The Family Babies

[Tinkles123]

This story, while it may sound somewhat autobiographical, is fiction. If anyone's interested, more episodes could follow.

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My cousin saw the wet spot on the back of my shorts before I noticed that my diaper had leaked. "You're in trouble now,” she said. I knew she was right. Gloria and I were the family babies. I was 9, she was 8 1/2, and both of us wore diapers more often than we didn't. This wasn't a big deal, wetting was fairly common in our family, but there was one rule. Whenever we were wearing diapers, it was our responsibility to tell someone when the diapers needed changing. If we didn't do that, we'd have to go without our shorts for awhile, and just be in a diaper, plastic pants, and T-shirt. Our diapers could be checked more easily that way, and, for maybe a day, or sometimes longer, they were checked more often than we liked.

"Might as well get it over with," I said. I walked slowly up to the house. My grandparents lived on what had once been a farm. No more farm animals lived there, only cats and dogs, and, although there were lots of trees, including some nice apple trees we climbed, no crops were still grown. The whole family loved the place. It had a nice pond for swimming, and lots of grassy areas to play in. We spent most of the summer there each year.

Gloria came with me. She didn't have any wet spots on her shorts, but I figured she probably needed a diaper change too. After all, it had been nearly three hours since we last were changed. One of our older girl cousins, Alison, spotted us first. "Do you two need your diapers changed?" "Yeah, we do," both of us said. "Who’s gonna be first?" She asked.

"Better be me, I guess," I said. “I’m pretty wet.” Gloria didn't object. I hopped up on the picnic table, where my cousin had already spread a changing mat. She lifted my legs with one hand and pulled down my shorts with the other. "Looks like someone leaked," she remarked. "I must have sat in something," I answered. "Yeah, right," she replied. "You know what this means."

"We were playing and I didn't notice how wet I was!" I said, defending myself. "Sorry, Teddy," Alison said. "You know the rule." All the while we'd been talking, she'd been busy, pulling off my plastic pants, unpinning my very wet diaper, sliding it out from under my bottom, wiping me down, positioning a fresh diaper, powdering me well, then replacing all four pins the way my mother had taught her. She put my feet in the leg holes of my plastic pants and pulled them up snug under my butt. The wet diaper went into the diaper pail, and the shorts into the laundry pile in the house.

Freshly diapered, I climbed off the table and waited for Gloria to have her diaper changed.

A new diaper always felt good. Actually I was wearing two diapers, folded together. We were always diapered that way during the daytime, with a third diaper added at night. Because there had been so many wetters, over time the family had perfected a way to fold diapers so they'd be more absorbent while also more comfortable. Every diapered kid wore T-shirts with special cloth tags that the diapers were pinned to. This kept them snug, and made it easier to walk. Disposable diapers wouldn't come along for another five years. This was 1955.

When Gloria climbed down from the picnic table, I saw she wasn't wearing her shorts either. "I figured if you had to be just in your diaper, I'd do the same," she said. "Thanks," I answered, "sure makes it easier. Want to go back to the meadow and play some more?" "I'd rather sit on the porch and read for a while," Gloria answered, "or maybe play checkers. Would you like to play?"

We were pretty evenly matched in checkers and a lot of other games. Today I didn't try too hard during the first game. I sort of wanted to say thanks for being a buddy. We played five games. I won only two. Gloria never got smug about winning, but she was clearly happy. Then Gloria's mom came along and decided to check our diapers.

"Are either of you wet or messy?" Aunt Bridget asked. I was about to say "No, Aunt Bridget," but I realized that wasn't true. My diaper wasn't soaked, but it was definitely wet. So I 'fessed up. "I'm a little wet, Aunt Bridget, but I don't think I need a change." Aunt Bridget checked me, just to be sure, and agreed. Gloria was absolutely dry. She was happy about that. Gloria sort of liked wearing diapers, but not as much as I did. She dreamed of being like the other girls. For me, staying dry had always been such a big problem I wanted to give up on it completely. I think Mom knew. She rarely pushed me to stay dry, and never punished me for wetting or even pooping my diapers.

Both Gloria and I were tired of playing checkers, so we decided to walk down to the pond and see who was there. We were halfway to the pond when Gloria stopped in her tracks, and her face got red.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, but I already knew. Gloria had pooped her diaper. Her face scrunched up a little as she pushed out what remained of the load. Gloria hated pooping her diaper. But she did it almost as often as I did, which was at least once a day, sometimes more. When we were diapered, our parents weren’t really big on having us take our diapers off to use a toilet. Besides, at the farm, there were lots of people and not many toilets, so we would have had accidents anyway. I saw the bulge in the back of Gloria’s diaper, and I saw the front of it getting yellow, so I knew she was wetting pretty heavily at the moment. We had to go back to the house.

“I’m sorry,” Gloria said. “You don’t have to be,” I answered. “Everyone poops, after all.” “Yeah, but not in their pants,” Gloria said. “True,” I replied, “but it’s normal for us, so why get upset about it? If you’ll be patient just a minute, I’ll load my diaper up, too, so you won’t be the only poopy one.”

Gloria smiled. “You don’t have to do that!” she exclaimed, but I was already busy pushing a load into my already wet diaper. With the wetting that went along with the pooping, added to the wetting I’d done earlier, my diaper was wetter than Gloria’s. “We’d better hurry, before there’s another leak,” Gloria said. She could have said “before you have another leak, but Gloria was kind. I probably had five diaper leaks to her one, but she never kept score.

Cousin Margaret noticed us first this time. There was a breeze coming from the meadow, and I guess our smelly diapers told her the whole story before we could say a word. This time I waited gallantly while Margaret cleaned up Gloria. Then I had my turn. Cousin Margaret wasn’t the best diaper changer, but she did okay, and, as always, clean diapers felt very good.

The breeze was becoming stronger, and storm clouds were rolling in fast. We went into the house with the other kids. The TV was on. Black and white. No color then. Certainly no VCR’s or DVD’s. The picture was snowy, but we could pretty well see the afternoon cartoon show that was on. Both of us found seats on the floor.

The cartoon wasn’t all that great, and I dozed off. I must have slept for a while, because when I woke up the TV had been turned off and one of the older kids was reading a story to the little ones. There were fourteen cousins all together, ranging in age from 9 months to 15 years at the time. Gloria and I weren’t the youngest, but every other kid in the extended family over the age of three was either completely potty trained or wore diapers only at night. Like I said, Gloria and I were the family babies because we still wore diapers. That wasn’t a badge of shame, believe it or not. Every generation had its wetters. We were treated well, as kind of special kids. No teasing was allowed because of having to wear diapers.

Because I enjoyed reading more than being read to, I went up to the room six of us shared. There were three double beds in the room, and not room for much else. This was the “middle kids” room, where cousins from about 6 to around 10 or 11 slept. Boys and girls in the same room. I know that sounds weird, but I don’t recall anything naughty ever happening. Because we were both bedwetters, Gloria and I were assigned the same bed, with a sturdy plastic mattress cover.

Gloria was lying on our bed, asleep, with an open book hanging from her hand. Another Nancy Drew. Sometimes I read Nancy Drew mysteries, too, but I didn’t like to admit it. Gloria didn’t mind admitting she liked my Hardy Boys books, though. Girls could get away with more, then and now. I saw that Gloria’s diaper was wet, and realized that mine must be, too. Sure enough. Very close to the point where it would need changing. We’d both had three glasses of lemonade at lunch. No one ever limited our fluid intake. I woke up Gloria.

“Come on!” I said, “we’re both wet and need to have our diapers changed.” “Thanks!” Gloria said, rubbing her eyes. “I didn’t plan on falling asleep.” “Neither did I,” I answered. “But both of us have been asleep for almost two hours. At least you made it to the bed first!” We went downstairs looking for someone to change our diapers. Surprisingly, no cousins asked if we needed changing. My mom was the first diaper changer we saw.

“Please, Mom, could you change my diaper?” I asked. “Mine, too?” Gloria chimed in. “Sure, kids,” Mom answered. As she changed our diapers, Mom praised both of us for asking in time, and said if we kept up the good work we could wear our shorts tomorrow, which was a good thing because we were going to Playland, the amusement park.

Dinner was fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob, with vanilla ice cream for dessert. After dinner we played outside until it was dark, then caught a few fireflies before coming in to get ready for bed.

You had to be quick in the bathroom when everyone was at our grandparents’ home. I washed up, brushed my teeth, then had my diaper changed by Cousin Mary before climbing into bed. Since it was Summertime, Gloria and I didn’t wear pajamas, just clean T-shirts, night diapers, and, like always, plastic pants. Lights went out at 9:00 in our room. But we stayed up a while longer, talking about tomorrow’s trip to Playland. No one really ended the conversation. One by one, we all just fell asleep.

[babybrian1973]

pretty good lead into a potentially great story.

i myself would've given more background to

the characters...but then again, im not the author.

i would certainly like to read more, i love these

longer diaper related stories.

[Tinkles123]

I appreciate the feedback. I plan to share more about Teddy and Gloria, and their families, as the story unfolds. Chapter 2 follows in the next message. I welcome all comments.

[Tinkles123]

Here's Chapter 2, about the cousins' trip to Playland. Chapter 3 will be a continuation of the Playland adventure.

Chapter 2 – Playland (Part 1)

Almost no clouds were in the sky the next morning, and the forecast was for a sunny, warm day. The day promised to be perfect for our Playland trip. All fourteen cousins and six moms were going. (Dads were at home, going to the office. It was the 1950’s, remember.) Grandma and Grandpa said they weren’t up to the trip, but I think they really wanted a quiet day to themselves. Gloria and I both woke up soaked, as we always did, but our bed was dry. Those specially folded triple diapers really worked well. I wish I remembered how to fold them that way. With the coming of disposables, our family traditions gave way to the convenience of not having to wash diapers anymore. I don’t know whether the kids today have it better than we did or not.

Breakfast was the first order of business, followed by baths for all the kids and, of course, fresh diapering for Gloria and me. We both loved going to Playland. We were both tall enough to ride the roller coaster and enjoyed some of the other “big people” rides, too, but we could still ride the kiddie rides and secretly enjoyed them. Because of our diapers, which showed under our clothes, ride attendants always thought we were younger than we were. There was one thing about going to Playland we didn’t especially like, though. It was impossible to get through a whole day there without at least one diaper change, and sometimes two.

The diaper changes had to be done in a public restroom. No family restrooms were available back in the 1950’s. It was worse for me than for Gloria, usually, because we had to use the ladies’ room for diaper changes. I thought I was too big to go in there, but my oldest boy cousin, Andy, was only 12 and not interested in learning how to change diapers. Going out to one of the station wagons to get our diapers changed was even worse. It was a long walk and there was no privacy at all there. We had to get changed that way often enough, when we were driving somewhere, and neither of us liked it.

Finally, by 9:30, everyone was ready to go. Gloria and I rode in the third seat of one of the station wagons, facing backward. Minivans hadn’t been invented yet, nor had SUV’s. Each of us had to watch out for our diaper bag. Our moms carried them while we were in the park, or put them in the stroller with one of the little ones, but we had to carry them from the house to the car, and make sure everything was packed that we needed. The ride to Playland took more than an hour. Gloria and I talked about which ride we wanted to go on first – the Rollercoaster – but then she asked, kind of abruptly “Do you think we’ll ever be really potty trained, Teddy? Sometimes I hate wearing diapers.”

