Done Adulting Vol. 1 Ch. 112

Snow was a new experience for Jamie in any dimension, at least snow that actually covered the ground. It rarely snowed where he was from, and when it did, it was just a dusting. Their first snow was six inches deep, and Jamie truly felt like a kid again with all the excitement of newness getting to play in it for the very first time.

“Manda!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Some of us around here actually dress ourselves,” she said as she opened the door to her bedroom.

“Ready?”

“As soon as I put my boots on. You warm enough?”

“I’m sweating buckets.”

“I told you not to put your coat on yet,” Amanda said as she pulled her boots on. They weren’t really necessary. The snow wasn’t deep, for a big.

“I didn’t think you were gonna take so long.”

“It wasn’t that long, Mr. Impatient,” Rebecca said as she picked him up. She patted his butt and was greeted with a solid thwump. It was too much work taking a little in and out of snow clothes, so she’d double diapered him before getting him dressed. The three of them went downstairs, where Rebecca and Amanda put on their coats.

“Got the camera, Mom?”

“Yep,” she answered, patting the chest pocket she’d zipped it into.

“You ready, Jamester?”

“For a while now,” he said. He was eager to go play and just as eager to get out of the heated house before he sweat all the way through his clothes. Becky opened the door and held it for him.

He’d seen it on TV, and he’d seen it through the window. The even powder coating everything, like a blanket laid across the grass. Narrow piles on the tops of fence posts and the side mirrors of cars like white, fluffy ears. What he hadn’t sensed from the window, though, was how quiet it all was, the blanket absorbing sound like a cotton wicks water. Not a bird sang. Not a squirrel scurried. Not a car had passed over the street yet. Everything smelled icy, the cold air fresh and clean and burning in Jamie’s nose. It was a new face of a still-new world for Jamie. His foot crunched down uncertainly as he stopped at the edge of their porch.

Rebecca and Amanda watched him. He’d told them about snow being new to him, as if they couldn’t tell from his reaction upon seeing the forecast every day that week. ‘They’re saying two to four inches. Do you think it will be four?’ Followed the next evening by, ‘Now they’re saying three to five. Do you think we’ll get more? Do we usually get more?’

He bent down and scooped a mitten full, then took a bite out of it. Becky snapped a picture.

“Well,” Amanda asked.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good,” Jamie giggled.

“Courtesy of Itali.”

“Can you show me how to build a snowman?” He was smiling ear to ear. The temperature hadn’t fallen very low, and the snow was wet and dense. Amanda got down on her knees and started scooping snow into her arms. Jamie followed her lead while Becky kept taking pictures, watching her babies play.

“You warm enough, buddy?”

“Yeah,” he said, concentrating on shaping his pile of snow into something like the three big spheres he always saw on TV. This was more like one big pile with some contours, but it was his pile, and he was proud of it. After twenty minutes, they each had a snowman.

“Now what,” Jamie asked.

“Now we draw a face on it,” she said, taking his mittened hand and guiding it cross the surface of his snowman in the shape of a smile, then digging out two little divots for the eyes.

“Wadduya think,” she asked when she was done.

“I like him. Mom?”

“Does he have a name?”

“Um … Graham.”

“Why ‘Graham,’” Becky ventured.

“No reason,” he said. He looked at Amanda, still kneeling next to him in the snow, and made one of those grins that say that ‘I’m about to do something more fun for me than you.” Before Amanda picked up on it, he tackled her, or tried to, into the snow.

“O yeah,” Amanda retorted, flipping him over but letting him escape. She let him get the upper hand and feigned helplessness. “Mom! Help! He’s gone crazy!” Becky responded by taking pictures while Jamie planted a handful of snow on the top of Amanda’s head. They rolled around in the snow until the blanket looked like it had been slept in by a herd of restless Jamie Bears.

When they were both worn out and each had a hatful of snow and more melting under the collars of their coats, Becky decided it was time to pick off the survivors. She wasn’t quite sure how to play – it had been a long time – but she remembered the importance of surprise, and walked up nonchalantly to the two of them, still laying on their backs.

“You guys all done,” she asked. Amanda looked at Jamie, sweating and panting beside her.

“I think so, Mom,” Amanda said as she sat up.

“Good,” she said, hesitating a moment before adding, “Jamie … let’s get her!” Becky got down into the snow and tackled Amanda back over, inspiring Jamie to a second wind. Allied, they came out on top to Amanda’s cry of, “No fair! Two against one! No fair!”

Only when Becky was sure she and Jamie had won, and Amanda knew it and no one could ever dispute the outcome, did she let Amanda back up and ask, “Who wants hot cocoa?”

They shed their coats and boots and pants and hats and gloves in the foyer, and Becky went into the kitchen while Amanda went to go change Jamie into more comfortable, and less wet, clothes. Once he was down to his t-shirt and diaper, Amanda couldn’t take her own hot, wet clothes anymore and peeled off her own sweater and sweat pants, leaving her in her long underwear.

“What are you laughing at,” she asked when Jamie giggled.

“You look like a JJ Legume catalogue model.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yeah. And you’re prettier.”

“Thanks, Jamester. How about a diapee change?”

“Yes, please,” he said as he laid back on his changing table. The outer diaper was wet, too.

“Did you get some snow in here,” she said in mock shock.

“If I did, you put it there!” He stuck his tongue out at her. Amanda took her time changing Jamie, warming the wipes in her hands before cleaning him off, trying to take some of the chill out of his skin.

