groveoflove

“I don’t know...” May said truthfully, glancing back at Brie. The little was definitely larger then Maddie, but two year olds weren’t exactly extremely tall. “We can try it out, but if it not, Brie, do you mind lending your booster seat to Maddie, and sitting on my lap? Or you can use your seat and Maddie can sit with Rachel, your decision, princess.” “Is it going to be a really long talk?” Fern emphasized, trying to make sure Rachel didn’t forget the importance of reaching the zoo as soon as possible. “Okay....but we don’t have to play with dolls, right?” Fern liked Brie alright, but from what he could tell, she was definitely into cutesy girly things. But he had Benchley at least. ”I’m going to start breakfast then.” May said, giving Rachel another side hug, and affectionately ruffling her niece’s hair. “Brie, just call us if you or Maddie need anything, okay? It shouldn’t be too long till breakfast. Maybe I’ll let you have another sip of my nasty bitter coffee, huh?” She teased, ducking into the small kitchen to start cooking the pancakes as Rachel got set with Maddie.

“Aren’t you a sweet little helper, princess?” May gave her an affectionate hug as she made her way to the door, giving herself a mental reminder to remind Brie to use the potty before they left for the zoo after breakfast. She wasn’t sure if the zoo had bathrooms for a little after all.... “Well, it’s been ages since we’ve seen you two!” May grinned, opening the door for her sister and niece. “I swear, Maddie must’ve grown a whole inch since two nights ago. Be careful, Rachel, you might just get a rebellious teen who wants to start driving your car.” She joked, giving Rachel a brief hug. “I was about to start some pancakes...I thought we could eat in the living room so we wouldn’t have to worry about Maddie not being able to reach the table without her chair?”

Sitting in the carseat was always boring, he couldn’t see anything besides the back of the car, and a bit from the window. Yet another thing being so small cheated him out of, he had to sit facing the rear. But he didn’t care too much today, he had Benchley and soon enough they’d be on their way to the zoo! “I’ll stay till I fall asleep then.” Which tended to still be pretty early to be fair, his bedtime was awfully early. Fern wiggled impatiently in the carseat, lightly tapping his feet against the bottom of it as he waited.

“It’s okay.....” Fern reluctantly decided on. At least it was only a little flower. Flowers were the least interesting plants, honestly. Besides those meat eating plants, anyway. “Can we go now?” He begged, clutching his shark toy in his hands, before pausing for a moment. “Please, Mommy?” He felt fidgety and excited, sitting still in a carseat would be awful, but it would be worth it if they arrived at the zoo sooner. “Can we spend all day there? Till it closes?”

“Great!” May chirped, looking thrilled. Oh, Brie looked so cute, she wouldn’t be surprised if she got some compliments and coos at the zoo today. She carefully placed Brie back down on the ground, forgoing her usual hair ruffle to just bop her nose instead. “Rachel lives around fifteen minutes away, I’d say? I don’t think we really need to do anything...oh shoo! You know what? You want to help me little proof the living room before Maddie gets here? I don’t have a playpen so Rachel might get nervous, new mom instincts and all. I don’t want her getting into anything she shouldn’t, you know? I don’t think I have anything too much out there, but if you want to see things at around the same level as her and see if I left anything on the ground, that would be neat.” May hummed, ducking into the living room herself. Like she thought, there wasn’t really anything too bad, she just had to move some of the controllers and some glass decorations higher up.

While Brie was showering, May had started to get breakfast ready for their guests. Again, nothing fancy, but she thought some pancakes might be nice, and something that wouldn’t be too much for little Maddie. She’d hold off onto cooking them till they were here, but she had the batter all ready to go. After that, she went to get dressed herself, choosing one of her more bright big sweaters and some jeans with comfortable shoes. They’d be walking all day, and she didn’t have an excuse of using a stroller after all! ”Oh, probably soon. And did you think I’d forget a chance to mess with your hair?” May teased, scooping Brie up into her usual chair with the booster seat, so she wouldn’t have to bend too much. “Tell me if I pull or yank you too hard, okay?” With that, she gently started on the little’s hair, combing it free of tangles and knots. Then she parted it, pulling it into two high pigtails on Brie’s head, with some cute pink and purple scrunchies, purposely making the colors mismatch. It was pretty childish, a very toddlerlike haircut, but it was absolutely adorable! “Aw! You look so sweet, I just want to eat you up!” May playfully pecked Brie’s cheek. “Do you like it, princess?”

