Neonato Ranch - A Regression Story (Chapter 6)

This was a story I was commissioned to write - it features some themes that I don't often explore, and is primarily a slow-burn mental regression story. It's seven chapters long, I'll be posting the complete story over the next couple weeks.

Chapter 5 can be found here. 

It was another fantastic day.

Jeremy woke up slowly, with lots of fussing and going back to sleep as sunlight began filtering into the room. His bed was soft and warm, and he wanted to stay snuggled under the blankets for as long as possible. There wasn’t any pressing reason to get up - breakfast would be made for him, he had no need to go use the potty, and Karen would get him changed and dressed when the time came.

So, he stayed cozy beneath his covers until Karen came into his room, shaking him gently awake.

“Muh?” he mumbled, blinking and looking up at her.

“Jerry, silly boy, it’s time to wake up,” she said. “Billy’s done making breakfast, and it’ll get cold if you don’t get to it now!”

“O-oh,” Jeremy said, stretching as he sat up. When he yawned, his pacifier fell out of his mouth, but Karen deftly caught it and plopped it right between his lips.

“We’ll get you changed after you eat, alright?” she offered.

That sounded good, so Jeremy sat up, rubbed the sleepiness away from his eyes, and stood. He’d just worn a diaper to bed - it was all he needed, really - so that’s what he wore when he waddled out of his room with Karen, making his way towards the kitchen. He was soggy, but the diapers were thick and absorbent, and they weren’t yet at the point of leaking.

Billy greeted him with two eggs and a strip of bacon, arranged on a plate in a smiley face. The eggs had already been cut up, with a dot of ketchup on each piece. He slid the plate across to Jerry’s seat at the end of the table, along with a plastic fork and a sippy cup full of milk.

“Erm… wha’s tha’ fow?” Jeremy asked, pointing at the sippy cup.

“So you don’t spill, silly,” Billy explained, stacking up bacon onto a plate for the big kids’ table.

That made sense. Setting his pacifier aside, Jeremy dug into the meal, happily showing down. For such a simple breakfast, it was scrumptious, and he wolfed down his whole helping in only a couple minutes, holding out his plate for seconds when he was done.

Complying, Billy served up a second plate, cut it up, and gave it back to Jeremy. Again he wolfed it down, practically inhaling the food.

Only once both plates were empty - and Jeremy had drained his sippy cup - did Karen step in with a damp cloth, washing his face clean of all the food debris that had been smeared on his lips and cheeks during the process of eating.

She even had to wipe some crumbs off his bare chest, chuckling as she did. “I think it’s time we invested in a bib for you, little guy,” she said. Now that he was clean, she picked his pacifier up off the table and plopped it back between his lips, so he could suckle on it happily.

“Why?” he asked, the question a little muffled. She’d done a perfectly good job cleaning him up even without a bib, after all.

Karen only laughed, and leaned over to give his diaper a squeeze. “I think it’s time we got you in a freshie. Come on, Jerry!”

He hopped to his feet, waddling after Karen towards his bedroom so he could get changed. It was practically routine at this point - he hopped up on the changing table installed next to his dresser, and Karen smoothly discarded his old diaper, wiped, powdered, and applied a new one.

Feeling snug and secure in his new diaper, he waited for Karen to pick out a shirt for him. Today’s was pastel purple with a cartoon horse on the front, something from a show he’d watched years ago but couldn’t clearly remember. The design was fun, though, and he giggled when she held it up for him to see.

Shirt pulled over his head, socks on, boots tugged into place, pacifier still bobbing between his lips, Jeremy was ready to face the day.

“Now, come on, let’s go get your chores taken care of,” Karen said, smiling as she helped him to his feet.

Right, Jeremy said, making a face. Chore time was boring, and he wanted to go play with the horses!

Karen caught the expression right away and raised an eyebrow. “Now, Jerry, you know the rules - you can play once your chores are done. If you need help, you can ask one of the adults, but I think you’re big enough to handle it. Right?”

Hmmph. Jeremy was big enough to handle it, and he wouldn’t admit otherwise. Nodding, stubbornly, he frowned and knitted his brow as he thought of a question. “Eh… wha’ are my chowes?”

“You need to go help Billy with the dishes, then feed the chickens, silly boy.” Karen ruffled his hair and gave him a pat on the butt. “Now go get that done, and you can ride the ponies!”

“O-kay!” Jeremy said, waddling out of his room to go do as he was told.

Billy was already washing the dishes, and when Jeremy toddled in he smiled and passed him a towel. “Here, get these dry for me, OK?”