I didn’t like thinking about that question. I had been pronounced “potty trained” at four, but rarely got through a day without an accident. We were heavily diapered every night, and soaking wet every morning. On school days, we wore thick training pants with plastic pants over them to school. I was supposed to use the toilet, and usually did, but when I came home at lunch and after school my underwear was usually at least a little wet. Gloria had been potty trained the same month I had, which was great because she was six months younger. She had less trouble staying dry than I did, but she still had accidents. And both of us pooped our pants at least once a week, usually not at school, thank God.

We had both just finished third grade. In first grade there were four or five other kids who had accidents. In second grade only two. In third grade, at the school we attended together, no one else seemed to have wetting accidents. We had become known as the “diaper cousins.” That was unfair. We didn’t really wear diapers to school most of the time. But kids did see our plastic pants once in a while, and assumed diapers were under them. Fourth grade didn’t look to be shaping up any better. If we hadn’t both been “A” students, reading at well above our grade level, we probably would have been called “retarded,” a word lots of people used back then.

Because staying dry was so difficult and so unsuccessful for both of us, and because past generations had had similar experiences, our parents, unbelievably, let us wear our diapers on weekends and vacations. I welcomed the release from all that stress of staying dry, but Gloria was starting to think we needed to try not to wear diapers at all during the day, so that we might learn to stay dry. We talked about this subject much more often than I liked, and not as much as she would have liked. I was on vacation, and vacation meant not having to struggle with anything.

“Why do we have to talk about that NOW, Gloria?” I whined. “Can’t we just have fun today and forget about staying dry?” We were both already a little wet. “Oh, all right!” Gloria relented, but I knew the conversation would come up again before long.

You could see the tops of the Ferris Wheel and Rollercoaster before you actually got to Playland. By today’s standards I suppose it wasn’t all that great a park, but we liked it. Since it was Tuesday, the park wasn’t all that crowded, especially since it had just opened for the day when we arrived. We wanted to race to the Rollercoaster even before the cars were parked. Our moms said no, bathrooms first, then rides.

Do you know how long it takes for 16 people to use the potty and four to have their diapers changed? (we had two young cousins still in diapers, one not even walking yet.) Just a little bit less than forever, we kids all thought. Gloria and I didn’t think we needed changing, but we agreed that getting changed now would let us go longer before the next change. Also, we were wearing our shorts again and didn’t especially want to have a leak and have to go through the park in just plastic pants, a diaper, and T-shirt. So we submitted willingly to our mother’s ministrations. Our moms surprised us by putting night diapers on us, the three-in-ones. That was good because it meant we could go longer before a change. But it made it tougher to walk without waddling, and there could be NO doubt that we were diapered. You could tell from 20 feet away. Our family pretty much filled the ladies’ room, so there were no stares or unwelcome remarks or questions to have to deal with. Like I said, the family took care of us in a special way. We were the family babies.

Heavy diapers didn’t keep Gloria and me from being first in our family to line up at the Rollercoaster. We got to sit in the front seat, our favorite. The older kids liked the back seat better because it felt like you were being whipped over the hills, but we liked looking down at the scary first drop. (By today’s standards, it wasn’t all that scary. I think it was about 70 feet high.) We were allowed to ride twice, but the second time we had to give up the front seat to Andy and Chuck, two boy cousins. They were Gloria’s brothers. Andy was 12, and Chuck was 14. Gloria was the only girl in her family, just as I was the only boy in my family. The ride wasn’t as scary from a middle seat, but it was still a lot of fun.

From the Rollercoaster we went to the Tilt-a-Whirl. No one got sick, even though we had a pretty intense ride! Then the Whip, and the Scrambler, the Ferris Wheel, and the Carousel. Yeah, I know, carousels are tame, but this was a nice classic one, with one of those mechanical music things that plays good and loud.

Then it was time for lunch. Playland had a nice picnic grove, and we moved several tables together and shared a picnic lunch. It felt good to relax for a while, even though we were excited about what we’d do that afternoon. I realized, as I finished my sandwich, that I hadn’t thought about my diaper all morning! Wow! That felt good! But wait a minute…. In all that time I must have wet, probably more than once. I asked Gloria “How wet are you?” “I’m not sure,” she answered. We didn’t want to drop our shorts to have a look, so, after talking about our options, we decided to ask to have our diapers checked. Good decision! Got us points with both our Moms. “It’s good you’re taking responsibility,” they said.

Neither one of us needed a change. Probably another hour, maybe even two, Mom said. Enough time for a few good rides. So, while the other kids went to the bathroom a few at a time with their moms, we could relax and enjoy ourselves.

Playland had an old steam-powered railroad that everyone loved. We could all ride it together, even the babies and the moms who didn’t like rides. The older kids didn’t mind spending that much time with the little ones. Gloria and I liked to sit in the first car, right behind the engineer so we could hear the sound of the engine and see him pull the levers and turn the valves. The engine burned coal, just like the real thing. There was a fireman who stoked the firebox, and there was water in the tender to make steam. The ride went all the way around the park, and took almost ten minutes. It was a great way to see the whole park without having to walk all the way around it. The train passed through a reconstructed frontier village. On weekends, sometimes they’d stop the train and stage mock train robberies. But this was Tuesday.

I was really enjoying the ride when I felt a rumbling in my belly and involuntarily passed some smelly gas. Gloria looked at me with some concern. “Are you gonna poop?” she asked? “I’m trying not to,” I said, “but I don’t think I can help it.” At that moment I felt the poop starting to push out of me, along with that cramping in the gut that makes you instinctively bear down to get the rest of it out of you. Because I was sitting – no standing up on the train, please – the mess smeared all over my butt. Yuck!

I didn’t say anything until the ride was over. The coal gas from the engine smelled pretty bad all by itself, so no one noticed my loaded diaper. I tried to enjoy the rest of the ride, but it was a little difficult with such a full diaper. As soon as the train came to a stop at the station, I tugged on my mom’s sleeve. “What’s up?” she asked. “I pooped, Mommy. I need to have my diaper changed.” “Thank you for telling me and not trying to hide it, Teddy,” Mom said. “Let’s go find a bathroom.”

[Repaid1]

Good Story, The amusment park reminds me of CedarPoint here in Ohio. Ahh big diapers, and going Poopie on the train, brings back memorys..like last year! Keep it up.

[dldad]

Interesting story. Will be nice to see what transpires for them in their futures. Sure wish there were more families out there like theirs.

[Tinkles123]

Thanks again to all who have commented. This story has been wanting to tell itself for a long time. I'm grateful for the forum DailyDiapers provides for sharing work of this kind. I've appreciated the different kinds of stories I've found here. There's something for a great variety of different tastes and preferences.

I'd especially appreciate comments on how the characters are developing. As the story unfolds, some of the chapters will flash back to earlier events in Teddy and Gloria's lives, perhaps answering questions about how they came to be the way they are. The next chapter completes the Playland trip, and I'll be posting it right away.

The Family Babies -- Chapter 3 -- Playland (Part 2)

Gloria came with mom and me, while the little kids went to the Kiddieland section and the older kids went to ride the bumper cars. They specialized in colliding with each other as hard as the ride operator would allow. Gloria and I weren’t allowed to drive one of the cars, but sometimes we’d sit with my sister Patty, who was 13, or one of her brothers, Chuck or Andy. Her diaper wasn’t poopy, but it was pretty wet, and she figured she might as well be changed since I was going to be. I must have looked comical trying to walk in a soggy loaded diaper, but I was used to it. The ladies’ room only had one other woman in it, and she was washing her hands as we entered. She looked a little surprised, sniffed the air once, but didn’t say anything. “I don’t mind if you change Teddy’s diaper first,” Gloria volunteered.

Changing me took a while. Thank God the poop hadn’t gotten out of the diaper, but it was all over my butt. Mom had me sort of brace myself against the side of the stall while she cleaned me up with a wet wash cloth which she put in the bag with the dirty diaper when she was done cleaning me. While she was cleaning me, I started to pee, not a lot, but enough. I was totally naked, so it splashed harmlessly on the floor. I was a nine year old tough guy, but I started to cry. “I didn’t mean it, Mommy! I didn’t even know it was going to happen!”

“I know, Teddy,” Mom comforted me. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Let’s get your diaper on so there won’t be any more accidents.” Following the usual “stand up diapering” procedure, she had me hold each side of the diaper in place as tightly as I could while she pinned the top to my undershirt, then pinned the bottom tightly around my legs. It was another three-in-one diaper. Mom was amazing! She could get a diaper on properly any way she had to. She pulled my plastic pants back on, then my shorts. I was clean, ready to go. I went and got some paper towels and mopped the pee off the floor so it would be easier for Mom to change Gloria’s diaper. Gloria didn’t mind waiting, although she kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other. And I was sure she passed gas at least once.

“I need to poop, Aunt Meghan. May I use the toilet?” Gloria asked? “I don’t see why not,” Mom replied, and quickly got her out of her diapers and plastic pants. I turned my head. It wasn’t polite to look, even though Gloria and I had been getting our diapers changed together since we were babies.

I was happy for Gloria when I heard the poop plop into the toilet, followed by the tinkle of her pee…. And maybe a little envious, too. I hadn’t pooped in a toilet since school had let out close to a month ago. I hardly ever thought about pooping in a toilet anymore, and Mom didn’t push the idea very hard. Neither did Dad. As a boy, he’d been just like me. Even my sisters, Patty (four years older) and Susan (two years younger) were used to me wetting and pooping my diapers when I wasn’t in school. Patty could change my diapers almost as skillfully as Mom could, and she didn’t mind doing it even the poopy ones. “Good practice for when I have babies,” Patty said. Susan wanted to learn, but she was only seven, and Mom didn’t trust her with diaper pins. I was grateful she didn’t!

I was really comfortable wearing and using my diapers, and I didn’t want to think about the problems they caused me, not on a day like this, and, really, not anytime. I knew I was a smart kid, I did great in school, I could ride a bike, play baseball pretty well (well enough so the other boys didn’t tease me about my diapers) … but I still needed diapers even though my four year old cousin Peter didn’t. No amount of telling me that it was a common problem in the family could make that completely okay.

I heard Gloria ask my mom if she could wipe herself. Mom said she could, but Gloria did end up asking for some help. Gloria knew she’d have to be diapered again, but that didn’t take the feeling of accomplishment away from her. I decided to be as encouraging as I could.

“Way to go, cuz!” I exclaimed when Mom and Gloria came out of the stall. Gloria smiled and blushed a little. “It’s just this one time,” she said. “It doesn’t mean I’ll make it to the toilet every time I have to poop.” But she was very happy, and I wanted her to be.

We all washed our hands carefully. A woman came in to pee, and looked at me funny, wondering, I suppose, why a boy my age was in the ladies’ room. Then she spotted my bulging shorts, and figured out the reason. She didn’t say anything to mom or me, which was a good thing for her. Mom would have let her have it.

Mom took us on the bumper cars. They weren’t busy at the time, so, for the first time in our lives, Gloria and I were allowed to drive. It was wonderful! We didn’t crash very often. It was a real celebration! To top it off, Mom let us both go on the Rollercoaster again. But she didn’t ride with us. Mom did not like rollercoasters, thank you very much!

The rest of the afternoon flew by. Playland made really great lemonade, and both Gloria and I had two big cups of it. Once again, the triple diapers saved us from needing a change before the trip home, although we both were somewhat wet. On the way home, both Gloria and I were both pretty quiet. She fell asleep quickly, leaning against her diaper bag.I thought about the day, all the fun we’d had, the nasty poop accident I’d had, Gloria’s success in pooping in the potty, and tried to sort it all out. Life’s complicated at any age, I guess. It sure felt complicated to me. I fell asleep before too long, and only woke up when Mom lowered the tailgate after the car was parked. Climbing out of the car, I could feel that my diapers were soggy, so, wise young man that I was, I asked Mom if she could change Gloria’s and my diapers as soon as we got in the house. Mom wouldn’t let me speak for Gloria, but instead asked if she wanted her diaper changed. “Yes, I guess it needs it,” Gloria said. She didn’t smile.

