Kat5

I think this is a very good chapter. And I am envious of the Severe chronic insomnia makes me envious of the unawake.

Guilend is basically our own local meme. I mean, look at those googly eyes.

Thank you very ... *gets distracted eating grapes*

All very good points! Kudos for paying attention to the exact setup of the upcoming scene! Of course, you have cheated by paying attention, but I'll let it slide just this once. ... as long as you bribe me with grapes.

Refrigerator boxes were always the very best! We drew a house on the outside of one and a little fireplace on the inside.

I completely agree with you that this would be a red flag to be nervous about! But a big part of this story is that even though Amanda is undoubtedly one of the beat of her kind to be stuck with, she is still an Amazon. That's kind of a part of the mechanics here. I'm honestly pretty happy with it, too! We used to use sheets to make makeshift tents off the back of the couch to bar stools and pretend to be camping out. Simple enjoyment is the beat enjoyment. Thank you very kindly! I feel like I'm working extra hard to avoid the obvious John's Pickle jokes. I promise that the delays are not on purpose. Life has not been overly understanding as of late. Xerxes was alarm barking. First time in this story he's barked at anything other than the squirrel. This is on porpoise. We shall have to see together! I could use this comment ti stir up Guilend and tease him. But just this once I wont.

Chapter Fifty Five Amanda stood next to the table where John was in his booster seat, still arguing about breakfast. “John. Please, just eat it.” She pleaded. With a deep breath, he blurted out “But it looks like play dough with cinnamon!” “It’s high in iron.” “So are nails, and I don’t eat those!” With a deep, calm breath she tried to explain “It’s got lots of fiber, and aside from the morning when you have coffee, you aren’t going regularly.” He just sat there blinking up at her for a moment before looking down at the bowl, and then up at her and asked “So I have to eat this specifically to turn it into poop?” Amanda felt her entire body trying to go limp with frustration combined with the overwhelming urge to laugh. “John. Just … John.” He picked up the spoon and used the back of it to smack the substance in the bowl and motioned at the indentation that stayed in the contents with both hands and both eyebrows raised. As soon as her phone rang, she took the opportunity to disengage from the sassy little. With a quick glance at the caller ID, she answered “Hello Mr Tempes!” She heard a chuckle and the response “Hello to you too, Miss Taylor. I see that we are still starting conversations with our last names after all these years. How are you today?” With one dirty glance over her shoulder at John, she responded “I’m doing mostly well. I’m trying to make a little eat Malt-O-Meal and he’s just not having it, though.” “Huh. Did you try putting it on some toast yet?” Without even bothering to answer, she pinned the phone to her shoulder and got a slice of bread in the toaster before answering “In two minutes I will have.” Mr Tempes elaborated a bit “Well, putting it on some buttered toast should help get it into him. Sprinkling a bit of sugar and cinnamon onto it should do the trick.” Getting butter out on the counter, she opened a cabinet and grabbed some sugar and a shaker of cinnamon. “Mister Frank, do you mind if I put the phone down for just a moment?” She asked “Take your time, I’m not in a rush.” Mister Frank always seemed patient about everything. Wasting no time, she buttered the toast, took the bowl from in front of John and spread some Malt-O-Meal onto the top. Pausing only to sprinkle a bit of cinnamon and sugar on top of the Malt-O-Meal, she slid the plate in front of John and said “Here, at least try that." It was obvious by his body language that he was skeptical to say the least, but he was apparently just smart enough to try it -before- complaining. Picking up the toast with both hands, he took a tentative bite of the corner … Amanda watched … He took another, much larger bite, and started chewing enthusiastically. Once he swallowed, he said excitedly “Hey, this stuff is good! You should have put this on toast from the beginning!” Amanda felt her right hand twitch as she looked at the ceiling above her while taking a deep, calming, breath. “Goddess give me strength.” she mumbled quietly to the ceiling. Refusing to speak for fear that she would wind up arguing with a sassy little about eating THE EXACT SAME THING HE JUST REFUSED … Amanda took another deep, calming breath before sliding the sippy cup full of apple juice closer to him and picking up her phone. With a massive effort to try to keep the frustration out of her voice, she said “Mister Frank, that worked like a charm!” “Miss Amanda, I’m glad that it worked. You sound like you’re struggling with a little this morning.” His reply left her realizing that the frustration was still in her voice. One last calming breath and she admitted “Yeah, sorry about that. Someone feels a lot better today and he’s got more energy to be sassy with. So what can I do for you today?” “Well, as it happens, I think we need to talk about your pickles.” “Oh? Is there something wrong with the last batch?” Laughing a bit, he answered “No, quite the opposite. Once word got out that you made the