Jeremy nodded, picking up the towel and stepping up to the drying rack. Together they made quick work of the job, and before long all the breakfast dishes were clean, dry, and stacked away in the cupboards.

“Good job!” Billy said, raising his hand. “High five, kiddo!”

High-fiving him, Jeremy beamed, sucked on his pacifier, and looked around, remembering the route to the chicken coop. Before he could wander off, though, he felt a finger hook the elastic waistband of his diaper.

“Ah, ah, hold on there a minute,” Billy said. “You’re looking pretty soggy there, buddy. Let’s get you changed before you wander off, okay?”

Oh. Jeremy hadn’t noticed, but now that he looked down, his diaper had started to sag. All the milk from breakfast had run right through him, straight into the padding between his legs. “Kawen?”

“Hey, I’ve changed more than my fair share of soggy butts,” Billy pointed out. “She’s busy right now. I can take care of it just fine.”

Jeremy would have preferred Karen, but Billy would have to do. Squelching all the way back to his room, he clambered up onto his changing table, waiting while Billy got out the changing supplies.

“Now,” Billy said, as he rolled up Jeremy’s shirt and untapped the old diaper, discarding it in the trash. He slid a fresh diaper under Jeremy’s waist, then said, “I know you like it when Karen does this, but let’s see if ol’ Billy can’t do a good job. It’s powder first, then wipes, right?”

“No!” Jeremy protested, behind his pacifier. “Wipes, den pow’er!”

Billy beamed, tapping his head with the palm of his hand. “Oh, right! I knew that. But you know what comes before either of those?”

Jeremy frowned. “Huh?”

“Tickle monster!” Billy exclaimed, bending over and blowing a raspberry right on Jeremy’s tummy.

Jeremy squealed in laughter, kicking his legs and giggling as Billy tickled his sides. “H-hahha!”

Billy kept this up for a couple seconds, then pulled away, chuckling. “Now, does Karen do th- oh, uh oh!”

“Uh oh?” Jeremy raised his head, confused.

“We’ve got a little bit of a leak,” Billy said, stepping back. “No problem, though! That’s why I put down the diaper right away.”

Jeremy had to sit up to see that he was dribbling onto his diaper. He hadn’t noticed when it started, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it except wait. After a couple more seconds passed, the dribbling ended.

“Well, it’s only a little wet, this diaper should still hold up for a while,” Billy decided, getting out wipes. “Let’s get you all taped up before any more disasters strike, okay?”

Jeremy nodded, still giggling with the aftereffects of all the tickling.

Wipes, powder, and tapes all applied, Jeremy was ready to go once again, waddling off to the chicken coop.

Even out there, it was hard not to get distracted - All he had to do was take a bag of seed and fill the chicken feeder and make sure there was water in the trough, but it was such a nice day out that he just wanted to run around, playing with the chickens in their coop.

It took him some thirty minutes to get the simple task of feeding the chickens done, but there was no hurry. It was a lovely summer morning, and he had nowhere in particular to be, no real responsibilities to worry about.

So, he chased one of the chickens around, stomped around in the mud behind the coop, played fetch for ten minutes when the dog that lived around the ranch came romping up to meet him. At some point he got mud on his shirt and pulled it off, tossing it over the side of the chicken coop’s fence and resuming his play with just his felt boots, pacifier, and diaper. It was the most fun he’d had in a morning in as long as he could remember.

And, better yet, there was still more fun to come. Sometime as the sun was starting to rise overhead, he spotted Karen walking over to the barn and perked up, grinning as he ran to her, feeling the air blowing against his bare skin.

“Mith Karen!” he lisped over his pacifier, once she was loosely in earshot. “Karen!”

She spotted him and watched as he ran up, resting his hands on his knees and catching his breath.

After he panted for a couple seconds, he added through his pacifier, “If it time to wide now?”

Karen laughed, sounding satisfied. He wasn’t exactly sure what she was satisfied about, but as long as she was happy, he was happy too. “Yes, Jerry, in just a moment!” she promised. “Go find Billy, so he can lead your pony and make sure you don’t have any trouble, okay?”

Right, of course. He needed a grown-up, and Karen would be too busy teaching the big kids to handle their big horses.

So, he ran back to the ranch, giggling as he felt the wind tickle his hair.

Stopping in the kitchen, he filled up a plastic cup in the sink and drank half of it, spilling a bit on himself in the process. It was okay - he wasn’t wearing any clothes to get dirty. His thirst taken care of, he ran around the house, stomping around and making the furniture shake until-

“Whoa there, buddy!” Billy said, stepping around the corner and putting up his hands. “No running inside, kiddo, you should know that!”