Gloria came with mom and me, while the little kids went to the Kiddieland section and the older kids went to ride the bumper cars. They specialized in colliding with each other as hard as the ride operator would allow. Gloria and I weren’t allowed to drive one of the cars, but sometimes we’d sit with my sister Patty, who was 13, or one of her brothers, Chuck or Andy. Her diaper wasn’t poopy, but it was pretty wet, and she figured she might as well be changed since I was going to be. I must have looked comical trying to walk in a soggy loaded diaper, but I was used to it. The ladies’ room only had one other woman in it, and she was washing her hands as we entered. She looked a little surprised, sniffed the air once, but didn’t say anything. “I don’t mind if you change Teddy’s diaper first,” Gloria volunteered.

Changing me took a while. Thank God the poop hadn’t gotten out of the diaper, but it was all over my butt. Mom had me sort of brace myself against the side of the stall while she cleaned me up with a wet wash cloth which she put in the bag with the dirty diaper when she was done cleaning me. While she was cleaning me, I started to pee, not a lot, but enough. I was totally naked, so it splashed harmlessly on the floor. I was a nine year old tough guy, but I started to cry. “I didn’t mean it, Mommy! I didn’t even know it was going to happen!”

“I know, Teddy,” Mom comforted me. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Let’s get your diaper on so there won’t be any more accidents.” Following the usual “stand up diapering” procedure, she had me hold each side of the diaper in place as tightly as I could while she pinned the top to my undershirt, then pinned the bottom tightly around my legs. It was another three-in-one diaper. Mom was amazing! She could get a diaper on properly any way she had to. She pulled my plastic pants back on, then my shorts. I was clean, ready to go. I went and got some paper towels and mopped the pee off the floor so it would be easier for Mom to change Gloria’s diaper. Gloria didn’t mind waiting, although she kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other. And I was sure she passed gas at least once.

“I need to poop, Aunt Meghan. May I use the toilet?” Gloria asked? “I don’t see why not,” Mom replied, and quickly got her out of her diapers and plastic pants. I turned my head. It wasn’t polite to look, even though Gloria and I had been getting our diapers changed together since we were babies.

I was happy for Gloria when I heard the poop plop into the toilet, followed by the tinkle of her pee…. And maybe a little envious, too. I hadn’t pooped in a toilet since school had let out close to a month ago. I hardly ever thought about pooping in a toilet anymore, and Mom didn’t push the idea very hard. Neither did Dad. As a boy, he’d been just like me. Even my sisters, Patty (four years older) and Susan (two years younger) were used to me wetting and pooping my diapers when I wasn’t in school. Patty could change my diapers almost as skillfully as Mom could, and she didn’t mind doing it even the poopy ones. “Good practice for when I have babies,” Patty said. Susan wanted to learn, but she was only seven, and Mom didn’t trust her with diaper pins. I was grateful she didn’t!

I was really comfortable wearing and using my diapers, and I didn’t want to think about the problems they caused me, not on a day like this, and, really, not anytime. I knew I was a smart kid, I did great in school, I could ride a bike, play baseball pretty well (well enough so the other boys didn’t tease me about my diapers) … but I still needed diapers even though my four year old cousin Peter didn’t. No amount of telling me that it was a common problem in the family could make that completely okay.

I heard Gloria ask my mom if she could wipe herself. Mom said she could, but Gloria did end up asking for some help. Gloria knew she’d have to be diapered again, but that didn’t take the feeling of accomplishment away from her. I decided to be as encouraging as I could.

“Way to go, cuz!” I exclaimed when Mom and Gloria came out of the stall. Gloria smiled and blushed a little. “It’s just this one time,” she said. “It doesn’t mean I’ll make it to the toilet every time I have to poop.” But she was very happy, and I wanted her to be.

We all washed our hands carefully. A woman came in to pee, and looked at me funny, wondering, I suppose, why a boy my age was in the ladies’ room. Then she spotted my bulging shorts, and figured out the reason. She didn’t say anything to mom or me, which was a good thing for her. Mom would have let her have it.

Mom took us on the bumper cars. They weren’t busy at the time, so, for the first time in our lives, Gloria and I were allowed to drive. It was wonderful! We didn’t crash very often. It was a real celebration! To top it off, Mom let us both go on the Rollercoaster again. But she didn’t ride with us. Mom did not like rollercoasters, thank you very much!

The rest of the afternoon flew by. Playland made really great lemonade, and both Gloria and I had two big cups of it. Once again, the triple diapers saved us from needing a change before the trip home, although we both were somewhat wet. On the way home, both Gloria and I were both pretty quiet. She fell asleep quickly, leaning against her diaper bag.I thought about the day, all the fun we’d had, the nasty poop accident I’d had, Gloria’s success in pooping in the potty, and tried to sort it all out. Life’s complicated at any age, I guess. It sure felt complicated to me. I fell asleep before too long, and only woke up when Mom lowered the tailgate after the car was parked. Climbing out of the car, I could feel that my diapers were soggy, so, wise young man that I was, I asked Mom if she could change Gloria’s and my diapers as soon as we got in the house. Mom wouldn’t let me speak for Gloria, but instead asked if she wanted her diaper changed. “Yes, I guess it needs it,” Gloria said. She didn’t smile.

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies -- Chapter 3 -- Playland (Part 2)

Two attempts to post this chapter appear to have failed. If multiple posts show up, I apologize. That was not my intention. Thank you for reading The Family Babies. I appreciate your comments.

Gloria came with mom and me, while the little kids went to the Kiddieland section and the older kids went to ride the bumper cars. They specialized in colliding with each other as hard as the ride operator would allow. Gloria and I weren’t allowed to drive one of the cars, but sometimes we’d sit with my sister Patty, who was 13, or one of her brothers, Chuck or Andy. Her diaper wasn’t poopy, but it was pretty wet, and she figured she might as well be changed since I was going to be. I must have looked comical trying to walk in a soggy loaded diaper, but I was used to it. The ladies’ room only had one other woman in it, and she was washing her hands as we entered. She looked a little surprised, sniffed the air once, but didn’t say anything. “I don’t mind if you change Teddy’s diaper first,” Gloria volunteered.

Changing me took a while. Thank God the poop hadn’t gotten out of the diaper, but it was all over my butt. Mom had me sort of brace myself against the side of the stall while she cleaned me up with a wet wash cloth which she put in the bag with the dirty diaper when she was done cleaning me. While she was cleaning me, I started to pee, not a lot, but enough. I was totally naked, so it splashed harmlessly on the floor. I was a nine year old tough guy, but I started to cry. “I didn’t mean it, Mommy! I didn’t even know it was going to happen!”

“I know, Teddy,” Mom comforted me. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Let’s get your diaper on so there won’t be any more accidents.” Following the usual “stand up diapering” procedure, she had me hold each side of the diaper in place as tightly as I could while she pinned the top to my undershirt, then pinned the bottom tightly around my legs. It was another three-in-one diaper. Mom was amazing! She could get a diaper on properly any way she had to. She pulled my plastic pants back on, then my shorts. I was clean, ready to go. I went and got some paper towels and mopped the pee off the floor so it would be easier for Mom to change Gloria’s diaper. Gloria didn’t mind waiting, although she kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other. And I was sure she passed gas at least once.

“I need to poop, Aunt Meghan. May I use the toilet?” Gloria asked? “I don’t see why not,” Mom replied, and quickly got her out of her diapers and plastic pants. I turned my head. It wasn’t polite to look, even though Gloria and I had been getting our diapers changed together since we were babies.

I was happy for Gloria when I heard the poop plop into the toilet, followed by the tinkle of her pee…. And maybe a little envious, too. I hadn’t pooped in a toilet since school had let out close to a month ago. I hardly ever thought about pooping in a toilet anymore, and Mom didn’t push the idea very hard. Neither did Dad. As a boy, he’d been just like me. Even my sisters, Patty (four years older) and Susan (two years younger) were used to me wetting and pooping my diapers when I wasn’t in school. Patty could change my diapers almost as skillfully as Mom could, and she didn’t mind doing it even the poopy ones. “Good practice for when I have babies,” Patty said. Susan wanted to learn, but she was only seven, and Mom didn’t trust her with diaper pins. I was grateful she didn’t!

I was really comfortable wearing and using my diapers, and I didn’t want to think about the problems they caused me, not on a day like this, and, really, not anytime. I knew I was a smart kid, I did great in school, I could ride a bike, play baseball pretty well (well enough so the other boys didn’t tease me about my diapers) … but I still needed diapers even though my four year old cousin Peter didn’t. No amount of telling me that it was a common problem in the family could make that completely okay.

I heard Gloria ask my mom if she could wipe herself. Mom said she could, but Gloria did end up asking for some help. Gloria knew she’d have to be diapered again, but that didn’t take the feeling of accomplishment away from her. I decided to be as encouraging as I could.

“Way to go, cuz!” I exclaimed when Mom and Gloria came out of the stall. Gloria smiled and blushed a little. “It’s just this one time,” she said. “It doesn’t mean I’ll make it to the toilet every time I have to poop.” But she was very happy, and I wanted her to be.

We all washed our hands carefully. A woman came in to pee, and looked at me funny, wondering, I suppose, why a boy my age was in the ladies’ room. Then she spotted my bulging shorts, and figured out the reason. She didn’t say anything to mom or me, which was a good thing for her. Mom would have let her have it.

Mom took us on the bumper cars. They weren’t busy at the time, so, for the first time in our lives, Gloria and I were allowed to drive. It was wonderful! We didn’t crash very often. It was a real celebration! To top it off, Mom let us both go on the Rollercoaster again. But she didn’t ride with us. Mom did not like rollercoasters, thank you very much!

The rest of the afternoon flew by. Playland made really great lemonade, and both Gloria and I had two big cups of it. Once again, the triple diapers saved us from needing a change before the trip home, although we both were somewhat wet. On the way home, both Gloria and I were both pretty quiet. She fell asleep quickly, leaning against her diaper bag.I thought about the day, all the fun we’d had, the nasty poop accident I’d had, Gloria’s success in pooping in the potty, and tried to sort it all out. Life’s complicated at any age, I guess. It sure felt complicated to me. I fell asleep before too long, and only woke up when Mom lowered the tailgate after the car was parked. Climbing out of the car, I could feel that my diapers were soggy, so, wise young man that I was, I asked Mom if she could change Gloria’s and my diapers as soon as we got in the house. Mom wouldn’t let me speak for Gloria, but instead asked if she wanted her diaper changed. “Yes, I guess it needs it,” Gloria said. She didn’t smile.

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies – Chapter 4 – Teddy’s Discovery

This chapter is a flashback to when Teddy was four, and Gloria 3 1/2

============================================

It was July 8, 1950, my sister Susan’s second birthday. The birthday girl was celebrating the occasion with brand new Cinderella panties. She had conquered diapers, at least during the day, and was now officially potty trained. My own fourth birthday had been about six weeks earlier, on May 25. No nice new underwear for me! I did get some new plastic pants, but they weren’t a gift, just a necessity. Most of the ones I had were starting to crack and some had holes in them. Normal wear and tear, I guess. I remember that I pooped my diaper while everyone sang Happy Birthday. People around me couldn’t help but notice. Right after I cut the cake, Mom distracted the guests while Dad took me into my bedroom and changed my poopy diaper.

