Done Adulting Vol. 1 Ch. 36

Everyone slept in late the next morning, Jamie especially. Amanda went to get Jamie out of bed.

“Rise and shine!” Jamie was already awake and sitting upright against the bars in the corner of his crib.

“Morning, Manda. Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“I told them I couldn’t finish orientation.” Jamie wasn’t so keen on that idea. He didn’t know what she got paid for that job, but even if it were nothing, he didn’t want to be an interruption. Amanda and Becky had lives prior to him. Their lives shouldn’t have to revolve around me, he thought. She lowered the rail.

“Um, why did you do decide to do that?” He’d gone to sleep in just a diaper last night. He’d used it once during the night and once after waking up. Amanda picked him up and placed him on the changing table.

“Because I’d rather spend the last few days of summer with you,” she said as she cleaned him up. “Hmm.”

“What?”

“You need to drink more.” She showed him the inside of his diaper. He could see she was right. “Let’s go somewhere today. You up for it?”

“Sure. What did you have in mind?”

“We thought we’d meet Jane at the park with Rosie and then after you guys got to play for a while, we’d go find lunch somewhere. You haven’t seen our downtown yet.” Jamie liked the idea, though he wasn’t so keen on the playing with Rosie part. He was too polite to say it, though.

“That sounds like fun.” He liked the eating out part. He hadn’t gotten to do that yet.

“Since you had two baths yesterday and we’re going to play outside, do you mind skipping it this morning?”

“No, that’s okay.” She was fastening a new diaper on him. “How’s Becky?”

His concern was touching. Here was a benefit you didn’t get with very regressed littles; they could pick up on intense emotions, but they didn’t understand their causes or notice the subtle ones. “She seems alright this morning. I’m proud of her.”

“Yesterday wasn’t the first day like that, huh?”

“Actually, it was, sort of. Grandma hurts mom all the time. What was different is she did something about it.” Amanda got an outfit from the dresser, then thought better of it and picked out a second to take with them. Jamie was able to see what caused the difference yesterday. Me, he thought. It made him feel good and bad at the same time.

“I want to do something nice for her.”

“I’m sure she’d like that. Any ideas yet?”

Jamie shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Arms up.” She slipped Jamie’s shirt over his head. She threaded his shorts up his legs and paused, thinking on the day before. Her forehead creased at the thought of it. “Are you okay today, honey?”

“Yeah, I’ve had worse.” His voice was jocular. He was trying to reassure her. Instead, Amanda just thought of all the worse things that may have happened to him in his past. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Someday she wanted to know all about his past, and on that day, she expected wouldn’t be able to hear it all. Who’s cruel to a little boy, she asked herself. But Itali was not Utopia. She knew there were people unkind and worse to littles and even to their own children. She just couldn’t fathom why. Chalking it up to evil, she knew, was a lazy answer, but if evil was not its source, evil was still what it was.

She wanted Jamie to be surrounded on all sides by people who loved him as much as she did.

______________________________________________

“Little Hearth. This is Denise speaking.”

While Amanda saw to Jamie, Becky felt a need to reassure herself she’d made the right choice in selecting a daycare. “Hi, Denise. Is Diane in?”

“She is. May I tell her who’s calling?”

“Rebecca Webb.”

“One moment please.”

There were so many daycares to choose from and so many criteria to consider. Convenience and price, but especially for Jamie, she wanted to be sure the place and the people were right for his needs. Several people she knew sent their littles to Little Hearth. The proprietor, Diane, had put her very much at ease.

“Hi, Rebecca. How are you this morning?”

Totally freaked out didn’t seem like the right response. “I’m well. Thanks so much for asking.”

“We’re looking forward to meeting Jamie next week.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk about. Do you have a few minutes?” Diane got calls like these from new clients; this time of year, when school was going back in session, she fielded calls like these almost daily.

“Of course. What’s on your mind?”

Becky had asked herself that before calling, and she didn’t have a specific answer. She wasn’t worried about anything in particular. “Ya know, I guess I’m not sure.” She was a bit embarrassed to have made the call now, coming off like a panicked new little mom.

Diane half expected that. She always half expected that because many of her clients who made this call didn’t have anything specific to discuss either. “I have his paperwork in front of me,” Diane replied. “Would you like to go through it once more?”

“Yes, that’d be great.” That she had suggested something rather than try to end the call made Becky feel better already. They reviewed his medical history; they discussed his personal history; they talked about what foods he liked; they talked about how he liked to play. With each item, Diane made it clear she understood and asked questions if she didn’t. She encouraged Becky to do the same.

“Well, Becky, that’s what’s on paper. Do you want to tell me anything about Jamie that you know now that you didn’t know when you filled this out?”

Becky talked about working with Jamie on how to respond to people who assumed he was regressed or treated him that way regardless. She talked about how he liked climbing on the swing set and that he liked things where he was physically active. She mentioned his favorite toys. She told her he could be moody and sometimes got angry. She told Diane Jamie would only take a bottle from someone if he really trusted them; otherwise he wouldn’t even let them cradle him. She told her he cries more than you might expect from an unregressed little. She told her he didn’t often use his pacifier, but she’d be sending it with him.

“Um … this is awkward but … do any of your clients dislike unregressed littles,” Becky asked.

“No. If I knew they did, I wouldn’t accept their applications. We don’t often have unregressed littles, but regardless, we don’t want that thinking anywhere near our littles.”

“Does your staff have any experience with unregressed littles?”

“Some. I’ve briefed them all on Jamie, and I’ll talk to them again before you get here.”

“He’s not had much luck with bigs treating him respectfully.”

“I promise you he will here. I’ll stay with him until he’s comfortable.” There was a pause in the conversation. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“Just that … he’ll come off as aloof at first; he tries to control conversations by being very formal. Sort of, excessively polite. But with a little affection you’ll win him over. He has a big heart.”

“I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Thanks for talking with me.”

“Any time.”

They hung up. Becky felt better.