pickles for littles with your son, I sold out of them by lunchtime. Would you be willing to make nothing but the pickles for littles this week? Maybe figure out a label for them?” “Huh.” that took Amanda a moment to process “I … guess that actually makes things easier on my end. And I suppose I could just take an outline of his hand or … yeah, I have an idea for a label. Is everything else good?” “Absolutely! You make a bunch of pickles for littles and I’ll bring some extra milk crates to put them in. Oh, and just so you know, the weather today is going to warm up a bit and we’re going to have a great, but cloudy weekend.” “I’ll do that! Thanks for letting me know, and I’ll see you in the morning.” Amanda said before hanging up. Looking back over to the table, she spotted John. Finished with his breakfast and swinging his feet energetically while he idly drummed two different beats with his hands. As she watched, he tapped out “Tap-tap-tap-tappa. Tap-tap-tap-tappa” with one hand and was using his fingers with the other to tap out a faster rhythm that he changed and then changed back. He was wired, and he hadn’t even had his coffee milk yet. It took him the usual half an hour to wake up, and she gave him a bit of cold milk in a bottle. And when he woke up he just started talking and running. Moving over and leaning down to look at him, he stopped and smiled at her, but his feet kept swinging energetically. Finally rolling her eyes, she kissed him on the forehead and then wiped his dirty cheeks with a napkin before unbuckling him from the booster seat and turning him loose to run off to the living room with his sippy cup. Taking a minute to pour herself a cup of coffee, she cleaned the dishes and decided not to mention the coffee milk. If he didn’t ask, she wasn’t going to try to make him even more hyperactive. Going to her computer, she brought up a picture of John riding Xerxes in front of the garden. Just to keep from putting his face all over the place, she made the entire thing just a bit out of focus until it was only obvious that it was a little in a shirt and diaper riding a black and white collie. With a moment to fight with the printer because she had not changed a single thing since she last used it, it had decided that she had completely changed to a different label paper and refused to let her print until she gave up and let it do an update. Printers. Having turned her back on him for over a minute she looked back at the couch to see him standing on it and waddling back and forth while trying to read his book on his tablet at the same time. “John!” she fussed loudly. Immediately he flopped onto his butt without looking away from his tablet. He obviously knew he shouldn’t be standing on the couch, let alone walking on it. Walking over to the couch she picked him up and moved him to his playmat. The second he took a step on the playmat, he fell safely onto all fours. Thank the Goddess that he hadn’t fallen like that and tumbled off the couch. “John, no walking on the couch or you go into the playpen. Do you understand?” For his part he had the decency to look sheepish as he looked down and said “Yes Ma’am.” Amanda had a hunch that this was going to be a long day. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After about ten minutes of trying to sit still, John gave up, put his tablet down and climbed on top of Xerxes, who had no trouble standing up on the four inch thick squishy playmat. Patting him on the ribs, Xerxes stood up and John practiced getting him to turn and managed to steer him around the couch and into the kitchen when Mom came out of the utility room where she was getting some laundry washing. “John?” she called when she didn’t see him in the living room. Immediately he started trying to climb off of Xerxes, because he wasn’t supposed to be ‘playing horse’ i.e. riding the dog like a horse indoors. He just got his feet on the floor as she came around the counter and exclaimed “John! What are you doing in the kitchen!?” “Ummm…” thinking quickly he came up with an excuse “Where are those doggy breath mints? Xerxes has dog breath.” He watched her roll her eyes as she said “They’re dental treats. And he’s a dog, all dogs have … you know what, here.” She pulled a jar from against the wall and opened it up and handed him a couple of treats as wide as his palm to feed to his buddy. Xerxes’ tail was already going ballistic as John said “Sit!” Xerxes’ butt went down, but his tail was sliding back and forth. Reaching out, John tried to balance a treat on Xerxe’s nose. Which lasted less than the blink of an eye as the treat disappeared into a very happy dog snout. Giving up on that, John simply held out his hand palm up and said “Gimme five!” It took him a couple of minutes to get Xerxes to mimic the motion of picking up his paw and putting it against his own palm, but after a few tries he held up the treat and said “Gimme five!” and when Xerxes gave him five, he also snapped up the treat faster than John could follow with his eyes. With that done, he tried to turn to walk to the living room, but Mommy grunted in disapproval and lifted him up under his arms before carrying him to the bathroom and sitting him on the side of the sink and making sure his hands were thoroughly washed. “Mom, I can … Mom, I can wash my hands. They weren’t even that dirty.” He tried to protest. But all he got was