answered as she rinsed Billy off. “They’re horrible.”

“Yes. He’s been through a lot,” said Mommy. She got down on her knees beside Celli and me. “But all of that’s over now, and we’re all going to help him get over it.”

She leaned forward and kissed the top of my head as I continued to suck on my bottle.

“Now, you girls finish getting your brother bathed and diapered up, and then bring the two babies downstairs because lunch is ready.”

She patted me on the head and rose to leave. About then, Andy had Billy step out of the tub, and she wrapped him in a big, fluffy towel. She thoroughly dried him off. He giggled when she got to his more ticklish parts. When she was done she gave him a light slap on his bare butt.

“Come on, Diaper Boy Number One,” she said. “Let’s get you diapered before you make a mess everywhere.”

“Can I wear cloth diapers like Taddy?” he asked hopefully.

“Oh, I guess so,” replied Andy.

They headed out of the bathroom. Celli stood up with me still cradled in her arms. She hooked the arm that held my bottle underneath my knees, and she carried me out of the room like a giant baby.

“I’m not hurting you, am I, baby?” she asked me.

I just shook my head no.

She took me out to the bedroom where I saw Billy climbing up onto the changing table. Andy already had a stack of diapers on the table, which Billy planted his butt on. Celli carried me over to the table and stood there with me, and we watched her sister diaper Billy. As we stood there she gently rocked me back and forth in her arms.

I lazily watched Andy powder Billy up and rub the powder into his skin. I noticed his pee-pee got big like mine did, but his was much, much bigger than mine. I continued to suck on my bottle as she pinned on his diapers. She then pulled out a pair of plastic pants identical to mine, and pulled them onto him. He climbed off the table and she got the plastic pants tucked in around his diapers. Andy then went over to the bureau by one of the cribs. She pulled out a garment. I noticed that the material it was made of was the same pattern as mine. She unfolded it and revealed that it was a long-sleeve onesie like I was wearing.

“Let’s dress the two babies alike, today,” she said.

“Cool!” Billy replied.

He raised his arms up, and his sister pulled the garment on to him. She snapped the crotch shut over his diapers. She then turned him around and gave him a smack on his diapered butt. There was a distinct “thwack” from the plastic pants he was wearing.

“Come on, baby brother,” she said to him lovingly. “Let’s all go downstairs.”

By then I had drained my bottle of Kool-Aid. Celli took it from my mouth and shifted me around so that I was sitting on her hip.

“Ready to go downstairs, baby?” she asked me.

I smiled lazily and nodded.

“Let me carry him, now,” Andy said.

She came up, and Celli passed me off to her. Andy planted me on her hip and gave me a hug. They carried me out of the room and down the hall. I rested my head on Andy’s shoulder because I was already getting sleepy from my medicine. By the time we were in the kitchen I was about to fall asleep. Mommy took me from Andy and put me in the highchair. I barely noticed her strapping me into it and putting the tray on.

“Billy, you’re going to have to sit in Daddy’s lap, and he’ll feed you,” said Mommy. “Your brother is going to be using your highchair until we get him one of his own.”

“Okay, Mommy,” replied Billy.

He waddled over to the head of the table where Daddy was sitting. Daddy pushed his chair back a little and helped Billy climb up into his lap. I was suddenly kind of jealous, and I found myself wishing that I were sitting in Daddy’s lap.

“What are we having?” Billy asked.

“I just put some chicken nuggets and tater tots in the oven real quick,” replied Mommy.

She brought out a couple of sheet pans full of nuggets and tater tots. She also brought two bibs. One bib was for Billy and the other was for me. Everyone dug in and began eating. Before we could eat, Mommy and Daddy put tater tots and chicken nuggets into divided, plastic, toddler plates like I had eaten out of this morning. They cut the chicken nuggets up into tiny, bite-size pieces for us. Mommy then set one of the plates in front of me. She took a little, toddler fork, and began feeding me bites of food. Though it was a quick meal, it was still one of the best ones I had in a long time. Mommy kept feeding me bites of food, eating her own meal in between feeding me. Every so often she held a plastic sippy-cup up to my mouth to drink some milk from. When I cleaned my plate, Mommy asked if I was still hungry. I nodded, so she put more food on my plate and cut it up.

“You’re sure a good eater,” Mommy commented as she put another piece of chicken nugget into my mouth.

Suddenly, for some reason, I found myself wanting to cry. I tried not to, but eventually tears started coming down.

“What’s wrong, baby?” asked Mommy when she noticed I was upset.

I just shook my head, not wanting to say anything.

“Baby, tell us what’s wrong,” Mommy said gently.

“Well… at my old house, when everybody ate,” I explained, “I had to wait and see if there was anything left over for me. This is the first time I’ve gotten to eat with everyone else in a long time.”