Now, at Susan’s birthday party, I pooped again. This time it wasn’t during the singing, though, and I found Dad before anyone noticed what I’d done. Dad had faced the same problem I was facing, and he was always sympathetic. When we were behind my closed bedroom door, I started crying.

“Dad, it’s not fair! Susan can stay dry all day and I can’t, and I’m her big brother! I even poop my diaper when I don’t want to and she never does that anymore! I’ve tried, Dad, honest! I’ve sat on the potty chair, peed and pooped in it, but then I went right back to wetting and pooping in my diapers! What’s wrong with me? I sniffled.

Dad paused for a second in the middle of cleaning me up. Then he went back to his work, finishing the cleanup and expertly diapering me, while he explained gently: “Teddy, everyone has problems, and I’m afraid wetting and pooping is one of your problems. You can’t help it. Your mom and I both know that, and so does everyone else in the family. Every so often, someone in our family is born with a pee and poop system that doesn’t work the same as other people’s. You were born that way. So was I, son. I was waiting until you asked to tell you more about it.”

“Did you wet and poop your diapers too when you were four?” I asked. “Until I was almost five,” Dad answered, “and even then I wasn’t completely potty trained. Mommy and I still have a plastic sheet on our bed, just in case. And sometimes, son, I still wear a diaper if I think I’m going to have an accident.”

Dad’s revelation made me feel a little better but also a little worse. Until I was three, I had been a happy, diapered kid. Mom kept a check on the state of my diapers, and changed them when they needed it. Sometimes I didn’t like being interrupted when I was doing something interesting, but mom wouldn’t let me say no when she wanted to change my diaper. Then I began to notice that not many others my age were still having their diapers changed. I didn’t ask questions, but I was afraid something was wrong with me. Now I KNEW something was indeed wrong, and I knew what it was. But the same thing was wrong with my daddy, and he seemed okay. So maybe I’d be okay, too.

“Is anyone else in the family like you and me?” I asked my father. “Your Aunt Bridget,” he answered. Gloria’s mother. And we think Gloria probably has the same condition we have. She’s three and a half, and still wetting and pooping her diapers.”

“How can you tell whether she has it?” I asked. I liked Gloria. She was smart, and she was fun. We spent a lot of time together. We often had our diapers changed at the same time, and, when we were at Grandma and Grandpa’s house in the country, we slept in the same bed because we were so close in age and still both in diapers. We were buddies. If there was something wrong with me, I didn’t want it to be wrong with her, too.

“When kids are ready to be potty trained, Teddy,” Dad explained, they stay dry for longer times between changes. Then they wet their diapers all at once in a flood. Remember the puddles in Susan’s plastic pants a few months ago? Sometimes they start to squirm a little, or do what some people call “the potty dance” just before they pee or poop. Susan did all of those things. You haven’t done any of them, unfortunately. Neither has Gloria. I trust you not to tell her, Teddy. Let her mother tell her, when she asks what’s wrong like you just did.”

Dad was right. I never realized I had to pee until I was already wetting. It was almost the same with pooping. It just happened, whenever, wherever. I was starting to get self-conscious about it. Susan had been self-conscious, too, but even when she was wearing diapers, she had more control at almost two than I had at four.

I remembered how Susan had started going behind the couch, where I could hear her grunting. Then she’d come out stinky and pretend nothing was wrong. If Mom or Dad asked if her diaper needed changing, she’d sometimes say “Nuh uh. Don’t bother me now. I’m busy.” Once, when Mom asked her if she’d pooped in her diaper, she said “No, Teddy did it!” Mom laughed. I didn’t laugh. My own diaper was pretty full at the moment, too.

When I knew I was going to poop, I’d get a funny look in my eyes, then start filling the diaper right away, no matter who was watching. Maybe you know how, even if you poop by accident, you sort of have to push out the last of it? I’d do that by reflex, with my face red and a little scrunched up. Then I’d run and hide in my bedroom sometimes, especially if we had company. My older sister, Patty, was eight and knew I was different and that she shouldn’t tease me. Until a few weeks ago, Susan was pooping her diapers, too, so she was hardly one to talk. Today she was so proud of her own achievement, she didn’t stop to question why I wasn’t potty trained, too.

That question did eventually start to puzzle Susan when she began to think about it. She’d see me getting my diapers changed and wonder why I didn’t use the potty like she did. I usually blushed and said something like “I haven’t figured out how, Susan. You must be smarter than I am.”

Within a few months of becoming daytime dry, Susan stopped wetting at night. No more night diapers, although Mom didn’t take the plastic sheet off her bed just yet. Susan was always the first one up in the morning. She’d wake up, go potty, then come into my bedroom, notice my soggy diapers, and say “Poor Teddy! It must feel yucky being all wet like you are. I don’t really remember anymore. Do you want me to ask Mommy to come and change your diaper?” I’d grumble “Yes, please,” and Susan would dance away.

A few months after becoming dry, Susan caught a urinary tract infection, and had to be diapered until it cleared up. During the time she was sick, Mom explained to her about why Teddy had to wear diapers, and helped her see it was nothing to tease me about. Bright kid that she was – and is – Susan never said anything bad about my diapers again. Like I told you, by the time she was seven she was wanting to learn to help change them.

I was making about zero progress toward potty training. That fact couldn’t be disputed. Just as Susan was finishing her potty training, Mom had asked me if I thought I was big and smart enough to let her know when my diaper needed changing. She said it would be a BIG help to her if I could tell her or dad when I was wet or poopy. Then she wouldn’t have to check my diaper nearly so often. Laugh if you want, but I felt sort of grown up every time I asked to have my diaper changed. My cousin Gloria saw what I was doing, and she was impressed. “How do you know when you need your diaper changed?” she asked, eager for new knowledge.

“When I poop, it’s easy,” I said, the willing teacher. “I can feel it coming out, and usually I have to push a little. But I wet pretty often, and I don’t always know when I’m doing it. So I have to think about how my diaper feels. If it feels heavy, I probably need changing. If it squishes when I sit down, then I KNOW I need a clean diaper.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Gloria said. A half hour or so later, she proudly walked up to her mother and declared “Mommy, my diaper is really wet. Could you change me, please?” Her mom wouldn’t have smiled any wider if she’d asked to use the potty. Everything’s relative, I guess.

Gloria’s brothers were both older than she was, so she didn’t suffer the stigma of being still in diapers when a younger sibling was already dry during the day. Gloria’s mom, Aunt Bridget, hadn’t started trying to potty train Gloria, even though she was one of the brightest kids you’ll ever meet. Aunt Bridget was a wetter, like my dad. She knew Gloria was nowhere near ready. My dad knew I wasn’t ready, either, but in those days moms did most of the childrearing, while dads went to work. Mom didn’t know yet how different I was from my two sisters. She only knew that Dad still had some wetting problems that he took care of pretty much himself.

Gloria wondered a little why she wasn’t being taught to use the potty. But she knew I was still in diapers, so she figured it wasn’t too big a problem. I never told her about my “potty lessons.” They’d been pretty much a failure, and I didn’t like failing. A four year old shouldn’t know much about failing, but I thought about it more and more all the time.

I wanted to talk to Gloria and tell her “our” secret. But I had promised my Dad I wouldn’t, so I kept quiet. Which made me even more tense and nervous.

I envied Gloria her innocence, and knew it would come to an end on the day she asked the big question. I was sad for the discovery I knew she’d make. But I looked forward to not having to keep the secret anymore. And I was kinda proud of being able to tell Mom or Dad when my diaper needed changing almost all the time.

[jamiekid123]

Fantastic story, thanks alot for the effor!!

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies – Chapter 5 – Potty Training?

In Chapter 2, I said I was “pronounced potty trained” at four, and Gloria at three and a half. I never was all that great at math, and I have a way of “rewriting history” when I don’t want to face the facts. I was nearly five when the so-called potty training happened. Gloria was about four and a half. It still shocks me to have to say that. None of our other cousins had wet during the day past the age of three. Most were dry at two or two and a half. I hope you’ll forgive my attempted cover up. I need to set the record straight, or the story won’t make sense.

Both sets of parents were willing to let nature take its course with our potty training, whatever that might mean. Gloria and I were both pretty good kids, smart, likeable, all that stuff. We could both read. We’d taught each other how, with our moms’ help. But neither of us could keep our pants clean and dry. That was fine with our families, but not with the public school system. Children entering kindergarten, which we were both scheduled to do in the Fall of 1951, needed “to be able to use a toilet.” Not wanting to see us left behind, and not having an option like home schooling available, our parents decided to get creative about what it meant “to be able to use a toilet.”

When we were first shown the training pants and slightly smaller plastic pants we would be wearing, both Gloria and I were both a little apprehensive – but excited. Did this mean we’d be potty trained soon?

“Well, sort of …” Gloria’s dad explained. He was an engineer, and worked on waste management systems. Perfect, huh? “The school says you have to be able to use the potty, but it doesn’t say you have to be perfectly dry. So we’re going to teach you to use the potty and let you practice. Okay?”

We agreed. Our first lesson was “pants up, pants down.” Gloria’s dad had the ingenious idea of sewing the training pants to the plastic pants, so we’d have only one garment to manage. They took our diapers off (we were used to being naked in front of each other) and showed us how to step into our new underwear. I’m afraid Gloria got the hang of it faster than I did, but we both learned quickly enough.

Just as easily, we made the connection between “pants down” and “gonna pee or poop now.” Our moms knew we both pooped somewhere around 2:00 in the afternoon. We were pretty regular. To give us a little confidence, they scheduled the next lesson for 1:45 the next afternoon. There were the pants, there were the potty chairs. Our moms showed us the steps. We put the pants on, then walked over to the potty chairs (walking was a LOT easier in our new underwear!), pulled down our pants and sat down.

Gloria hit the jackpot first. Her eyes got wide, she grunted a little bit, then we smelled the poop and heard the tinkle as she pooped and peed in the little potty. Everyone clapped. While they were clapping, I pooped in the potty – and peed all over the floor, like I’d often done when I’d try to use the potty before. They’d forgotten to remind me of a step that boys needed to take and girls didn’t. I had to remember to push my peepee down so the pee would go into the potty. Ah, the burdens of manhood!

I was especially impressed with Gloria’s performance, even as I was disappointed with my own. I hadn’t used a potty since around the time of Susan’s second birthday, about ten months earlier, so I was out of practice. Gloria, though, had never tried to use a potty chair before. Like I said, she was always a little smarter than me. Or maybe girls just mature earlier, even girls who, like Gloria, had plumbing that didn’t work right.

The next day, we practiced again, and both succeeded nicely. Now it was time to start focusing more on controlling peeing. Peeing proved to be a tougher problem than pooping for both Gloria and me. Both of us peed frequently and unpredictably, and never a whole lot at one time. We didn’t know when we needed to pee, and could never have managed in regular underwear. Our special underwear would often end up wet.

My dad came to the rescue. He was a lawyer, you see.

“As long as they can both use a toilet, they have to let them go to school,” Dad said. They already know how to use a potty. Virtually every time they sit on one, they pee just fine.” “Yes, but they pee in their diapers, too. They have more accidents than successes when it comes to peeing, just like you and I did,” Aunt Bridget objected. In the one room school we went to, things were a lot simpler. When we wet, one of our big sisters changed us. The teacher was too busy to care, and besides, we were bright like our kids are. I’m afraid Teddy and Gloria are going to be traumatized.”