a kiss on top of the head and sat back down on the floor. With a swat to his bottom, he was told “I’m going to prep a lot of jars, and we’re going to make a bunch of pickles. Go burn off some of that energy while I get things ready.” Mumbling “I don’t have that much energy.” John reached up and grabbed the first of the three large couch cushions and pushed the couch with his foot while pulling with all his might until it came off of the couch. Dragging it over to the playmat, he OOF’d indignantly as he hit the playpen and tumbled ungracefully onto the mat with a large cushion on top of him. After a good several minutes, John had finally managed to get all three cushions off the couch with one standing upright against the wall underneath the big double window, one leaning against it at a right angle, and the third one propped up haphazardly with a gap for him to crawl through. All he needed was a roof. So crawling out of his makeshift fort, he went to his play… he went to THE playpen. Not his, he didn’t like being in it. Going to THE playpen, John grabbed the blanket resting on the side of it and went back to the playmat. This time he was incredibly careful and managed to walk most of the way to the pillow fort before he wound up on his knees. Crawling back inside, he found that half the space inside was already occupied by a very excited Collie. Taking the chance to climb on top of Xerxes, John managed to throw the blanket over the pillows and leave a gap by the window for light to come in. Now out of steam from the activity, he sat down and reclined against a furry side and looked around at his fort. With a smile, he took a deep satisfying breath. It smelled like success. … and dog breath. About that time he heard Mom calling him from the kitchen. “Oh JOHNNnnnnn … has anyone seen my son, John? A bit over four foot tall, never takes the couch apart while I’m working in the kitchen?” Calling back across the house by speaking loudly up at his blanket ceiling, he answered: “Resources were needed to found Fort … uhhh… Fort Dogbreath!” Then he mumbled to himself “Fort Dogbreath? That’s a terrible name.” But it was too late, he’d said it out loud, so he owned it. “Fort Dogbreath was established in three hundred A.D. to help the Squirrel Sentinels fend off the evil Chinchilla invasion. Their leader Steve is memorialized today by the annual reconstruction of the fort and then doodling Steve and his two femal squirrel companions.” “Uh huh. And will you be coming out of Fort Dogbreath to help with the pickles, or staying there and playing?” Immediately rolling forward to crawl out of the makeshift fort, John made his way to the edge of the mat and was picked up before he could even stand up on his own. Carried into the kitchen, he was pinned gently to the counter and both his and Mommy’s arms were washed up to the elbows and rinsed thoroughly before being dried. And then he was placed on the makeshift platform of chairs facing the counter. Instead of two sets of jars like last time, there was just one big pile of them and lots of little measuring bowls with scoops already in them. With a serious look, Mommy said “Okay, we’re just going to make a whole bunch of pickles for littles today. Do you remember how many of which ingredients go into each jar?” Simply nodding, he pointed bowl for bowl and said “One, one, one, two, and one big scoop of this one that looks like little ball things.” Mommy sprouted a big smile like she was proud over him remembering the details and she leaned to give him a kiss on the side of his head before saying “Well, if you would like, you can start adding the seasonings while I get the pickles rinsed off one more time.” Not having realized that his hyperactivity from this morning had mostly worn off, John wasted no time. With the counter top just above his waist, he could reach everything he needed to, even if grabbing some of the jars meant having to stretch really hard. Subconsciously moving everything from the right hand side of every bowl to the left so he could just grab it with the proper hand, he immediately started sliding a jar with his right hand and quickly adding the seasonings from the bowls. By the time he had slid the jar from one side of the counter to the other, he had all the ingredients in. Finishing all fifty jars in just a few minutes, he immediately got bored and decided to smell each ingredient out of curiosity. Most of them didn’t have a strong smell. Until he smelled the pickling spice that immediately made him snort and then start coughing when he got his nose right up to it. Mommy turned around with a giant tray of pickling cucumbers and stopped as she put them down to say “John …” He tried waving a hand dismissively and saying “Nothing happened” as he reached for some pickles to start putting into some jars. For a brief moment she reached over and caught his hand between her thumb and forefinger and looked him in the eyes. But after a moment he saw her just roll her eyes and let go. The next twenty minutes were actually quite pleasant, with the two of them silently filling jars, with Mommy putting most of the cucumbers in, and John tilting the jar over and just sticking his hand in and lining them all up and filling the last gaps with a few more cucumbers. With all that said and done, Mommy started putting stickers on the top and wrote down the date on the first