I can see Maddy's mom getting the generic pull-up because the design is less infantile which Mom expects will be easier for Maddy to accept. Now that Maddy is showing that she will overload the pullups, I wonder how long Mom will let that go on. On the one hand, Mom was reluctant to even get pullups, so she was okay with the sheets being washed every day. On the other hand, she is trying to help Maddy find something that will work for a sleepover, and pullups won't cut it. I wonder if Maddy is going to get more than she bargained for.

It was a long wait but it was worth it. Excellent chapter! Really sets the stage for what's going to happen next, definitely looking forward to a lot more!

Sweeties

Chapter 6: Conference Call   Alice heard George close the door behind him – a bit too hard for her liking – and the lock clicked shut. She adjusted her position on the kitchen stool and took another sip of her coffee. Two and a half sugars, and plenty of milk. She liked her coffee sweet.  Jane coming back from practice when she had was great timing. She’d hoped to get George to meet the neighbours soon, but Jane meeting him first like that was excellent news. George would really need to make friends over the summer, and it looked like he’d already made one.  With any luck the two of them could spend the rest of the day getting to know each other. George could lose the sullen mood and start to have some fun.  Alice knew from personal experience how isolating it could be moving to an entirely new country. How much the loneliness weighed down on you and how hard it was to pull yourself out of that rut of disconnection and unease. George’s mother had been there to help Alice out of that many years ago. Now it was time to return the favour.   She placed the rounded black mug back down on the plastic coaster gently, then leaned over and pulled her tablet out of its charging cradle and powered it on. She needed to write an email. Pulling up the app icon she typed slowly with one hand. The dull pink tablet resting on the countertop as her other hand shuttled the coffee mug back and forth from the coaster to her mouth.     Hi Mary,   It's the middle of the night over in England as I’m typing this, but I just wanted to give you an update on things since it's been a few days.   George is settling in slowly but surely. It's a bid adjustment for him being so far from home, but he’s a resilient boy. He’s already made a friend with the girl who lives across the street. The two of them are out exploring the nearby woods right now. I’m sure he can tell you all about it when he calls you – Don't worry, I'll make sure he does just as soon as the jet lag has worn off!  I’m taking him into town tomorrow to pick up some swim-shorts and a baseball uniform.  His first game is the day after. I’ll take pictures to send you. Did he ever play rounders much at school at home? I remember them having similar rules.  I’m hoping I can make this a summer for him to remember. We’re going out to the lodge in a few weeks, and I’m sure he’s going to love it there. Should help him take his mind of things.  I hope things are better for you these days. You and George deserve better than what you’ve been through. If you need anything at all, let me know. And call me when you’ve got the chance. It's been too long.   Your best friend,  Alice Warding  Alice sat back and looked over what she’d just wrote. She frowned. She hadn’t mentioned the bedwetting. Should she? Mary didn’t need to be worrying about that right now. She had that leach of a husband to finalise divorce papers with and a dozen other going concerns after that. There was no need to add to it.   As much as Alice loved her best friend, she had to admit she wasn’t the best at problem solving. Or even problem spotting. If she was, she might have thought to listen to her best friends' warnings now and then. She’d had suspicions that Mary’s decision to marry Alex had been a mistake. Now she felt rather vindicated.  She could see a lot of Mary in her son. George had her same shy demeanour, the same wariness that seemed to weight down on them. They shared the anxious tendency Alice had seen in Mary since their own childhoods. The same – what was the term, catastrophising? George had seemed to react to the bedwetting as if it was the end of the world when she’d found out. Mortified and apologising profusely as if he’d done her harm somehow.  Her decision to omit the bedwetting from her report was the correct decision, she decided. One person fussing and worrying over it was enough. It wasn’t like she’d be able to help from across a continent and an ocean anyway. If George wanted to mention it in their call that was his prerogative. Just as solving the issue in the here and now was hers.  