Dad replied calmly, in his lawyer’s voice: “The rule says NOTHING about accidents, Bridget. It says only that they have to be able to use a toilet. And they can. The school will take our word for it. They don’t test them before they let them in. When they see how bright these two are, there won’t be any problem.”

So every morning, Gloria and I were changed out of our night diapers and helped to put on our new underwear. Then we went to the bathroom and used the potty chair. We peed each time. I had to be taught to be careful where my little peepee was pointing, so I wouldn't pee on the floor. At about the time kids in kindergarten get their potty break, our moms had us go again, always with success. After a few days of using the chairs, we graduated to the big toilet. By what would be dismissal time when we went to school, our underwear was sometimes dry, sometimes not. But neither of us had leaked onto our clothes or the furniture, and we did know how to use a toilet. We were pronounced “potty trained” in a little ceremony. It was Memorial Day, 1951, a memorable day indeed for all of us!

Both Gloria and I received gifts of big kid underwear, several sizes too big so we could wear them over our special underwear. We also were given bookbags, with a special inner compartment for an extra pair of our underwear. If we ever had a serious accident, we could just take off the wet pair and exchange them with the dry ones in the bookbag.

Both of us were nervous on the first day of school, and seemed to forget everything we knew about potty training. We both wet, and I pooped my pants. Fortunately, another kid pooped his, too, so neither of us was singled out. The other kid – his name was Doug – and I became good friends. He thought my special underwear was really neat, and wanted some for himself.

Gloria had managed to conceal her wet underwear from the teacher’s notice. I, of course, wasn’t so lucky. Doug and I were sent to the nurse’s office to be cleaned up. I brought my extra undies. Doug didn’t have any extras. His mom must have been either in denial or a huge optimist. Doug didn’t end up having to go home with no underwear. Believe it or not, the school nurse DIAPERED him, and loaned him a pair of plastic pants! Yeah, I know, the rules said kids needed to be able to use the toilet. But they didn’t say kids couldn’t wear diapers, and the nurse knew some kids needed them. She was a very kind lady, Nurse Richardson, and a GREAT keeper of secrets. She also knew we wouldn’t get much teasing because Kindergarten kids don’t pay all that much attention to who wet or pooped their pants. The teasing doesn’t start until first grade, and doesn’t get really bad until second grade. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t know that then.

Doug didn’t resist the diapering too much, although he insisted that, at home, he wore diapers only at night. The nurse expressed approval of my unconventional underwear. I told her my uncle had thought it up. She helped me put on my fresh underwear and my pants. Doug’s pants were a little wet from his accident, and they smelled like poop, so he couldn’t wear them. The nurse found a pair that fit him from a supply of clothing she kept on hand for situations like we’d just experienced. We went back to class just in time for the teacher to help us learn to sing “Little Ducky Duddle.” Do you remember the tune? It was one of the great hits of the 1951 Kindergarten circuit. Considering that Ducky Duddle was “wading in a puddle,” Gloria and I thought the song was appropriate to the day’s events. We grinned at each other as we sang.

When our class’s turn came to go to the restrooms, I managed to use the toilet without incident. So did Gloria. She discreetly changed from wet to dry underwear, even. The teacher let Doug be excused from going potty. I could see the relief in his eyes as he wet his diaper. Teacher pretended not to notice.

When Mom asked how our first day had gone, I told her everything. She saw how worried I looked and sounded. “Do you think you can do it, Teddy?” she asked? “I’ll try, Mommy,” I answered. “I’ll try REALLY hard.”

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies – Chapters 6 and 7

For a reason I don't understand, the system insists on combining these two chapters in one message. Sorry about that.

Chapter 6 -- Conversation in an Apple Tree

The evening following the Playland trip, everyone at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm was unusually quiet. Most of the moms and kids were close to exhaustion from all the activity. Gloria and I were tired too, but we were quieter than usual for an additional reason. Both of us were deep in thought. After dinner, we walked to a favorite “thinking spot,” an old apple tree whose broad, easy to climb branches offered a quiet place to sit and reflect. Gloria and I climbed up on adjoining branches, about six feet off the ground. We were almost touching, but facing in slightly different directions so we couldn’t look right at each other. We both leaned back against the trunk of the tree.

“You okay?” I asked. I had seen the look on Gloria’s face when we were climbing out of the station wagon and she said “yes, please” when Mom asked if she needed her diaper changed. Pooping in the toilet had been a BIG achievement for Gloria. I knew she wanted to be proud of it. I also knew that she understood all too clearly that this one success didn’t mean a whole lot all by itself. Staying clean and dry on a regular basis was something I didn’t think either of us could do. I suspected Gloria had similar thoughts, but I also had a good idea how much she wanted not to have to wear diapers, to be a “normal” kid in this very important way.

“Oh, I suppose I am,” Gloria answered. “It’s just that it felt so good this afternoon to know I had to pee and poop and to be able to hold off on doing both until I could get to the toilet. I know, Teddy, both of us have done that before, and it’s not a big deal. But it FELT like a big deal this afternoon. I wanted it so bad! Then, when we got home, to feel how soaked my diapers were just made me feel completely awful.”

“What made it so important for you to poop in the toilet today, of all days?” I asked Gloria.”

“It was seeing what happened to you, Teddy. Pooping your diaper like you did on the train, then peeing on the floor without even knowing it while your diaper was being changed. Both of those things have happened to me, Teddy, and I knew how you felt. You remember how I pooped my diaper the other day while we were walking to the pond? I decided right there, while I was waiting to be changed, that I wanted not to be this way anymore. I think I really want to work hard on potty training, Teddy. It’s time we stopped being the family babies.”

“Gloria, I’m not sure I want that, at least not right now. You know how tough third grade was. I spent a LOT of time in Nurse Richardson’s office getting cleaned up. A whole bunch of times, when I was busy doing schoolwork, I didn’t pay attention to how wet my underwear was getting and then leaked all over my clothes. And remember all those times I pooped my pants? Nurse Richardson suggested I talk to Mom and Dad and see if they might let me wear diapers to school. She didn’t mind changing diapers, she said. It was a lot easier than cleaning kids up after they peed or pooped all over their clothes.”

“I thought kids weren’t allowed to wear diapers to school,” Gloria said, looking a little puzzled.

“There’s no real rule against it, Nurse Richardson told me, just like your Dad said when we were starting kindergarten. It wouldn’t be the first time a kid wore diapers to school on a regular basis, she said. The principal would probably give permission. The training pants were a good idea, I suppose, but it’s always been tough for me, Gloria, and it’s not getting any easier. It’s getting worse! I need some time off from all of that! I just want to have fun on my summer vacation and not have to worry about peeing and pooping!” I was starting to cry. Gloria couldn’t see the tears, but she could hear them in my voice.

“I’m so sorry, Teddy!” Gloria reached out a hand, and I took it. “It’s hard for me, too,” she said. “Maybe it’s not quite so hard for me as it is for you, but it’s a long way from easy. I’d rather face that problem, though, than think about how much having to wear diapers keeps other people from seeing me as anything more than a cute, overgrown baby!”

“Yeah, that’s a big problem too,” I responded. “But, Gloria, we don’t have to face that problem right now. We can wait, at least until we’re back home. Wouldn’t it be better just to have fun now, and worry about staying dry later?”

“Oh, Teddy!” Gloria said with a sigh. “I guess I can wait a little while longer. I hate to see you all nervous and unhappy like this. I suppose I can put off trying until we go home. That’s only three weeks from now.”

“Thanks, Gloria!” I squeezed her hand and sniffled, wiping my eyes with my free hand. You’re more than just a cousin. You’re my friend.”

We sat quietly for a while, waiting until it was almost dark before climbing down from the tree. We held hands on the walk home. Neither of us said much, and, I guess, neither of us was really very happy about the conversation we’d just had. We hadn’t done anything to solve our problem. We’d just put it off for a little while longer.

“Gee, I just noticed I’m soaked,” Gloria said as we were walking. “We’d better ask to have our diapers changed as soon as we get back to the house.” I had just peed a little and could still feel the warmth in my diaper. I noticed how heavy the diaper felt between my legs, and realized how wet I was. “Yeah, I’m soaked, too,” I said, wearily. “Seems like I’m ALWAYS soaked.” Gloria didn’t say anything, but she did give my hand a squeeze.

Cousin Alison was the first qualified diaper changer we saw. I was a little surprised that she didn’t greet us with her usual question “Do you two need your diapers changed?” Instead, she just said “Hi, how’s it going?” Gloria, probably wanting to help lighten my mood, smiled and said “Well, we’ve both been going a lot! We need our diapers changed. Could you change them for us, please?”

“Sure, no problem!” Alison replied, smiling in a way that was trying hard not to say “Oh, you poor kids!” She asked “Do you want night diapers, since it’s so late?” Both of us nodded. “Who should I change first?” she then asked.

Gloria and I looked at each other. We were still holding hands. I smiled and said “Ladies first!” “Okay by me,” Gloria said. But she didn’t let go of my hand.

Cousin Alison said “Tell you what. There’s room for both of you on the table. Why don’t you lie down side by side like you did when you were little, and I’ll change you both at the same time.

That sounded like a fine idea to both of us. We held hands and looked at each other while Alison expertly changed our diapers. It felt a little weird, but a nice kind of weird. I guess you could say we were putting all the problems aside and enjoying an experience we used to enjoy every day. I hardly felt Alison lift me by the ankles, slide the wet diaper out from under me, wipe me down, powder my bottom, and snugly pin on my night diapers. I was just enjoying a nice, peaceful feeling. For just this little bit of time, everything in my world was as it needed to be.

“Congratulations!” Alison said. “You were both really soaked but neither of you leaked. You’re following the rule really well, like the grown up kids you are.” She pulled on our plastic pants and our shorts, lifted us one at a time and set us down on the ground, just like she used to do when we were younger.

It was already 8:30, close to bedtime. Gloria and I each washed up, brushed our teeth, and put on clean T-shirts to sleep in. We were in bed before any of the other cousins in our room.

“This sure was some day!” I said out loud.

“Sure was,” Gloria replied. “A lot happened, didn’t it?” She sighed when she said those words. Yes, a lot had happened, and, for the most part, it was a good day. It was also a day that reminded both of us of how different our lives were from other kids’ lives.

The Family Babies – Chapter 7 – A Deal

Have you ever woken up in a messy diaper? I didn’t very often, but the morning after our Playland trip, before I even opened my eyes, I knew I had pooped during the night. It felt like a lot of poop. I could smell it. It was sticking to my butt and itching me something awful. I wanted to scratch, but I knew that wasn’t a good idea. As soon as I moved, I peed. That happened almost every morning. No matter how wet my diaper already was, I almost always wet as soon as I started stirring. I still do.

The warmth in my diaper made it feel a little less uncomfortable. Sitting up, I noticed Gloria was gone, and so were two of the other cousins. Seven year old Mikey and ten year old Jane were still asleep in their beds. When I looked at the clock, I saw it was already 8:00. Most of the family, I knew, was already up and about.

I waddled downstairs and found Mom in the kitchen. She said “Good morning, Sleepyhead!” I answered, “’Morning, Mom. I need a diaper change real bad. Could you change me, please?”

“Sure thing, Teddy,” Mom replied. “How about we change your diaper and give you a bath at the same time. That would make you more comfortable, I think.”