“It still feels icky when it’s cold though.” Fern sighed as Rachel changed him, squirming a bit impatiently. It felt like ages before they’d be ready for the zoo! And they still had to go all the way to May’s house, wherever that was. It could be halfway across town for all he knew. The outfit decision as always made him feel conflicted, the jeans were really tempting. But everyone would see the pink shirt and immediately think ‘girl’..... “Overalls, please. Can I get a jacket too? I don’t like being cold.” He couldn’t wait for summer.

Fern was usually slow to raise and a bit grouchy in the morning, but the moment he remembered where they were going today, he was immediately excited. He didn’t even mind much he’d woken up wet, likely from the last bottle before he went to sleep. “I slept okay, I didn’t dream much.” He scrambled to his feet, raising his arms so Rachel could pick him up from the crib, but not before remembering to scoop Benchley up.

May was glad she put that protective sheet out for the mattress! “Aw, it’s okay, princess. I can shove it in the washer, it’s fine. But, Brie, this isn’t the first accident you’ve had while you were sleeping....I think we should think about getting you something heavier for nighttime. They make nighttime pull-ups, I think.” And the suggestion of an overnight diaper was there too....but she’d let Brie think more on it, before she pointed it out. “And, nah, I’d probably be up soon anyway. Rachel and Maddie should be here by eightish so we can head to the zoo. Do you think you want a shower?” May asked, heading to the guest room to grab the sheets to toss into the washer. It was a bit gross, but luckily, it was just on the bedding. “I figured we’d wait on breakfast to eat with them?”

“Wha?” May mumbled blearily, rolling over. It took her a few moments to register the knocking sound, before realizing it must be Brie. The amazon yawned, sitting up as she groggily checked her phone. Almost seven, had some time before Rachel got here. “I’m coming, cutie, give me a moment.” May got up from bed, stretching out her back, before walking over to the door, opening it. “‘morning. What were you saying?” She automatically glanced down at Brie’s pull-up, it looked dry. Though, of course, the little could’ve changed if she wet in her sleep again. “Did you have another accident, princess?”

“It just seems weird, if like one third of the population is significantly shorter, that there isn’t more to help them be independent.” Fern didn’t really feel like arguing though, so he was content with Rachel picking him up and bringing him upstairs. Once in his crib, he placed his toys down next to him, making sure to keep Benchley the closet. “I can’t wait for the zoo tomorrow, can we spend the whole day there?” Fern yawned again, laying down. “Um......” He hesitated before Rachel left, fiddling with the strap of his pacifier. “...Today was really fun, other then the nightmare. Thank you.” Fern ducked his head, feeling very embarrassed, but Rachel had been so nice to him today. “...Night, Mommy.” And with that, he gave her a shy smile before she left, before curling up to fall asleep.

May had been planning on asking Brie to try the potty again before she went to bed, but the little was already fast asleep. She sighed, gently scooping the smaller girl and the stuffed animal up before bringing her to the guest room, before tucking the little in. She gave Brie an affectionate peck on the forehead before straightening up as she idly glanced around the room. Hm. She should get a nightlight for here in case Brie needed to use the bathroom during the night. For now, May settled on flicking the closet light on, leaving the door open a few inches. After that, she made her way to the bathroom to clean up the potty, gross, but it would be nastier if she waited till morning. It was still early, so May decided on watching tv for a few hours before heading to bed herself. Hopefully Brie didn’t have any nightmares tonight.