Everyone just stared at me silently for a few moments. Then, Mommy got up and came up to me. She reached down into the space between my stomach and the highchair tray. She unbuckled the straps that held me in the chair. She gingerly picked me up and carried me back over to the chair she had been sitting in. She sat down and hugged me tightly to her chest.

“Those ugly people were so, so mean to you, baby,” she told me quietly. “No one should ever have been treated that way.”

I couldn’t see her face the way she was holding me, but I think she was starting to cry. That made me feel kind of bad. I thought that I probably shouldn’t have told them that.

“It’s okay, Mommy,” I said. “I’m going to be okay, now that I’m with you guys.”

“I know you are, baby,” she told me. “You’re such a brave, strong, little guy.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. I didn’t know why she thought that, but it was still pretty cool.

We then continued our meal. Mommy held me in her lap as she finished feeding me the rest of my chicken nuggets and tater tots. I thought that was kind of nice. Everyone talked about a bunch of other topics. A lot of the conversation was about me, and how much fun we were all going to have with me here. Everyone seemed to be really excited about me being here, which was pretty neat. Unfortunately, by the time we were done I was no longer paying much attention to the conversation. I was so tired that my head kept dropping forward as I sat in Mommy’s lap.

“Peter, why don’t you take the boys into the den while the girls and I clean up,” Mommy said. “I think Taddy needs another nap.”

“Sure,” replied Daddy.

Billy slid out of his lap, and Daddy got up from the table. He came over to us and took me out of Mommy’s arms. He set me on his hip and held me with one hand while he took hold of one of Billy’s hands with the other. He took us out into the den and sat down on one of the couches. He got me cradled in his lap with my head resting on one of his arms. Billy sat down next to Daddy and picked up both of my legs and rested them in his lap. He put a pillow on his lap underneath my legs to prop my cast leg up, which felt nice.

“Go to sleep, baby,” Daddy told me. “We’ll be right here when you wake up.”

I smiled and nodded as I closed my eyes. I felt Daddy give me a kiss on the forehead just before I fell asleep.

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon sleeping. Every time I woke up I seemed to be lying with or on someone else. I woke up in Mommy’s arms again, and then I woke up with my head resting on Celli’s lap, and then cradled in Andy’s arms. Every time I woke up I was given another bottle of milk or juice. I also noticed that each time I woke up my diapers seemed to be a little wetter than the last time. I must have had an accident every time I fell asleep. I had slept so much that day that I hadn’t voluntarily peed all day; I just went in my sleep. By the end of the day I was getting to the point that it didn’t even upset me anymore to wake up and discover that I had had an accident.

That night we had pizza for supper. It was the first time I had had pizza in a long time. Tonight, I asked if Billy and I could trade, and I got to sit in Daddy’s lap while Billy used his highchair. Daddy cut up my pizza into little pieces and fed them to me.

After dinner I was given another bottle of medicine because I was starting to hurt again. By the time I had finished with that I was getting tired, so Mommy and Daddy decided that it was time for me to go to bed. I didn’t want to go to bed, but I was informed that babies had to go to bed when they were told to.

They took me upstairs to the bedroom. Daddy went to the bathroom while Mommy took me over to the changing table to take my diapers off. She removed my plastic pants and unpinned my soggy diapers. After depositing the diapers into the plastic trashcan she took out a couple of baby wipes and began to clean my diaper area.

“So, do you like your nursery, baby?” she asked me as she wiped me.

“Nursery?” I asked. “Is that what this is?”

“Well, sure, honey,” she said. “It has cribs and a changing table, doesn’t it? And all babies sleep in nurseries.”

“Oh,” I replied. “Well, it’s nice.”

“Good,” she said. “I’m glad you like it.”

She finished wiping me up, and she pulled out a single cloth diaper from underneath the tabletop. She draped it over my privates, and then held it in place with one hand while she put her other arm around my back and picked me up. She set me on her hip keeping the diaper over my privates.

“That’s just in case baby has an accident,” she told me.

“I’m not gonna have an accident, Mommy,” I said.

“I know,” she said. “But you may start having them after awhile, so we should probably start planning for them, don’t you think?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so,” I replied. That sounded pretty reasonable, though I didn’t know why I would start having accidents when I was awake when I had never had them before.

“Let’s go get the baby a sponge bath,” she told me.

She carried me to the bathroom. I found Daddy there sitting on the edge of the tub. There was a small amount of water in the tub. Mommy sat me down on the edge of the tub by Daddy. The tub was so deep and the side of it so high that my feet didn’t even touch the ground. Daddy put a hand on my shoulder to steady me. Mommy got a washcloth from a closet in the bathroom and came over to us. She knelt down by the tub and dipped the washcloth into the water and used it to wet me down. She then squirted something into it from what looked like a shampoo bottle and worked up a lather of foam all over the cloth.