Amanda was pretty sure Jamie didn’t know when he was wet anymore. She doubted he had lost control of his bladder, but the last few times she’d asked if his pants were wet he’d said he wasn’t sure except when he was obviously soaked. He just went when he had to, so natural it didn’t register in his memory.

She wasn’t sure, however, as she wiped his bottom, if his little nap time oops while they were on vacation had been a one-off. He was still doing what he could to time his movements for a quick change, but other times, like this time, if he had gone purposefully, then he had chosen not to say anything about it and hadn’t made a potty face or let it show in his body language. It was never much, maybe so little and loose that he could actually not know he’d had an accident, or perhaps he was so habituated to it that it happened without registering in his memory. Or maybe he just didn’t care all that much anymore when he had a very small load in his diaper, knowing he would get checked and changed soon enough. She figured it was most likely the latter, perhaps especially this time when playing in the snow was so much more fun than getting changed, but she wasn’t positive.

Jamie losing his continence hadn’t been her intent when she had asked him if he wanted out of diapers the very first time, and in fact it was something she had wanted to avoid because she knew he wanted to avoid it. She didn’t think it was possible for him to lose control in so short a time, but she could see how it would become so normal he could do it without having to consciously go. She’d considered asking him whether he was still using his diaper on purpose each time, but he hadn’t voiced a word of concern, and he seemed content. Maybe that one little accident in the store with Mel had been the final barrier, the last hurdle to leap over before he arrived to the conclusion that in this dimension, it just doesn’t matter, and diapers do feel good, and wet and dirty diapers always get changed, which is the best part of being back in diapers. She didn’t want to mess with that mindset, if that’s what where his head was at; as long as he seemed okay with his potty habits and didn’t speak up about it, she was going to treat it all as normal, like he did, and happily spend this special time with him on the changing table needing her help and having big sister-little brother talks.

She was pulling the new diaper between his legs when he asked, “When’s Christmas?”

“I was wondering when you were going to ask. About six weeks from now. Excited to see Santa Claus?”

“You guys imported Santa Claus, too?”

“Hard to import a holiday without the figure it honors, right?”

“Well, actually …” He decided not to finish. No need to bother with explaining the holiday to her. Even Amanda, as much as she understood Jamie, had a difficult time grasping the nuances of human culture, if only because it was so different from Amazon culture. All Jamie needed her to know was Christmas is about time with loved ones, good cheer, and charity, and why not Santa Claus too.

“Why,” she asked as she helped him sit up, “is there someone else visiting at Christmas you’re thinking about?”

Jamie looked chagrinned. “How long have you known?”

“Two weeks. She contacted us through the agency.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“We decided to let you tell us when you were ready, or when it got so close we had to say something.”

“You’re not … upset, are you?”

“No way! Mom and me think it’s great she’s coming. Mom even offered for her to stay here.”

Jamie blanched. “Really?”

“If you’re okay with it.” Jamie wasn’t sure if he was or not. Everything seemed good now, and if Amanda and Ella were right, Cheryl knew everything there was to know about his new life. He wasn’t sure they were right though.

“I … I guess,” he said, then added, “Where exactly will she stay?”

“Well, where would you like her to?” Jamie frowned.

“I’ll decide later.”

“Ready for some cocoa?”

He brightened up. “May I have a cookie?”

“Yes, you may,” Amanda said with smile, tapping his nose with her finger to punctuate each word.

She carried him into the kitchen clad only in his t-shirt and diaper. Becky had turned on their gas fireplace before they went outside, and the whole house was toasty now. They found their mom in the kitchen stirring two pots on the stove, one smaller and one bigger, having changed into more comfortable clothes.

“There’s my expert snowman builder,” Becky said, putting her arms out and taking Jamie from Amanda. “You know what I read, Baby Bear? I read that in really cold places where you’re from, people kiss like this,” she said, gently rubbing her nose against his. “Is that true?”

“I guess so,” he giggled. She did it again.

“Nice outfit,” Becky said to Amanda, who was getting cookies – big and little – out of the cabinet.

“I’m gonna try out for the JJ Legume catalogue,” she joked.

“O, is that it?”

“It was my idea,” Jamie said.

“Well, I think my Manda Bear could be in any catalogue she wants,” she played along, “so long as she’s dressed in at least that much clothes.”

“Manda Bear,” Amanda asked.

Becky cocked her head to the side for a moment, and replied, “Yes. Manda Bear. You’re not too old to be my Manda Bear, are you?”

Amanda blushed. “I guess not.” The name made her tummy tingle. Jamie couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it until now – Manda Bear, swap out the P for an M and … O well, never mind.

Becky turned back to the stove and took a spoonful of cocoa from the smaller pot, blew on it, and lifted it to Jamie’s lips. “Mmmm,” he said when it got to his taste buds. “Is this made from your milk?” He was over that embarrassment, too.

“Mhmm. Is it good?”

“Very,” he said, staring at the pot. When nothing happened for half a second, he added impatiently, “May I have some now?”

“Of course,” Becky said. She moved to get one of his cups from the cabinet – he couldn’t very well dip a cookie into a bottle. Amanda stepped over to the stove and took a sip from the spoon. Becky didn’t see, but Jamie did.

“Well,” he said with a wide smirk on his face. Manda Bear’s cheeks turned as rosy as when she was wrestling in the snow with Jamie Bear, and redder when Becky turned around.

Amanda answered, “Mama Bears’ hot chocolate is definitely for Jamie Bears only.”

Good, Jamie thought, because he didn’t wanna share.

Becky didn’t think anything of Amanda giving it a try. It’s not like she herself hadn’t when she was making it, the hot cocoa that is. “Who wants to go sledding later?”