In the downstairs bathroom, Mom stripped off my diapers and plastic pants. She didn’t want me to notice, but she winced just a little as the aroma from my very soaked, very messy diapers hit her. Pure ammonia, blended with overripe poop. Do you remember that “morning diaper smell?” It doesn’t happen as much with disposables. I never once heard Mom complain about that smell – or about anything I did in my diapers, for that matter.

Mom rinsed the diapers in the toilet and tossed them into the diaper pail. The diaper pail had a neutralizing solution in it that kept the diapers from getting too yucky. The diaper pail got a lot of use when all of us were at the farm. Gloria and I, and the two babies each used about a dozen diapers a day, since we were usually double or triple diapered.

“Better throw your plastic pants in there, too,” Mom said. “Some of the poop leaked out of the diaper onto them. Are you feeling okay, Teddy? You don’t usually poop when you’re sleeping.” By this time I was in the tub and Mom had already hosed the poop off my bottom. I peed again as soon as the warm water hit me. I hated doing that. It always embarrassed me. Mom paid no attention. She never did make a fuss over any of the pee and poop messes Gloria and I made. Neither did anyone else. They knew we couldn’t help it.

“I’m fine, Mom,” I tried to reassure her. But I didn’t sound very convincing.

Mom helped me wash my hair, and waited while I washed the rest of myself and dried myself off. When I was dry, I put on a T-shirt (diapers were always pinned to special tags on our T-shirts, it kept the diapers more snug,) and climbed up on the big changing table in the bathroom. There was a mobile hanging over the changing table. The babies liked to watch the mobile move when they were being changed. Diaper pins were stuck in a bar of soap on a shelf right over the table. The soap kept the pins from sticking anyone while they weren’t being used, and made it easier to pin diapers on. Baby wipes didn’t exist yet, so the diaper changers used wash cloths, which they got wet in a sink next to the table and threw in the diaper pail after they had been used. There was a stack of the cloths on the shelf, along with stacks of fresh diapers.

A big strap was fastened to the table. Parents used the strap to keep the babies from falling off. Neither Gloria nor I needed to be strapped in anymore, but this morning I paused and looked at it as I was climbing up on the table.

“Want me to strap you in, Teddy?” There was no mockery in the way Mom smiled at me. She knew I was worried about something. I was pretty sure she knew what it was. Mom knew me better than anyone.

“Not really,” I blushed. “I was just trying to remember how it used to be when I was little ….. but I can’t. Could you tell me?”

“You were an awfully cute baby, Teddy,” Mom remembered. “I can almost still see you kicking your little feet, sucking on your pacifier, shaking your rattle, watching the mobile. It was a lot tougher to change your diapers when you were little. You were such a wriggly little guy! You really needed to be strapped down!”

Mom smiled and closed her eyes. I wished I could see what she was seeing in her mind.

“I loved you then, and I love you even more now,” Mom said, looking right at me. “You’re so grown up ! You help me and Daddy without grumbling, you keep your room neat, you’re smart, you’re fun to be with, we can take you anywhere and not worry about how you’ll behave … even your sisters think you’re a pretty neat brother.”

“Aren’t you overdoing it just a little, Mom?” I asked. “Okay, so I’m an okay kid. Everywhere you take me, though, you have to drag along my diaper bag and find a place to change my diapers!”

“That’s what’s bothering you, isn’t it? You’re feeling bad again about having to wear diapers.” Mom was fastening the final pin on my diapers. As always, the diapers fit perfectly. “Teddy, listen to me. You’re the only one in the whole family who’s bothered about your diapers. Everyone thinks the world of you! We’ll keep changing your diapers as long as you need us to, and we won’t think any less of you because of it.”

“How long do you think I’ll need to wear diapers, Mom?” I asked, looking at her so I’d be able to tell if she was just trying to make me feel good when she answered.

“I can’t say, Teddy. Nobody can. I don’t want to get your hopes up. Could we make a deal? Let’s not worry about diapers or anything else for a while. Let’s just enjoy what there is to enjoy every day. OK?”

“Does that mean I won’t have to be in just my diapers if I don’t tell you when I need to be changed?”

“Hmm… hadn’t thought of that.” Mom was really pleased I was trying to get the best of the deal, I knew, although she didn’t want me to know she was. “Tell you what. If you don’t let yourself get upset about having to wear them, we won’t make you wear just your diapers if you forget to ask for a change. Do we have a deal?”

Budding negotiator that I was, I had to push just a little harder. “Can Gloria be part of the deal, too, and can we keep the deal going after we go home?”

“Gloria can be part of the deal, provided her mom agrees, and I’m sure she will,” Mom replied. “As for how long the deal will last, well, as long as it works for everybody, we’ll keep it going.”

I held out my right hand. Mom shook it, looking me right in the eye. “Now,” she said, “do you think you’ll feel like going swimming in the pond this afternoon?”

We were allowed to go swimming only if at least two parents were at the pond with us. The water was deep, and even the cousins who could swim well respected the rule. We didn’t get to go swimming every day.

I loved swimming in the pond. Grandpa had created the pond by damming up a creek that flowed through the property. Then he’d brought in a lot of sand to cover what would become the creek bottom. While the creek was filling, he’d built a raft, and anchored it to the bottom of the pond with a long chain, the other end of which he buried in a drum filled with concrete. The raft floated nicely, but couldn’t wander very far.

The water was about 9 or 10 feet deep out by the raft. Swimming to the raft for the first time was a family rite of passage. An older kid would always go with a younger kid the first time. I had first made the trip two years ago, accompanied by cousin Andy, and Gloria had done it last year, escorted by my sister Patty.

“Yeah!” I responded enthusiastically. “I’d love to go swimming in the pond!” I headed for the door. First I’d have breakfast, and then I’d go find Gloria and tell her we’d be going swimming. I wanted to tell her about the deal I’d just made with Mom, too.

[Inky_Wonky]

It's a good story. Hope that isn't the end of it.

[Tinkles123]

No, it's not the end by a long shot. Just waiting to post more until I know if anyone's interested. Summer vacation will end, and Teddy and Gloria will have to deal with fourth grade. All comments appreciated.

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies – Chapter 8 – A Thoughtful Morning

Gloria found me while I was eating breakfast. Most of the cousins had already eaten. No one was cooking this morning, so breakfast was cereal. Shredded wheat, believe it or not, was my favorite, probably because I liked to collect the cards that separated the layers of biscuits. The cereal wasn’t bad, either, especially with a spoonful or two of sugar on it. Or three, if no adult was looking, and, today, no one was.

“’Morning, Cuz,” Gloria greeted me as she walked into the kitchen. “How come you’re not wearing shorts? Did you break the rule?”

“No!” I said, a little red-faced. “I just forgot to put my shorts on after Mom put on my diapers. Besides, we don’t have to worry about the rule … at least not for now.”

“We don’t?” I wasn’t sure whether Gloria looked happy or disappointed.

“No,” I said. “Mom thought I was worrying too much and said she wanted me just to stop worrying and have more fun. She said she was sure your mother wouldn’t mind.”

“She probably won’t mind,” Gloria agreed. “We had a talk this morning. Mom sounded a lot like you did last night. She said she was glad I’d pooped in the toilet yesterday, but she was upset about how tough it was for me to hold it in until your mom could get my diapers off. Mom seemed to think I was trying too hard, and worrying too much. She remembered how it felt when she was little and wet and pooped like you and I do. She said everyone cares about you and me and wants us to be happy. She said she wanted us to enjoy my summer and not worry about anything.”

“Wow!” I said. “Almost the same as what my mother said. “How do you feel about that?”

“A little disappointed,” Gloria admitted. “I want SO much to be like other kids! I think it’s tougher on girls being in diapers than it is on boys. But Mom’s right. Staying dry is just about impossible, and not pooping my diaper is VERY hard to do. I thought I was going to have a poop explosion in that ladies’ room yesterday. I could hardly wait for your Mom to finish changing you.”

“Yeah.” I remembered how Gloria had looked like she was trying hard to focus on something when I came out of the stall. “So what do you think about the deal my mother agreed to?”

“I suppose it’s a good thing,” Gloria agreed. “But what if we get careless and have more problems not having accidents at school? I’d hate that.”

I winced. I was starting to hate the training pants / plastic pants combination that Uncle Phil (Gloria’s dad, an engineer) had designed for us before we started kindergarten. They helped us meet the requirement of “knowing how to use a toilet” because we could pull them down to go potty, and we often did. We also wet them and pooped in them often enough that you couldn’t really say we were potty trained. The “Just In Case Pants,” as Uncle Phil had named them, were a lot better than plain underwear, but I had to think about keeping them clean and dry so much that I sometimes wasn’t paying attention when the teacher called on me in school. That wasn’t as embarrassing as having an accident, but it wasn’t fun, either.

“Nurse Richardson told me that some kids have been allowed to be in diapers at our school,” I said in answer to Gloria’s concern. “I’m thinking about asking Dad and Mom if I could do that.” I surprised myself by saying those words. Here was a potential answer to a problem I’d worried about. I hadn’t been willing to admit to anyone, hardly even to myself, that I had the idea in mind. I had recognized that I was a lot happier in the summer, when I was diapered all the time, than when I had to worry about accidents. I really enjoyed school, and my nine year old mind had figured out that wearing diapers might help me enjoy it even more.

“You’d really do that?” Gloria asked. “Wouldn’t the teasing be too much?”

“It would probably be less,” I responded. “Look at how many accidents we have now. I have more than you, but you do have accidents. Every time we have to leave class because our clothes are wet, the kids all stare and say mean things. If we wore diapers, our clothes would never be wet and we’d be able to enjoy school more.”

“You do have a point,” Gloria agreed, reluctantly. “You’d probably make a good lawyer, like your father! Let me think about it some more. I’m not sure I want to take a step backward like wearing diapers all the time, but it IS hard to keep our Just In Case Pants dry. It takes an awful lot of attention. Makes my head swim sometimes, it’s all so confusing!”

“Sure does,” I responded. “My mind is really close to made up. Oh, speaking of swimming, did you hear? We’re going swimming this afternoon!”

Gloria’s face brightened at this news. She loved swimming as much as I did, and she was at least as good a swimmer. “When?” she asked.

“After lunch. I think our moms are doing laundry this morning.”

“Probably are. I saw that the diaper pail was pretty full. Maybe I can poop before we go swimming, so I won’t have to worry about pooping in the pond.”

“Are you gonna ask to use the toilet?”

“No, I’ll do it in my diaper, like I usually do. No one seems to mind, and it’s really a whole lot easier. You don’t have to worry about pooping in the pond, I don’t think. You pooped a whole bunch while you were asleep!”

“Was it really bad?

“The smell woke me up, and two of the other kids, too. But it was almost time to get up anyway. And my own diaper was cold and wet, so I didn’t want to stay in bed.”

“You could have woken me up. Someone would have been awake to change my diapers.”

“I didn’t want to. You were really sound asleep.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Mom and I had a really good talk when I did get up. I feel a whole lot better now.

“So did my Mom and me,” Gloria said. “I’m still not sure about anything, but I’m tired of worrying. So let’s have fun today.”

“Let’s!” I agreed. “What should we do this morning?” I had finished breakfast and put my dishes in the sink.

“Put your shorts on, for one thing. By the way, did you notice you’re already wet?”

“No!” I answered. How wet am I?

“More than a little. But I don’t think you need to be changed yet. Gloria could see the state of my diaper clearly through the clear plastic pants. “I think I’m dry.” Gloria pulled on the elastic of her plastic pants and put her hand in her diaper to check. “Yup.” But at that moment, she started wetting, and pulled her hand away quickly. “I didn’t know I was going to do that until it had already started!”