one for him. Then she simply slid one in front of him and as he signed and dated it, she slid another one in, rinse lather repeat. Once that was done, she produced a sheet of vinyl stickers that she had printed and cut into six big labels per page. Staring for a moment, John could only blink as he saw the label. “Little Snackies” was on the top. And it was superimposed on a picture that was oh so slightly out of focus. It was a picture of a little on a black and white dog. He was on the label. “Ummmm……” He looked up to see her smiling down at him, she looked so proud. “I’m … on the label?” he asked. “Mm Hmm! The image has been blurred to protect Xerxes’ identity, of course.” Mommy somehow managed to say with a straight face. Now it was Johns turn to roll his eyes as he said “I’m telling Aunt Cat about that one.” Mommy then immediately scooped him up into a hug. As he was placed on the floor, he was swatted on the butt and told “You go back to Fort Dogbreath while I fill these with boiling brine and seal them.” With the sound of chairs being slid across the floor behind him, he made it to the playmat and finally remembered to stop and drop onto hands and knees instead of falling on his face. By the time he was back inside Fort Dogbreath, Xerxes had already made his way back in, and had managed to drag Argo in with him. Spending a moment to get Argo propped up against Xerxe’s back leg, and then propping himself up on the dogs foreleg, John pulled his tablet onto his lap and tried pressing his thumb into the spot three times before flipping it the correct way up where it worked immediately. With a satisfied sigh of “This is the life” he started reading ‘Littles Lost In Space’, pausing only when a sippy cup was lowered through the gap in the blanket ceiling and shaken annoyingly until he took the hint and started drinking from it. In fact: everything was going well, aside from his Rough Pup diaper hitting the point where he had to scoot around to spread his knees apart, when suddenly Xerxe’s head snapped up so fast that it actually Startled John. One second later, the collie was already standing and walking over John toward the gap between the cushions. A couple of seconds after that he could hear the dog scratching at the door and barking. By the time Mommy had opened the door and asked “What is it, you silly dog?” the sound of tires on gravel could be heard getting closer as a car came down the driveway. The next few moments were a blur as John watched from the opening of Fort Dogbreath. Mommy made a dash form the kitchen, to the bedroom, and back to the kitchen, swinging through the laundry room on the way. Ditry dish towels were launched into the hamper through the laundry room door. The child gate in the bathroom was swung shut and latched, her bedroom door was shut, his toddler cup he had left on his desk was carried out, fresh dish towels were grabbed from the Laundry room, which was then shut and latched, a towel was hung from stove, toddler cup was placed in sink, and coffee pot was turned on. Xerxes was still barking outside as all of the jars of pickles were shoved into milk crates and slid under a cabinet out of the way. Through the screen door, John could hear footsteps on gravel as Mommy walked over to him and knelt down while dipping his pacifier into an odd tin can and giving it a shake. When she took it out of the can she did shake and rub ‘most’ of whatever was in the can off of the pacy, leaving only a small amount on the bulb. He managed to ask “Mom, who’s here?” as she was already clipping the pacy to his shirt. Smiling down at him reassuringly, Mommy explained “I don’t know who exactly, but they’ve never been here and Xerxes is alarming. We are probably being inspected, since they haven’t done that yet. You just be yourself, and I need you to remember that if you start having a panic attack, grab Rupert and suck on this pacy. Can you do that for me?” Nodding mutely as he tried to absorb all of the information he had just been given, he felt a kiss on top of the head and heard a whispered “We’re going to be fine, go grab Rupert and hold him tight. He’ll keep you safe.” They could both hear a female voice calling “Hello?” form the distance, probably on the other side of the fence. As Mommy went outside to greet whomever the surprise visitor was, John quickly waddled for the bedroom, grabbed Rupert, and waddle-ran back to hide in Fort Dogbreath. As he hit the mat too fast and fell onto his knees he could see Mommy coming back inside, leading a woman almost a foot taller than her into the house. One look at this woman put even the oblivious John on edge. It wasn’t the dark gray business skirt and jacket. It wasn’t even her clipboard in her hand. It was a little bit the fact that instead of a purse, she had a diaper bag slung over her shoulder. No, what put John on edge was somehow the combination of her dark brown hair pulled back tightly into some sort of up-do with a pen sticking out of the top, and an expression on her face that somehow looked like she was faking a fake smile. The usually socially unaware John felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as this new woman locked eyes with him briefly. Without so much as acknowledging him, she looked at Mommy and said in a tone like she was conducting a business meeting. “I am Karen Quaetio, and I am here for you LPS inspection.”