“Sowwy!” Jeremy said, dancing from foot to foot in excitement. “Is just- is widing time!”

“Oh, well then, I get why you’re excited!” Billy declared. “Let’s get going outside then, huh?”

Jumping for excitement, Jeremy said, “Yeah!”

The big kids were already gathered for their lesson when Billy got a pony from the stall, gave Jeremy a hand into the saddle, and led him out into the yard. It was a gentle ride, but that was okay - he was up high, almost as high up as the big kids, and he got to sit on a horse and walk around!

Once he was bigger, he’d get to ride all by himself, but this was good practice for now, and it was more than enough fun.

At some point, Billy started chuckling.

“Mph- huh?” Jeremy asked, tilting his head in confusion. “Wha… mph… wha’s funny?”

“Nothing!” Billy shook his head, still smirking. “It just looks like you’re a little busy, kiddo!”

Jeremy didn’t know what he was talking about, but as they were riding up next to the actual class, he decided to wave at Karen and say hi.

She waved back, then wrinkled her nose as they got a little closer. “Hey, Jerry, don’t you need a change right about now?”

“I was just thinking that,” Billy said, nodding. “This lil’ stinker didn’t even realize he was going!”

Karen raised an eyebrow, smiling broadly. “Really?”

Jeremy was mostly just confused. “Huh? I don’ need a-” he frowned, sniffing the air. Something smelled, and when he wriggled in the saddle and felt his diaper smush, he realized it was him. “Oh!”

“Really,” Billy said, simply.

“Well then,” Karen said. “I think he’s just about done. Not much more to expect. Here, I can go get him changed, can you make sure the drills go well?”

“Nuh-uh!” Jeremy interjected. “I wanna keep widing!”

“Well, mister, before we do that we need to get your little mush tush cleaned up!” Karen declared, taking the reins of the pony. “If you’re very good, maybe you can ride a little more afterwards. Okay?”

He almost argued, hoping he could keep riding more now, but Karen wasn’t going to accept any complaints and they both knew it. “Fiii’e…”

“Good boy.” She smiled, leading him back to the barn for his change.

It was mostly just boring. He had to wait around while Karen laid out the changing mat, then he just had to cross his arms and wait as she fussed over him, got the muck cleaned away, and wrapped him up in a fresh diaper. There just wasn’t all that much to it before he was clean, powdered, padded, and ready to go again.

“Good job, you were very patient,” Karen said, once she was finished. Helping Jeremy sit up, she asked, “Do you want to ride the pony a little more?”

Absolutely! He bobbed his head in agreement, almost losing his pacifier from how emphatically he nodded.

Life on the ranch really was a dream come true.

…

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. Karen gave him a bath after riding was over, got him all cleaned, and then he played in the living room in the afternoon. Cartoons on the TV kept his attention for a while, and then once all the big kids came back inside for the day, he hung out near them, occasionally interacting with one of them to get them to put a cartoon on TV or asking for help getting a sippy cup to drink from.

All the big kids made sure to tell Karen when he needed a change, too, getting her right away when his diaper started to smell. It was an annoying interference in his playtime, but he put up with it politely.

Dinner came, which he ate while only making a little bit of a mess, and then, as the sun dipped down below the horizon, Karen came in to tell him it was bedtime.

That was disappointing, but there was always tomorrow. For now, he was admittedly feeling pretty sleepy, and Karen always knew best.

She got him changed into his nighttime diaper, checked the nightlight in his room, and then helped him into bed.

“Kawen?” he asked, as she tucked the blankets up around him.

“What is it, Jerry?” she asked.

Jerry frowned for a moment, thinking about how to form his question. He even took out his pacifier. “Do ya think that some day, when I’m bigger, I can be a cowboy? Like the one in the painting?”

Karen chuckled, looking over at the painting that was hanging against the wall. “I think you already are, sweetie!”

“Huh?” he asked, following her gaze.

The painting was of a kid on a pony, looking delighted. Jerry could have sworn that it was of a grownup cowboy, not a kid, but it was hanging there as proof that his memory was wrong.

Or… no, it couldn’t be, except…

“But…” he started to say.

Karen kissed him on the forehead. “I’m sure you’ll be big and strong someday. Now, get your rest, and don’t worry your silly little head about anything until morning. If it’s important, you can tell me about it then.”

That made sense. He was just tired, he could worry about his problems in the morning.

“Ni-ni, Karen,” he said, closing his eyes and snuggling into bed.

“Goodnight, Jerry,” she said, turning out the lamp.