Running her eye over the draft for spelling errors one last time, she hit send. The rest of her inbox received a brief inspection as well. With nothing of importance being found, it felt like a good idea to make some preparations for George tonight. The tablet screen went black with a click, and she set it aside to make her way upstairs to George’s room.  The bed sat unmade, and she busied herself straightening pillows and getting the duvet in alignment once again as she looked around. She was happy to see that aside from the bed, everything else seemed to have been left in a presentable condition.   His Nintendo sat on the bedside table next to the empty phone charging cradle. A solitary light flickering orange as a light grey wire feed from it down into an adaptor and then the wall socket. A backpack now emptied of its change of clothes, toiletries and other sundries lay slouching on the wall next to the sliding wardrobe. As far as she could see from outside the bathroom was in an acceptable condition as well.   “Spoke too soon.” She tutted only to herself as she stepped into the en-suite. Her eyes catching the towel that had been hung back up crookedly on the chrome rack. As she quickly smoothed the fluffy white cloth out properly, she caught sight of the toilet itself, and a spattering of yellow drops on the seat.  Now Alice sighed. Grabbing a wad of toilet paper, she wiped it up quicky. Lifting the seat up to conduct a proper inspection. Nothing had escaped underneath thankfully, but she did find a dribble of pee had fallen on the outside of the bowl. Sliding down all the way to the bathroom floor. This too was scoured clean with toilet paper as she made a mental note to gently remind George to clean up after himself properly in the bathroom.  Speaking of peeing where you shouldn’t, George’s new protection didn’t seem anywhere to be found. Not in the bathroom cabinets or his chest of drawers or the sliding wardrobe.  She knew for a fact he had carried them up to his room. She’d watched him climb the stairs with them with her own eyes. Having exhausted all other options, she grumbled and got down uncomfortably on her knees to peer under the bed. There in the gloomy darkness a glint of light reflected on the plastic sheen of one of the packages. Both were almost all the way at the back, right up against the skirting board.  Getting back up onto her feet she winced at the slight joint aches as she thought about how to get them out of there without having to crawl around in the cramped space like the world's most ill-prepared cave diver. She walked over towards the wardrobe and retrieved the longest looking coat hanger there. If she briefly got down on her knees again and leaned forward with the coat hanger, she could just about snag the end of the packages with it. It reached, just barely, and a few tugs later she managed to pull the package of easy ups out into the daylight again, quickly followed by the Goodnites.   “What am I going to do with you George?” She asked herself as she placed the packages on top of the Duvet cover. He didn’t have to like the idea of wearing protection but throwing them about like this and trying to hide from the problem wasn’t helping anyone.   Using her thumbnail, she cut a seam in the thin plastic bag and opened it out to reveal the tightly stacked row of disposable underwear.  She pulled a handful of them out to look and saw the muted purple and pinks of the girls Goodnites patterns that came about the waist and leg holes. The front panel was dominated by a cartoon of Princess Jasmine from Aladin, whilst yellow and violet flower patterns served as wetness indicators.  Alice nodded in approval as she examined it further. The stretch at the sides looked a little flimsy to her eyes, but she was no expert. The packaging had talked about the placement of a surge layer tailored for girls to better absorb wetness, and she wondered if that would factor into their effectiveness when worn by a boy. George would have to let her know how they felt when worn, and only time would tell them how well they held up to the “up to 100% leak free” advertisement claim. George would be wearing these tonight. She’d need to make that clear to him. He wasn’t going to deal with problems by hiding them under the bed.  The easy ups received a similar inspection, and this time Alice was far less impressed. They, like the Goodnites, were a slip-on design, yet seemed smaller than them and even a bit thinner. It was obvious from the packaging that these were meant for potty training toddlers, not bedwetting pre-teens. She might have been better off with just the Goodnites.  