Okay, I'm interested!

Listen. I maintain that aside from creating it and giving it to a madman, I am mostly free of blame for this entire situation. I'm a little. We are known for impulse control challenges.

I would 100.00% absolutely watch that film! I have my own hypothesis on giants size developing over countless generations and food with very high nutrient density. Which, for me, also helps to rationalized the commonly accepted longer lifespans and better baseline of average health. Still the same setting, but different authors have their own thoughts on certain topics. (Plus fresh sweet peas straight from the garden are amazing)

You have an interesting premise and start, I look forward to seeing what you have to share!

I don't even remember what we were talking about.

that profile picture doesn't look familiar to me. Let me get my glasses. Edit: Upon closer inspection, that does look a lot like my profile picture, and it certainly seems like a silly and impulsive thing a little would do. This warrants further investigation at a later time.

There is no easily found evidence to support this claim without having to go digging and reading the works and ramblings of crazy people. Therefore I am potentially innocent of mischief.

So listen. There's no clear record of where Guilends profile Pic came from. I mean, it was months ago. And as a little, I'm easily distracted and I have no recollection of where such a thing was shared at. (That said those googly eyes still haunt me as they stare into my soul and judge me for all the mischief I've been responsi... ADJACENT to and in no way responsible for.)

I ... ... I do this. ... constantly and proficiently.

This was my first time reading it, and I find it to be an incredibly good offering into the diaper dimension! I often lean toward the wholesome, and some of the more brutal parts I slimmef a bit, but thay just yells me how well written it was. My only critique is that Freya should have the title "The Fairy Bigmother"

"I don't know why these specific Littles sound so angry, but they're adorable in their little kilts!" Edit to add: "Ye may take me britches, ya giant lassie. But ye'll never take me freedom!"

Trying to write some on my lunch break today and for some reason Argo McDerpus sounds Scottish in my head. Amazonia doesn't have Scotland. I'm don't understand what goes on in my head.

Thank you very much! I'm trying to be subtle about the toddler energy levels increasing slowly enough that John doesn't really notice it. Guided, you are our own meme at thus point. And I appreciate your consistency! All my favorite interactions involve Xerxes. He's my personal favorite character. He even has the easiest speaking lines to write. You are most welcome! We might be seeing each other in the comments section around. You have to give him credit for being consistent, at the very least.

-For- him, no. Did I think about him, absolutely. Edit for clarity because I am not yet awake enough to operate a brain: I have hinted in the past that Miss Bairn can be incredibly stern or incredibly nice.