“It’s probably hard to be a free little just because everything’s so big. It can’t be that hard to make some things smaller for them in stores and in other buildings.” Fern said thoughtfully, picking Benchley back up now that he was done. “And then because nothings built for them, everyone can just say they can’t take care of themselves, even if they probably could if they could reach. Do a lot of littles go to college at all?” ”Can you get Hashbrowns from the fort first?” Fern yawned, sitting back. It was still early, but he did feel tired. And sooner he went to sleep, sooner he’d wake up tomorrow for the zoo.

“Your unicorn, silly.” May laughed, carefully adjusting Brie so her head was more in her lap instead of just laying on the couch, so she could continue to stroke her hair. “I’ll put something on, but I think you should go to bed a bit early tonight if you still feel sick later. One, because we’re getting up early, and two, sleeping it off might just make you feel better in the end.” May scrolled through the channels for a bit, before settling on a cartoon channel that she knew was directed more at amazon children then littles. So while it might help Brie relax and distract her from her stomach pain, it shouldn’t have a risk of regressing her like a show for littles might. May knew some littles did really need that extra help to help them accept their new life, but well, Brie was sweet and clever, she didn’t want her to end up all brainwashed.

“I don’t know....” Fern hadn’t thought too much on it to come up with his own answer. He was used to being small for his age, he’d also been a bit below average, but here he’d be shorter then an actual two year old amazon. Which was a bit embarrassing and daunting. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Rachel’s theory either. It made sense, but it also made him sad like everything else that reminded him of his old life. He’d seen littles smaller then him, so they must’ve been even more miserable then he’d been, which was just even sadder. “I wish I was at least big enough to sit in a booster seat and not a high chair.” Fern sighed, finishing up off the brownie and milk.

“It’s okay, I’ll clean it up in a bit.” May said comfortingly, beginning to stroke the little’s hair again. “Ate way too much, huh? We should take it easy with dessert in the future, you can’t be having fun now. Poor Brie!” Yep, she’d been right. Definitely had to give out an even smaller serving size for Brie and make sure she wasn’t eating too fast. “Do you want to watch anything, cutie, or just lay here in the quiet for a bit? When I was sick, my grandma used to turn the lights down real low and give me some ginger ale.....I don’t think we have any, but I can do the lights if you want?” May thought for a moment, before scooping Brie’s unicorn up, placing it down in the little’s arms. “Oh! I definitely have something that’ll help you now!”

Fern wasn’t too thrilled with how much his diaper showed in the shorts, but in the end only Rachel was going to see him in it. “Yum.” He agreed, lightly swinging his legs as he watched Rachel take the brownies out. Waiting didn’t seem too bad, but of course it was in the high chair like usual. “I only made a mess because the spoon was too big, I usually don’t.” Everything here was just so big and clunky compared to him, he couldn’t help but be much more clumsy. He took a sip of his milk, surprised it was regular milk as opposed to formula, but was happy to start on his brownie. It was nice and warm, just like he liked it. Soft and fudgey brownies were better then cakelike brownies in his opinion. As Fern nibbled away on his brownie, he thought carefully about a topic he’d been curious about for awhile. “....How come littles tend to be all different heights? Like more then someone just being a little taller then someone else?” He asked, taking another sip from the bottle. “Brie only looked a couple years older then me, and you said she’s from the same world as me, but she was way bigger.”

“Oh, eat slower next time, cutie.” May placed Brie down on the ground, patting her head. “Eating fast isn’t good for your belly either. Why don’t you try the potty again, and then you can lay on the couch till you feel better? If you start feeling sick, tell me.” She definitely didn’t have any medicine she could give a little to help with an upset stomach, that was something she had to get if Brie was going to be here for the next few months. “You think some water or milk might help you feel better?”

“The shorts, I guess...” Fern decided after a few moments, indecisive as ever. He waited as Rachel helped him get dressed, fidgeting a bit. “Oh! Can we check on the brownies now? I don’t want them to get overcooked.” But he also didn’t like it when they were undercooked, he didn’t like them being too gooey. “Do you like the edge pieces or the middle pieces the best? I don’t really like corners, I don’t like the crusty part.” And the middle tended to be the most warm and soft pieces too.