Picking up both bags she strode over to the wardrobe and opened the large top drawer. The inside was mostly empty aside from a dozen pairs of boxer shorts stacked in two neat piles. Shifting those to the side, she set the diaper packs on the top of the unit and began to stack them in the space she made. All except for a single Goodnite, which she left on the top of the unit for him to wear that night. The drawer closed with a gentle sliding sound and the rest of the diapers vanished from view.  She turned and looked out of the window. Enjoying the view it offered of the back garden. They should have a barbeque out there if the weather decided to hold, invite Jane and her family over, and a few others. She looked beyond the garden. From the upper floor of the house, she could see out over the wide expanse of woodland that hugged the suburb she called home.   Somewhere out there George was hopefully having some fun with Jane. Making memories and becoming less of a hermit. She hoped, at least. She’d need to ask how they got on once they were back. Speaking of, she’d need to start thinking about dinner soon. She was tempted to order takeout, but they’d already eaten out for lunch earlier. As much as she wanted to spoil her godson, a bit of home cooking would do him some good. She hoped he liked beef tacos.  She went through a mental checklist of what she’d need. Alice had stocked up the fridge and freezer in preparation for George’s visit, but she’d need to think about other things. If Jane wanted to stay for dinner, what they might watch on tv. Inevitably her train of thought chugged along, and the issue of bedtime began to come into view of the tracks.   How was she meant to convince George to wear protection to bed? She couldn’t even convince him to stop slamming the car door.  Alice was, at heart, a manager. She organised, she planned, she delegated. No one could be an expert at everything, but you didn’t need to be if you knew the right people for a task or a situation. It was a skill that served her well in business, giving her company the edge it needed to thrive.  Of course, that was the business world and not childcare. But surely some principles of organising and delegation were transferable, right? She made her way back down the stairs. With George outside playing, it was time to talk to someone with experience.  In the kitchen she retrieved her tablet once more, this time swiping into the group chat she maintained with her friends. It was a small group, just a half dozen or so of Alice’s confidants and friends. When one of them – Alice couldn’t quite remember who - had first suggested forming it a few years ago they’d struggled to think of what to name it. Eventually they’d settled on “Alice’s Wonderland” as a joke and it had stuck. It was a fitting name though. Alice was very much the queen bee of their little cabal and the more than once had tongue in cheek comparisons to the queen of hearts been made.  It had been a couple of days since Alice had looked, and she found herself scrolling past missed conversations. Book recommendations, plans for their next get together, suggestions for a poker night, pictures of cute pets being cute. Eventually Alice caught herself up to speed and, after giving an approving emote reaction to the idea of a poker night, started typing.  Alice: Hi girls! Still getting my little guest settled in for the summer, but I’ve got some free time to catch up. What have I missed? Was hoping to ask you all for some advice as well.  Melissa: The queen returns! How’s George settling in? Must be good to have some use for all those spare rooms!  Katie: Yes! Details, give them! And shoot. Whatever you need, let us know!  Alice: I think we’re doing alright, all things considered. Obviously, this is a big deal for him and he’s going through a lot at the moment. Poor guy been out of it with jetlag since we arrived back home. I’m taking him shopping for a baseball uniform tomorrow, so hopefully he’s over this before his first time on the pitch.  I was hoping the moms amongst us might be able to give me some pointers? I’ve not had to look after a kid since my high school babysitting gigs, so a bit rusty!  Also, bit of a more serious topic, but he had a bit of an accident his first night here. Found the poor guy trying to strip his bed to cover it up.  Katie: Oh, the poor thing. Do you know if that’s happened before? Its more common than you’d think with kids that age. Half the kids I’ve looked after had night problems like that.  Melissa: Can confirm. We had issues with my boys for years with this. Caused lot of problems before we found a solution that worked. What have you tried so far?  Alice: I’ve taken some preventative measures for tonight.  Katie: That sounds rather cryptic.  Alice: Just trying to be delicate. He’s a sensitive boy. We picked up some protection for him to wear tonight. Though I’m not impressed with what we were able to find.  