Chaper Fifty Four Amanda stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed, her lips pursed in thought, and her right tapping against her left elbow as she thought. Amanda had achieved full ‘Mom Posture” as she stared at Mike holding up her son, who was holding up a toy helicopter. Mike, for his part was simply smiling and letting John do the being manipulative. John, for his part was just holding up the toy helicopter after asking if he could go try it. Xerxes didn’t help, because somehow he joined in with the boys and sat there directly underneath John. The dog clearly didn’t know what was going on, but he wanted to be part of it. So with a deep sigh, she repeated herself “It’s a bit chilly out.” And John, with his adorkable little smile said “I’ll wear pants!” Looking up at the ceiling now, Amanda exhaled slowly and explained “John. You will go outside fully clothed and wearing both socks and shoes. If your shoes come off and you run around in the cold barefoot again, that’s it for the entire winter. Do you understand?” He just smiled and nodded as though he didn’t take his shoes off and run around outside every single chance he got. “I mean it.” She added, while pointing at him, hoping to get the point across. John just nodded again “I’ll keep my shoes on outside today. I promise.” With an inhale and a deep sigh she reached out and took John from Mike’s arms and carried him to the changing table. While getting him changed out of his blue diaper, she held up a fresh rough pup and the moment he saw it, John asked “Can I have a little pup? Those make me waddle.” Before unfolding the diaper, she just playfully bopped him on top of the head with it and said “Rough pups, for my rough pup. Non negotiable.” and then went about opening it up and popping out the leg gathers with a flick of a finger. Moments later she had him powdered and taped up just a bit snug. Noticing that the thick woven plastic went in over his hip bones, she couldn’t help poking him in the side and sliding her finger to where the plastic bent over his boney hip. While he squirmed, she mused to herself “How can you eat so much and still be so scrawny?” While trying to twist away from the tickle, he tried ot argue “Not scrawny!” but she ignored him as she bumped the table with her knee and carried him to sit him on top of his dresser. She was absolutely certain that if he was standing on the floor he might try to run off like the rambunctious toddler that he is. Not even giving him an opportunity to argue, she quickly put some socks onto his feet, held up some stretchy pants made to look like denim, and lined his feet up. From there it was a simple matter of pulling him off the dresser and letting him slide into his pants on the way to the floor. Two quick playful swats on the booty and he was half-waddling off to the living room. With a little laugh as she straightened up his room, Amanda pondered why other Amazonian women insist on pushing their littles back into infant level when they make such cute stinking toddlers how they come. Walking into the living room now she held up one finger and laid out the rules: “We will be outside one hour. No more. So much as one cough and we are all back inside. Got it?” John stopped on his way to the door and said loudly “Yes Mom!” Mike was coming out of the kitchen holding two coffee mugs and he announced “You’re the Mommy!” before holding a mug out to her. She couldn’t help but smile. Fixing her coffee and bringing it to her was sweet. He gets a point for that. Getting everyone outside only took a moment. John even went directly to the edge of the porch and plopped his cute padded bottom right on the edge and sat there swinging his feet while he waited for his shoes. Sitting on the edge of the porch next to Mike while they watched John walk halfway to the nearest trellis and fiddle with the helicopter, she took a sip of her coffee and stopped to look down at it. It tasted exactly like she made it. With a wry smile she looked sideways at Mike and asked “How did you make it the exact same I make my coffee?” Without looking up from his own mug, he said quietly “I counted how many scoops you put in so that I could copy it for you.” Now laughing, she elbowed him gently in the ribs and said “Thank yo…” but stopped as she heard a soft whirring sound from the yard. Looking over at John she could see him struggling to pull a cord over and over and over again, repeatedly trying with all his might to make the little helicopter take off. Finally he seemed to manage it and the toy helicopter flew up exactly two feet and stopped before starting to spin in place and starting to fly in a circle over his head no bigger than four feet wide. For his part, John stood there laughing and turning in a circle trying to follow the toy helicopter. As the whirring got quieter, Mike called over to John “Try to catch it on the handle!” The only proof that John heard him was that he started holding the handle out and trying to chase the toy as it started flying lower. Within a minute John got dizzy from spinning and fell over. To make it even funnier, the toy helicopter landed on him with a little plonk. As John sat up and lifted the helicopter up with one hand, he declared “Got it!” while he sat there swaying side to side like he was still spinning. Rubbing her eyes, she confessed to Mike “I’m delighted that he likes his new toy, but I wish I had recorded that.” Chuckling along with her, Mike conceded “He’s a good kid. A bit comical at times, and maybe a bit too serious at others.” Sitting on the side of the porch side by side, Amanda leaned and bumped Mike with her shoulder and asked “How was work?” Pausing to take another sip of coffee, Mike answered “Some good, some bad. We got a shipment in yesterday and corporate expected us to unload everything and rearrange the entire furniture section while also doing deliveries. Miss Bairn had some very … uhh.. ‘evocative’ language.” Nodding along until the last part, she couldn’t help but chuckle herself “That sounds pretty rough, but somehow I feel bad for anyone that crosses Miss Bairn.” Mikes eyebrows went up as he nodded “She insisted that corporate put her in contact directly with the person that made that decision. The only part I overheard was her insisting that he ‘Get his ignorant behind down here and look her in the eyes, or I will so help me I will drive