“That’s nothing new, is it?” I asked. We were in our bedroom, and I had pulled on a pair of shorts. “What do you want to do?”

“Let’s ride bikes!” Gloria said. There were always five or so bikes at the farm that everyone was welcome to ride. There were paths to the meadow and through the old orchard where our favorite apple tree was. We found two bikes our size and set off on our ride. We rode all through the orchard and into the meadow, where two of our cousins were trying to fly a kite without much success. There wasn’t much wind. The pond was off to one side of the meadow, but we didn’t go there, since we’d be going right after lunch. We stopped to rest.

“Maybe we should go back to the house,” Gloria said. “I’ve wet a lot while we’ve been riding and I want to have my diaper changed. “Looks like you’ve wet a lot, too.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, a little concerned. “How can you tell?” My diaper wasn’t showing.

“By the big wet spots on the back of your shorts,” Gloria answered.

“Guess I’m going to find out if the deal is for real,” I said. Gloria had already turned her bike around and was standing next to it. “Uh, Gloria, I’m not the only one with wet shorts.”

Gloria sighed, but didn’t say anything. We didn’t talk on the ride back to the house. We put the bikes away, and walked around to the side of the house where the outdoor changing table was usually set up. My sister Patty was nearby, ready to change anyone who needed it.

“Hi, kids!” Patty greeted us cheerfully. Once again, we weren’t greeted with “Do your diapers need changing?” That was nice.

“Hi, Patty,” we both responded. Then Gloria asked, politely, “Could you please change my diaper?”

“Mine, too?” I joined in.

“Sure!” Patty answered. “Together or one at a time?”

Gloria and I looked at each other. “Together,” we said in chorus.

“OK, climb right on up,” Patty said. “But maybe you should take your shorts off first. You’ll need new ones. Those are too wet to wear.” Hmm… Patty had heard about the deal. I was glad Mom had told her.

We took our shorts off. When we were finished being changed, we’d take the wet shorts to the laundry room, where our moms were busy washing diapers and other clothes.

I started to pee while we were lying there being changed. It was just a trickle. Patty covered my peepee up just in case.

“It’s kind of early for you two to be this wet,” Patty remarked. “But that’s probably a good thing. You only have to worry when you DON’T pee a lot.”

“We didn’t realize we were so wet,” Gloria said, a little defensively.

“I figured as much,” Patty said, trying to reassure Gloria. “It’s no big problem. There! You’re both clean and dry. All ready to go.” Patty never mentioned our breaking “the rule.” She had put fresh plastic pants on both of us. The ones we’d been wearing were wet all around the leg bands. We carried the plastic pants and our shorts to the laundry room, where Mom and Aunt Bridget were busy loading both of the dryers. The farm had two washers and dryers because so many people stayed there.

“Hey!” Aunt Bridget greeted us first. “How are you two doing?” She didn’t say anything about us both being without our shorts. She saw we were carrying them.

“Pretty good,” I said. “Yeah!” Gloria added.

“Ready to go swimming this afternoon?” Aunt Bridget asked.

“You bet!” I said. Aunt Bridget took the wet shorts and plastic pants from us, and handed us clean shorts right out of the dryer. Gloria and I wore about the same size clothes. She was a little tall for her age, and I was a little short. Sometimes our clothes got mixed up. No one saw anything terrible in that.

“Uh, Aunt Bridget? I don’t want to wear pink shorts, OK?” I said.

“Oh, sorry, Teddy. I wasn’t paying attention. Here’s a blue pair.”

“Thanks!” I said.

It was hot in the laundry room, so we didn’t hang around. Each of us went and got a book and we sat on the front porch and read until lunchtime. Two of the younger cousins were asleep on the porch swing. The noise from the laundry finally stopped. All the clothes and diapers had been cleaned and dried. I was off in the land of the Hardy Boys, oblivious to everything going on around me. I didn’t even notice when I wet my diaper.

[jamiekid123]

THANKS for continued effort!!

I really have to encourage more of this... Heres hopeing you keep going!!!

[Tinkles123]

Thank YOU, Jamie, for your encouragement. Chapter 9 is coming right up.

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies – Chapter 9 – Swimming

Lunch was simple: bologna sandwiches and fruit cup, with Kool Ade to drink. Not needing to worry about staying dry, Gloria and I drank a lot of it. The day was hot.

After lunch we helped clear the table. Then Mom said “Time to get ready for swimming. Let’s see how quick we can all be.”

Getting ready for swimming, for Gloria and me, meant putting on swimsuits over our diapers and plastic pants. We had to wear diapers and plastic pants in the pond, not because they could really do anything about keeping pee out of the pond, but in case we pooped. The diapers would keep the poop in. No one wanted poop in the pond! We wore the swimsuits pretty much only because they kept our diapers from falling off when they were too waterlogged. Long ago, our moms had taught us how to tug on the leg openings of our plastic pants to let out the water when we came out of the pond. The diapers showed very plainly under our swimsuits, but no one in the family cared about that.

We were going to our bedroom to get our swimsuits when Gloria stopped and said “I haven’t pooped yet today.”

“So?” I wondered what that had to do with anything.

“I don’t want to poop in the pond and have to get out of the water,” Gloria explained.

Right in front of me, Gloria clenched her fists, closed her eyes, made a fist, and started grunting and pushing. Although I was happy that she didn’t feel she had to go hide to poop in private, I looked away. Gloria’s face looked so funny it was hard to keep from laughing! She passed a little gas, then I could see that she was filling her diaper. Gloria smiled. I was glad. I’d been worried about losing my diaper buddy.

“Maybe I should see if I can poop some, too,” I said, half under my breath. I started pushing. When I made a really noisy fart, Gloria opened her eyes and started laughing.

“You should see how funny your face looks!” Gloria exclaimed.

“Probably … no … funnier …. than …. yours!” I shot back. I was grunting and pushing, and sure enough some poop came out into my diaper.

We didn’t put our swimsuits on, but took them and our beach towels with us out to the changing table, where cousin Mary changed our loaded diapers without complaining. “It’s probably a good thing you pooped now,” Mary said. “Means you probably won’t have to get your diapers changed down by the pond.”

“That was the plan,” I said quietly. Gloria squeezed my hand. Cousin Mary pretended not to have heard me.

We started walking toward the pond. It was quite a walk. One of the moms piled the really young kids in one of the station wagons, and another loaded a station wagon with some snacks and drinks – and of course a changing mat, changing supplies, and spare diapers for us and the babies.

Gloria’s brothers, Andy and Chuck, and my older sister Patty were already standing on the bank of the pond. No one was allowed in until the parents gave the OK, and that hadn’t happened yet. Aunt Linda served as informal head lifeguard. She was the youngest of my father’s brothers and sisters, and had won medals swimming in high school. Aunt Linda had recently married Uncle Ernie, but they didn’t have any kids yet.

“OK to go in the water!” Aunt Linda yelled. Andy, Chuck, Patty, Gloria, and I ran right in. My younger sister Susan joined us. At seven, she was getting ready for her first swim out to the raft. The water was pretty cold, but we got used to it quickly. We swam back and forth across the shallow end for a while. Susan looked like she was ready for the big swim out to the raft.

“Who’s going to go with you?” I asked her.

“You, Teddy!” she answered. “And Patty. Gloria can come too if she wants. And Chuck and Andy.” Susan wanted a real entourage!

“If Aunt Linda says it’s okay, how about we go right now?” Patty suggested.

“Good idea!” Susan answered, and went to ask Aunt Linda’s permission, which was granted.

It was less than 50 yards from the beach to the raft, but for a first timer it felt like swimming the English Channel. Susan swam in the middle, surround by her sister, brother, and cousins. She kept up a good rhythm all the way, and didn’t get scared at all. Susan climbed up onto the raft triumphantly, and grinned from ear to ear as she held both hands in the air. The mothers on the shore all clapped and cheered. One by one, the rest of us followed her up the ladder. There was barely room for all of us on the raft. We all hugged Susan and congratulated her.

No one said anything as Gloria and I let a lot of water out of our plastic pants. There was some pee in that water. You can always tell when you pee in cold water, and I had peed the moment water started flooding my diaper. I was pretty sure Gloria had, too.

The older cousins practiced diving from the raft, making it rock when they dove in. Gloria and I wanted to learn to dive this summer. We made a few attempts, but they were all belly flops, leaving us sore. I was glad the swimsuits kept our diapers from falling off! I had to keep pulling my swimsuit up, though, every time I climbed out of the water onto the raft. Gloria had on a girl’s suit, and didn’t have that problem.

After a little while, Susan said she was ready for the return trip. Instead of swimming in the middle of an entourage, she wanted to go by herself. She was allowed to do that, since she’d made it to the raft with no problem. We watched her swim back to the shore. She was a surprisingly good swimmer for her age. As soon as she reached the shore, she ran for the outhouse, about 100 yards from the pond, on the downside of a hill. “So that’s why she was in such a hurry to get back, I thought.”

Susan was very conscientious about peeing and pooping only where she was supposed to. She hadn’t had an accident in nearly five years. When she was first potty trained, she lorded it over me because I was still in diapers. Mom, and a urinary tract infection when she was two that forced her back into diapers for a week, taught her humility and she never made fun of me again. In fact, she said she wanted to learn to change my diapers so she could be helpful. So far Mom hadn’t allowed that. I wondered if and when she would. I wasn’t sure how I felt about having my LITTLE sister change my diapers. Patty was almost as good at changing diapers as Mom and Dad, and she’d always been an incredible big sister. Susan was still very much a little girl, although she was growing up fast.

We tried one last dive … a little better this time … and swam back to the beach. A game of Marco Polo was getting started and we both joined in. All of the kids got their fill of swimming, and everyone’s fingers had gotten wrinkly like prunes from being in the water so long. It was a great afternoon!

Neither Gloria nor I wanted to waddle back to the house in waterlogged diapers. So we laid down on the portable changing mat, and Patty changed us. She put our swimsuits, plastic pants, and waterlogged diapers in a bag for the laundry, and put on T-shirts, fresh diapers, and plastic pants. Neither of us had brought our shorts to the pond, though, so we had to walk back to the house in just our diapers. We didn’t mind. Back at the house, we put on clean shorts and played checkers on the porch, drinking Kool Ade while we played. This time I won three out of five games, although all of them were close.

It might have been okay to wait, but we both asked to have our diapers changed before dinner. All the Kool Ade, I suppose. This time, Cousin Margaret did the honors. Once again we opted to be changed together. Everyone in the family seemed to be honoring every request we made, at least when it came to being diapered.

Dinner was outdoors again that night. Barbecued hamburgers, coleslaw, and potatoes baked in the fire. Delicious! Along with plenty of Kool Ade and ice cream for dessert. After dinner, the younger cousins – including Gloria and me, we felt at home in both younger and older groups – ran around catching fireflies. We didn’t keep them, just held them in cupped hands for a minute and watched their lights go off and on. Too soon, it was time for bed.

Gloria and I followed the usual routine of washing, brushing teeth, and being changed into clean T-shirts and the heavier night diapers. Instead of being only a little wet, as we had thought they’d be, our diapers were pretty soaked when we went to get changed. Both of us had been wetting heavily all day.

As we waddled off to bed, Gloria remarked “Ever since this morning, I haven’t felt at all bad about wearing diapers.”

“Neither have I,” I answered. We both smiled. It had been a very good day.