Melissa: I’m not surprised. It's a real struggle to find anything that works for boys of that age. There’s Goodnites of course, but both of my boys managed to soak through them every night.  Alice: Oh, well that’s what I’ve got for him. That and some easy up training pants that *might* fit him, but I think they’d perform worse than the Goodnites. Honestly, I wish I’d not bothered getting them. I was seriously struggling to find anything that might work for George.   Katie: Yeah, even if he fits those, a boy his age would leak right through them I’m afraid. They’re much more meant for kids learning to use the potty. Sorry Alice.  Alice: Well, too late now. Maybe I can donate them.  Katie: I suppose you might be able to use them as stuffers for the Goodnites. But I doubt that would be comfortable for George.  Melissa: I hate to pry further Alice, but is this a new development?   Alice: As far as I know. George claims it's never happened before, but he might just be embarrassed about it.  Melissa: He might just be stressed.  Alice: That’s what I’ve been thinking. It's a big change for him. Poor guy has got a lot on his plate at home, and this was meant to be a nice getaway for him over the summer. Let him make some friends and get away from his troubles. But he just seems all mopey and moody with me so far. I don’t know where I’m going wrong.  Melissa: You’re not going wrong. You just need the right help and advice. We’re here to help. My boys went through a similar phase, and it didn’t get better until we went to see a specialist for the help we needed.  Alice: I suppose. But isn’t that a bit drastic at this stage? Its only happened once so far. We might not have to deal with it again at all.  Katie: I hope so. But in my experience kids with wetting issues are usual repeat offenders. Not every night for a lot of them, but I’ve also never seen a case of it being a one-time thing.  Melissa: Let me give you the contacts info for the therapist my boys go to. She’s an absolute life saver and I can’t tell you how much things have improved since we started her program. See how things go with him tonight and if it's still an issue, give her a call. You won’t regret it.  The key to remember right now is staying consistent and staying in charge. Make it clear to him that this is to help him and that you know best. Don’t flip-flop or concede if he pushes back on it. Boys need strong parental figures in their lives, and they need to rely on you to make the best decisions for them.  Alice: Thanks Melissa.  I owe you. Oh, and speaking of your boys, I was wondering how you’d feel about maybe doing some sort of get-together with them and George? He’s made friends with the girl next door already, but I think it would be good for him to make friends with some boys his own age as well.   Melissa: I’d be delighted to! Give me a call soon and we can discuss details. You should come over as well. I can show you how we do things with my boys, and young George can make some friends. Win-win.  Alice: Sounds like a plan! I’ve got to go and make dinner together for me and George, but I’l be in contact. Thanks girls, you’ve been a real help.  Melissa: It's what we’re here for!  Katie: Let us know how things go with George.  I hope it goes well for you both tonight.  Alice reacted to Katie’s last message with a thumb's up emoji, then closed the app and set her phone down on the table. She felt a bit better already. Glad to know she wasn’t dealing with an unprecedented problem in the field of caring for children.  She took her cup over to the sink and began to wash out the dregs of her now cold coffee, watching the murky brow water swill around and around the mug as she thought about the coming evening. Looking out the window, the light was just starting to dim. She’d been taking to her friends for longer than she’d thought.  She set the cup upside down to let it drip-dry as she heard the phone vibrate where she’d left it on the table. She picked it back up and glanced at the flashing notification to see she’d already gotten an email from Melissa with the details of the therapist she was recommending. A Dr Paige, it looked like.  She’d read it later. Right now she had dinner to think about it, and what would come after. Her mind switched tracks as she focused on the beef tacos she was planning to make. As she pulled down two plates from the cupboard and retrieved a pack of frozen beef from the freezer section of the fridge, she glanced out the window again and hoped George was having a good time. A good mood and a full belly would hopefully break him out of his grumpy mood, and let bedtime go all the smoother. 

That’s gonna be a no from me, dog.