She was upset after her accident, she tried to hide it at first. But other then that, she’s been just sweet and relaxed besides her nightmare? ”Oh! Then I shouldn’t break out the ice cream, huh?” May joked, gently poking the little in the stomach. “I think someone might just burst! And I’d be down a party member for the zoo tomorrow, I’d have to miss out to clean up the mess. Poor Maddie would be so disappointed! Unless you have some space saved in your belly just for dessert, princess?” May teased, scooping up the plates to place in the dishwasher, before grabbing dessert. She made sure to not give Brie too much of the ice cream and leftovers from the diner, vaguely worried the little might get sick from eating too much. Brie probably wasn’t used yet to, well, having the stomach size of a two year old now, and not an adult in their twenties. And while she didn’t know too much, she thought some littles might have more delicate stomachs about certain foods then others? Younger littles definitely did, there was a reason why it was recommended you give your eight month year old little a meal like you’d eat!

“What if I get too hot in it?” Fern said, more because he just really liked the blue pajamas more. But it seemed rude to say that out loud since the sleeper was a present from May and all. And sadly, he realized he left Benchley downstairs alone in the kitchen, he’d have to grab her when they went to check on the brownies. As Rachel went to grab his pjs, Fern boredly looked around the nursery, though at this point he could probably walk around it completely fine blindfolded. He really did hate the pink coloring. It was just so....automatically pointing to a baby girl. No one was going to expect any different walking in here. “Can I bring Benchley to the zoo tomorrow?” Fern asked, to distract himself from the building usual gross feeling inside.

Mostly they’ve been when she’s been asleep? But one was just because she didn’t make it in time. And ,well, we just met yesterday, so we know each other more today. Plus she’s a cutie, I have to cuddle with her. “Sure is!” May grinned, scooping Brie up into her booster seat before placing her plate of leftovers down in front of her. She’d also filled one of the cups with water. Brie had had a good few cups of juice today, all that sugar probably wasn’t too healthy. For May’s part, she was content to just throw together a sandwich for herself. “Bet you want to save room for the leftover dessert too, huh?” She teased. “I even have ice cream to go with it.”

“I have to take a bath every night.” Fern sighed, and because Rachel was going to wash them anyway, wiped his hands off on his pajamas. “....Bubbles sound okay tonight.” He decided after a moment, squirming around as he let himself pee in the already wet diaper before Rachel changed it. No point having to spend any time longer in a wet diaper. “...Can I get some shark toys just for the bathtub? They’re better then a duck.” Mostly, Fern was thinking about a boat one of his brothers had, a jaws themed one. They’d been a boat and a little cage to lower into the water so the shark could attack it. Fern had been obsessed with it, far more then his brother. But even if they had it here, he had a feeling it was out of his ‘age’ range.

“Of course, princess. I love movies.” May leaned over to give Brie a tickle on her stomach, before scooping her up and placing her down on the floor. “Okay, want to try the potty again before I heat dinner up? Good to get in the habit of trying often.” She gave the little another smile, before picking up the remainder of the snacks to clean up. Once in the kitchen, she pulled Brie’s leftovers from the fridge, sliding them in the oven to heat up as she waited. And looked like she had another text to answer! Today’s been alright! She had a bad nightmare last night after listening to a horror podcast, and she’s..had a few accidents. Typical little things, you know? Been really cuddly today too, it’s so sweet.

“It’s just mixing, I can do it by myself.” Fern insisted, grabbing the spoon to begin mixing. Admittedly, it was harder than he’d first thought, the spoon was big compared to his hands so he needed to use both. Which meant he couldn’t hold the bowl to keep it still to make it easier. But he was determined to not have to ask for help, as he frowned in concentration as he continued, making a bit of a mess on both his hands and his pjs. “....I think I’m done.” Fern decided after a few minutes, looking into the bowl to see the mix mostly mixed in. “...Can I help pour it into the pan too?”