four hours to paddle you in front of the CEO.” With a sideways glance, Amanda couldn’t help but ask “How did that work out?” They both paused the conversation as the whirring of the helicopter started up again. This time John was sitting on top of Xerxes as he tried the toy. Both of them got out their phones, Just in case. One quick laugh later, Mike asked “Would you believe that they apologized and decided not to interfere with her store again?” “Yeah, I can believe it. I only saw her when she was calm, thankfully.” Nodding, he continued “Other than that, work has been the usual. Easily two thirds of our deliveries are new Mommies that insist that their littles are going to be infants. I keep my opinions about that to myself at work.” Resting her hand gently on Mikes shoulder, she couldn’t help but nod in agreement “I firmly believe that the goddess made each little so that they will grow into the roll that they were meant for. In Johns case he was obviously meant to be a toddler. Maybe a bit on the upper end of the scale in some ways, and a bit lower on the scale in others. But everything about him will turn out how it was supposed to.” Mike leaned in and wrapped his right arm around her and gave her a gentle side hug as he admitted “I really like that about you. You love your son for who he is, not who you want him to be.” The silent hug went on for a bit longer as they both enjoyed the moment. But ultimately it was interrupted when Xerxes, with John on his back, started rotating and trying to chase the toy helicopter excitedly. For his part John looked like a rodeo clown, having dropped the handle to the helicopter and was holding onto the dogs collar with both hands and his ribs with both legs. To his credit, John lasted almost thirty seconds before he was deposited onto the grass in a little heap. Starting to jump up from the porch and dash over to him, she stopped with Mike simply reached out with a hand on her shoulder and whispered “Just give him a second. Young littles bounce.” And sure enough, she started to hear a muted laughter that got a lot louder as John rolled over and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Her daft little just sat there laughing so hard he couldn’t get up, so she recorded it for a few more seconds before putting her phone away. When the helicopter landed next to him, she watched him lose it all over again with a “PFFTTAAHAHAH” The littles laugh attack was so infectious that Amanda and Mike joined in laughing until they both got up and walked over to him. When he went from laughing to coughing and then back and forth between the two, Amanda decided that it was time to go back into the house. Picking him up, she held John out at arms length as she carried him to the porch and stood him up. She gave it a good solid try to get most of the grass and dirt off of him, but it seemed fruitless. Her little was destined to be dirty every chance he got. Once in the house, she took him straight to the bathroom where she wiped his face and arms with a damp rag. Once he was as clean as he was going to get before bath time, she asked him: “Did you have fun?” With a wry grin he answered “I think I did, but I would have to go try again just to be sure.” Rolling her eyes, she poked him on the forehead and said “Mimicking your PawPaws dry humor might take more practice Mister. Come on, it’s dinner time.” Amanda deposited John on the floor and followed him out of the bathroom, only to see him turn into the utility room and throw his socks into the hamper. Why was he so determined to be barefoot as much as possible, and how did he even get his socks off so fast? Before she could wonder about it too much, she spotted Mike in the kitchen getting some plates out of the cabinet. “Mike?” She asked quizzically. He just waved a hand and replied “I want to help, so I’ve decided that I’ll pull my own weight by helping serve and clean up afterwards. I want to be welcome back, after all.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John stood there and watched Mom shoo Mr Mike out of the kitchen, and tell him help him into his booster seat. It was pretty funny when she held up a wooden spoon and pointed it at him. John was pretty sure that his Mom got that gesture from MeMaw, but he wasn’t dumb enough to say that out loud. Mike came over and knelt down to ask “Do you want me to pick you up, or do you want your stool?” Looking over at the stool that was still in the corner of the living room, John just shrugged before explaining “I appreciate you asking, but I guess just pick me up?” With a nod from Mike, two large hands got him around the ribs and lifted him gently ish before he was lowered into the booster seat, buckled in and slid up to the table. The feeling of his wet diaper wedging itself into the seat spoiled the moment a bit, but when a plate of food with a some still steaming hot roast beef, some potatoes that were cut into little cubes covered in some dark brown gravy, and a generous pile of delicious peas was placed in front of him, indignity was the last thing on his mind. The only thing that he did not recognize in front of him were some round discs that looked sort of off white. They were shaped like carrots, but they looked an entirely different color. “Ummm… Mom?” “Yes Sweety?” Picking up a fork and poking the carrot-like thing, he asked “What are these?” “Those are Roasted Parsnips. Try one!” Picking one up on his fork, he looked at it skeptically. “Why does it look like a carrot?” John asked very suspiciously. She rolled her eyes “John lots of vegetables are round. Just try the parsnip! I roasted two just for you.” He squinted across the table at her as she sat down with her own plate after serving Mike first. But ultimately he gave in and tried it. It took chewing the parsnip for a few seconds to realize that it had a similar feel to a carrot, but it was softer, and sweeter and almost … caramelized…. “Hey wait a minute … Nana Claire mentioned these to you!” Mom smiled really broadly then as she said “Yes she did! Isn’t she just a trove of great information?” With a sigh John poked at another bit of parsnip with his fork as he mumbled “I kind of wish I didn’t like it.” to himself. “What was that, sweety?” Spearing another slice, he said more loudly “Yes Mom, these are actually pretty good.” and begrudgingly he ate it while trying not to enjoy it. Even if