“What is that stuff?” I asked.

“It’s baby body wash,” she told me. “Babies have to have special soap so it won’t burn their eyes.”

“Oh,” I replied.

She gently cleaned me off from head to toe. She was so gentle that she didn’t even hurt any of my bruises. When she was done cleaning every part of me that wasn’t hidden in casts she rinsed out the washcloth and used it to rinse the soap off of me.

“Do you think we got any water in those casts?” she asked me when she was done.

“I don’t think so,” I replied. They still felt dry in there.

“Okay,” she replied. “Let’s dry you off so you don’t get cold, and then we’re going to wash your hair.”

Daddy picked up a towel that had been hanging on a hook on the wall by the tub, and he wrapped it around me. He dried me off thoroughly, making sure every square inch of me was dry. Then he wrapped the towel all the way around me and picked me up. He cradled me in his arms and held me on my stomach with my head suspended over the tub. My two casted arms were pinned to my chest, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. Mommy poured water over my head to wet it down, and then she squirted some shampoo into it and began to scrub my hair and scalp.

“Boy, your hair sure is dirty,” she said. “How long has it been since you had a shower or bath?”

“Last week sometime,” I replied. “They didn’t let me bathe much because they told me I was a waste of water, so I only got to bathe a couple times a week.”

“Well, in this house, babies get baths every day,” Mommy told me. “We like clean babies.”

“Okay,” I replied.

“Do you remember when you last had a haircut?” she asked next.

“Um, I had one right before school started,” I said.

“Well, you’re all shaggy,” she said. “We’re going to have to get this cut.”

“Okay,” I said again. That was fine with me. I was getting tired of my hair hanging down in my eyes anyway.

She finished washing my hair and then rinsed it out. Daddy sat me up and held me while Mommy dried my hair off.

“Okay,” she said. “Now, the new baby is all clean, and we don’t have to throw him away.”

I giggled at that.

Daddy picked me up and carried me into the nursery. He sat me down on the changing table. Mommy told him to go get me a bottle of milk while she diapered me up. He left the room, and Mommy put me in a new set of four, thick diapers. She pinned them on snuggly, and then pulled a pair of plastic pants that had a babyish print onto me. I felt her cinch the waistband of the pants snuggly around me, and then there was a click as she locked the pants on me. She then got a t-shirt from the bureau by one of the cribs and put it on me. It was a t-shirt with a Nickelodeon cartoon iron-on on the front of it.

“We don’t have any sleepers that will fit over those casts of yours,” she told me. “So a t-shirt will have to do for now. Hopefully, by next week we’ll be able to have some clothes for you.”

I just nodded as she picked me up and put me on her hip. My plastic pants made a crunching sound as my pelvis rested on her hip. She carried me over to a sitting area in the room that had a nightstand and a big rocking chair. She turned a lamp on the nightstand on, and set me down in the rocking chair. She then went over to the door to the nursery and turned the lights off, leaving just the lamp on. She came back over to me, picked me up, and sat down with me cradled in her arms.

“Mommy, how long am I gonna have to wear these casts?” I asked.

“Well,” she said. “The doctor said the one on your left arm can probably come off in a month since it’s only sprained, but the other two are going to have to stay on longer. He said the one on your ankle will probably have to stay on for six weeks, and one on your right arm might have to stay on for as long as two months because your arm was broken pretty bad.”

“Oh,” I said sadly. I was already getting tired of them, even though they looked kind of cool. They were heavy and kind of itchy.

About then, Daddy came back into the room. He brought a bottle of milk over to us and handed it to Mommy. She pushed the bottle into my mouth and I started sucking on it. I noticed that the milk was nice and warm.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes with everyone else to say goodnight,” Daddy said as he turned to leave again.

Mommy held me as I sucked on my bottle.

“Now, baby,” she said. “Before you fall asleep, I need to tell you another rule. Once babies get put into their cribs at night they’re not allowed to get out of them until someone lets them out in the morning, okay? If you try to get out by yourself we will spank you because it’s very dangerous for babies to climb out by themselves, since you could fall, okay?”

I nodded. That sounded like a reasonable reason not to be allowed to get out of a crib by myself.

I was almost done with my bottle when everyone else came into the room. They all came up and gathered around me. Everyone told me goodnight and gave me a goodnight kiss. Even Billy gave me a kiss on the forehead as he told me goodnight. They also all told me they loved me. That was really nice. I don’t remember much after that. I drifted off to sleep with everyone still standing there. I don’t even know if I finished my bottle.

A Second Chance

# Part 3

# Becoming a Baby