it was pretty good. While John worked on his own meal, and every so often took a drink of the provided grape juice in the sippy cup next to his plate, he halfway listened to the conversation across the table. “So tomorrow I have to get the entire garden harvested for Mister Tempes to come pick up Friday morning” Mom explained to Mr Mike. After finishing a bite Mike said “Oh yeah, didn’t you mention that he sells your produce and you each take half of the money?” Tuning out for a moment as he attacked his potatoes and some delicious roast beef, he looked up to see Mr Mike pursing his lips in thought. “You know, if you were willing to teach me, I could help with the garden some time. I don’t want to wear out my welcome or impose or anything, though.” Mom, for her part, bit her lip and said after a moment “I think that if you want to come by and help in the garden, that could be a fun way to spend a bit of time.” God, did they know how obvious it was that they were both trying not to look too eager to spend more time together? Either way, while they were distracting each other, John made sure that some of the roast beef made its way to Xerxes. The rest of dinner was surprisingly quiet. Mr Mike waited for Mom to come over to John and wipe his face and hands to slip into the kitchen and start washing the dishes. As she turned her head to try and fuss at him, John reached out and got the last bit of roast beef off of his plate and tossed it to Xerxes. When she looked back down at him she gave him a long stare before asking “I suppose you didn’t just drop anything?” He couldn’t make eye contact with her, but he did shake his head no. “Uh huh.” was all she said as she grabbed a napkin and wiped his hands again. Once she started to pick him up, he reached out and grabbed the sippy cup. No reason to let the grape juice go to waste. Once he was deposited on the couch, his diaper was checked and she ‘hmm’d “You’re a bit wet, but you’ll make it to bath time. What do you want to do until then?” With his most disarming smile, he explained “We could go back outside.” Mom not only did not take the bait, she put his tablet in his lap and walked away rolling her eyes. Well, it was worth a try. The rest of the evening went remarkably routinely. Mom and Mr Mike sat together on the couch talking, and John wound up on the playmat reclined against Xerxes and working on the pipe puzzle. The Pipe Puzzle game had added a new layer, as well as labels. He now had to route yellow, blue, and brown pipes from buildings marked “Supply” to buildings marked “Home” and “Business” but the lines were not allowed to intersect. So he had to plan out which utilities to bury deeper, and which ones to just run. Once he got the hand of that, the game started adding hubs and relay stations. Each relay station had to have power as well. In short, John was enjoying the pipe game enough that he sort of spaced out until Mr Mike came over and gave him a big high five. “See you tomorrow Big Guy!” Mike added as He and Mom went onto the porch briefly. Standing on his knees and leaning over Xerxes, he could just make out that they leaned in for a kiss before Mr Mike left. Mom came back in pretending nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but she was humming cheerfully to herself as she came and picked him up. Making grabby hands when his tablet was taken “But my game!” did not work. “John, you have been on that tablet in your own little world for an hour and a half, and you need a bath and a night time diaper.” Intentionally waiting until he was in the bath tub, he smiled up and asked “So Mr Mike is coming tomorrow?” Mom conveniently looked over and grabbed the shampoo to start washing his hair, but she still had a little smile on her face. “Mr Mike would like to come help out in the garden tomorrow before Mr Tempes comes to pick the produce up Friday Morning.” “Uh huh … And what do you think about Mr AHH! NO FAIR!” John wound up shouting the last part as a soapy hand started ticking his foot. The rest of the bath was actually pretty quick. Mom had gotten this bathing a little thing down to an art, and in just a few minutes he smelled of strawberries and was wrapped in a towel. As he was placed on the changing table, he tried to move a hand to his mouth to hide a yawn, but the wrist strap caught him and he yawned right out in the open. “Uh huh.” “Hey, do you think that Mr Mike could take these wrist strap things off?” She snapped her fingers “Oh yeah! I actually meant to ask him about that today!” As he was taped up into a night time diaper and then sat up, he experimentally tried to make his knees touch together while she turned her back to grab something to put him in for bed time. He couldn’t get his knees even six inches from one another. While he was trying to squeeze his knees closer, a onesie was put onto him and he was brought over to the rocking chair. Once they were in the rocking chair together and Rupert was held out for him to take, a blanket was tossed over the two of them and John tried REALLY hard to hide another yawn. But while he yawned a pacy was slipped into his mouth. Mommy rocked him back and forth, humming soothingly for several minutes. He felt like he was in a loving cocoon, and started to doze off. Before he could fall all the way asleep, there were a few firm pats on his heavily padded booty to stir him a bit before a bra strap was lowered. “Hey, no falling asleep on the job. Momma’s got a lot of milk and they hurt.” Even though he was tired, John did not have to be told twice to start his night time meal of delicious milk. All in all, John felt it was a pretty good day as he fell asleep while trying to drain the second breast.

Thank you very much for making this and keeping it updated!

I'm so glad that you enjoy the story, and I never really imagined that it would inspire someone to write! Personally, I'm just glad to see you back to writing this fun little story! This story is a unique glimpse into this setting that only YOU can provide!

Yes, several of us (and probably many readers that don't have accounts like I used to) are very interested. You have created and shared a very interesting and heartfelt story. It feels like you left a little of yourself on the paper, and that's why it feels so heartwarming to me. If you want to go back to writing it, I for one definitely want to go back to reading it!