[the diaper mike]

more plz

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies – Chapter 10 -- Backsliding

All of the cousins seemed to be really enjoying summer vacation at the farm. We swam at least four or five days every week, played softball and other games, visited Playland one more time, went to the movies at a theater in town, explored every inch of the farm, and even managed to read quite a few books. Gloria and I often read while perched in our favorite apple tree. The apples were ripening, but not yet ready to pick.

On rainy days we played indoors, games like Monopoly. Rarely did we finish a Monopoly game. None of the cousins had the killer instinct that’s required to really conquer one’s opponents in Monopoly. I supposed we wished everyone could win, somehow. Checkers was different. We sort of took turns winning. Gloria and I didn’t keep records of who won the most checker games. I think it was a pretty close match, though.

There was no more talk of potty training, in part because of Mom’s deal. At least three times a week, probably more, I’d forget to ask for a change, or be so wrapped up in what I was doing that I just didn’t want to, and end up with wet clothes. Once, it happened after we had come home from church, and I was still in my Sunday clothes. My pants weren’t ruined, just wet. Nobody made an issue out of it.

Gloria’s record was better. She was averaging less than one diaper leak every week, always a small one. Gloria had stopped reminding me that I needed changing after I complained that she was bugging me too much. There was no penalty for leaking, so why be concerned?

Mom was concerned, and probably thought about the pros and cons for a while before asking “Teddy, would you mind if Patty or I checked your diaper now and then? You’ve been having quite a few accidents. Maybe you just need a little help remembering.”

I’m sure I blushed before I answered “It’s okay, Mom. I don’t mind. And, by the way, would you change my diaper now? I think it needs it.” I had been close to the end of a Hardy Boys mystery and hadn’t been paying attention to anything else.

“Sure, Teddy,” Mom answered back right away. She followed me into the downstairs bathroom. I hopped up on the changing table and lay down, trying to hold the book in front of my eyes so I could keep reading. I didn’t notice Mom unpinning the diaper, which was pretty wet but not leaking. I barely felt her lift me by my ankles and slide the wet diaper out from under me.

“Did you know you were carrying cargo?” Mom asked. “Carrying cargo” was our new code phrase for having a messy diaper. I’d been reading about how trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes carry stuff from where it’s made to where it’s going to be used. It was more fun to say “I’m carrying cargo” than “Please change my poopy diaper.” Good sport that she was, Mom would respond “Do you want to make a delivery?” I’d answer “Yes, please.” The changing table became our receiving dock. Mom was the receiving agent, and I was the delivery man. Dad liked the game, too, I think, although he pretended not to. Patty got a little confused by our terminology, but she tried to play along.

Gloria had no interest in “carrying cargo.” She had developed her own code phrase: “I have a gift for you,” she’d say. “Oh, please let me open it!” the one who would be changing her diaper would say in return. Gloria would then lie down on the changing table, and the changing ritual would begin. Sometimes I’d say “I have a gift for you,” like Gloria did, but she never delivered any cargo that I’m aware of.

Some of you reading this might think our family was sick or perverted. I can assure you that all of us were well cared for and happy. When older kids wore diapers or had some other physical or emotional challenge, they would never suffer teasing or abuse of any kind. No one in the family, to my knowledge, was ever sexually molested. In addition to “the family problem” of prolonged childhood incontinence, there was also the family blessing of a quick sense of humor.

“No, Mom, I didn’t know I was carrying cargo. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Teddy. It’s not a large delivery, and I can understand how you might not have known it was there.” She finished cleaning me up and rediapered me expertly.

“Mom, would you keep an eye on how my diaper is doing for a while, until I start doing better?” I asked. I’ll be okay in just my diaper to make it easier for you to notice. I know I need some help. I’ve just gotten so involved in having fun I haven’t thought about my diapers all that much.”

“Okay, Teddy,” Mom agreed. I could see she was pleased. It would not be long before we’d be going back to the “real” world, where leaking diapers would be much more of a problem than they were here on the farm. I knew Mom was happy to see me willing to take responsibility again for keeping my clothes dry.

Three hours later, true to her promise, Mom interrupted a checker game by whispering in my ear that my diaper needed changing. Again, I hadn’t noticed I needed changing. I was playing against Jane, Aunt Harriet and Uncle Jim’s daughter. She was very much a “normal” kid, 10 years old, dry since 2 ½, pretty good in school and sports, and kind of cute, with black hair and blue eyes.

“Sorry Jane, I gotta go. Can you wait for me a few minutes?”

“Looks like you already went!” Jane said with a smile. “It’s okay. You already had me beat pretty badly. I’ll give you the win. Go get your diaper changed.” To this day, Jane is quick with a comeback line, even though she’s past 60.

I was sure Jane hadn’t heard what my mom told me. Her response came from what she’d been noticing for a while, my increasingly wet diaper. Jane hadn’t said a word about it until Mom came by.

“Next time you see I’m this wet, tell me, OK?” I said, a little annoyed.

“No way! I heard how you barked at Gloria the last time she reminded you that you needed changing.”

“I apologized to Gloria about that,” I said. “I’m sorry I get touchy about it sometimes. I shouldn’t be, I know. I’m starting not to notice when I need changing, so I need everyone’s help. That’s why I’m not wearing anything over my diaper, so you’ll notice if it needs changing.”

“OK, Cuz.” Jane said, patting my hand. “Will do.”

I followed Mom meekly to the bathroom and climbed up on the changing table.

“Don’t be so glum, Teddy! Nothing terrible happened. You’re just wet, you didn’t leak anywhere.” Mom said, as she set my shorts and plastic pants to the side and began unpinning my diapers. (We always wore at least two birdseye diapers folded together. Sometimes I say “diaper” and sometimes I say “diapers.” It means the same thing. )

“Yeah, but again I didn’t notice that I needed changing,” I replied as she finished wiping my bottom and began spreading lotion over my bottom, which was getting a little pink from staying too long in wet or messy diapers.

“You’re interested in so many things, I guess it’s too much to expect you to remember your diapers all the time,” Mom said thoughtfully. “What can we do to help you?”

“What you’re doing is helping a lot, Mom,” I said. “I can’t think of anything else except wearing night diapers in the daytime. And that wouldn’t be a good idea because I’d be wet for longer times and probably get a rash.” Kids in our family hardly knew what diaper rash was. Parents and cousins kept pretty good watch over the state of their diapers.

Mom’s face brightened. “Here’s an idea,” she said. “ You’ve been able to tell time since you were four, and you have a wristwatch. I’d like you to wear your watch more often. We’ll make a note of every time your diaper is changed. If you get to three hours past that time and haven’t noticed your diaper needs changing, come and have it checked. Or check it yourself by feeling inside both the front and back. If you’re not with family, go into a bathroom before you check your diaper. Some things need to be done in private. You know that.”

That seemed like a good idea to me. It proved to be a very helpful suggestion. For the next two weeks, I never wore shorts or pants, except to church on Sunday. Even there, I’d check my watch before getting back in the station wagon to go home. I delayed everyone’s departure the second Sunday because I asked to have my diaper changed. It hadn’t been three hours, but my diaper felt a little squishy. In Sunday school, we’d been talking about Daniel in the Lions Den, and I guess the story literally “scared the piss out of me.” One of the other kids, not Gloria, peed all over herself right in front of everyone and ran from the room crying, with a huge wet spot on both the front and back of her dress and her soggy socks making squishy noises as she ran. I’d never seen anyone wet that much at once. It would have flooded one of my diapers. The girl, of course, wasn’t wearing a diaper. I wondered if she wished she had been.

When Mom checked, sure enough, my diaper needed changing. I wouldn’t have made it home without leaking.

The number of reminders about diaper changes, quite a few at first, slackened off until there were barely any.

The first day I walked into the kitchen for breakfast wearing shorts, no one said anything. But several cousins did give me a “thumbs up.”

I had learned to be responsible again.

[the diaper mike]

more plz

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies – Chapter 11 – Decisions, Decisions

All the dads came up every weekend, making the farm a little more crowded, but a lot more fun. Every dad could do something the others couldn’t. We all enjoyed it when the dads were with us. On the first weekend in August, we knew we’d be going home with Dad when he left on Sunday. I found an opportunity to spend some time alone with my dad that weekend. We went out and climbed the apple tree together. I liked the way the limbs of the tree were close to each other, but facing in slightly different directions. Sometimes it’s easier to talk if you don’t have to look right at the other person.

“Something you want to talk about, Teddy?” Dad asked, gently, after a minute or so of silence between us.

“Yeah, Dad.” I took a deep breath and just said it. “I don’t want to wear Just In Time Pants to school in September. They’re too much trouble!” There, it was out in the open.

“So that means you want to wear …..”

“Diapers, Dad. I want to wear diapers.”

“I can understand why, Son.” Dad had still struggled with staying clean and dry at my age. So had Aunt Bridget, Dad’s sister. The two of them had been the family babies in the generation before Gloria’s and mine. “We can’t just make that decision on our own, though. It’s a little complicated.”

I frowned, my heart starting to beat faster. “I thought it was allowed sometimes.”

“It is,” Dad answered. “Any kid in special education is allowed to wear diapers. You’re not a candidate for special education, you’re much too smart for that. I thought you’d be asking to wear diapers to school this year, so I checked on what we’d have to do to get you permission. It’s a little work, but not so bad, really.”

“What do we have to do, Dad?

“First, we have to be able to prove that you’re a good student, able to keep up in regular classes. We’ve proven that. You could probably even skip a grade. Then, we have to prove either that you’re medically incontinent, or have an emotional problem that prevents you from using a toilet like other people do. That means we’d have to go see Dr. Feldman again and get a note from him.” Dr. Feldman was a pediatric urologist. He scared me a little, but I trusted him.

“OK,” I said. “I can handle that. Anything else?”

“You have to meet with the principal and the school psychologist, all by yourself, with neither Mom nor me there.”

“Why, Dad?”

“They just want to talk with you and make sure you’re serious about wanting to wear diapers to school, and that you can be responsible for getting changed when you need it. They also want to be sure you can handle the teasing. They don’t allow kids to tease others, but they know it happens when any kid is different in a visible way from most others. They don’t want you to have any coaching from Mom or me.”

That last requirement was a little intimidating, but I thought I’d get through it okay. I asked Dad if he could make the appointments for everything we needed to get done. He was sure he could.

That night, Gloria and I talked about the idea just before falling asleep. Her mom had talked with her like my dad had talked with me. Later, each of us had talked about it with both parents. Our parents weren’t pushing us either way. I really didn’t know what my parents wanted me to do. But I knew what I wanted to do.

“I’m gonna do it,” I told Gloria. “I want to wear diapers to school every day. I don’t even want to think about being potty trained, not right now. It’s too hard. I can’t do it.”

“I figured you would decide that way, Teddy. I still don’t know WHAT I want to do, and neither Mom nor Dad wants to make the decision for me. I kind of think Mom would like me to stay in diapers, but she won’t say. And Dad just says, “You’re a smart, terrific girl. You’ll make the decision that works for you.”

“They trust you a lot,” I said to Gloria. “I think that’s great.”

“I wish they didn’t trust me quite so much,” she replied, her voice full of uncertainty.

Gloria woke up in the morning with a really poopy diaper, something she almost never did. She sniffed the air, looked at me, saw I was only wet, and realized what she’d done. Then she cried, big silent tears.

“Come on,” I said, “Let’s go find your mom.” Gloria took my hand and went with me. I left her and her mom at the bathroom door. I could wait a while for a change. Gloria’s diaper was a whole lot messier than mine.

The next day, Sunday, the station wagons were all loaded, and, after a big celebration breakfast, everyone headed home. Gloria asked for permission to ride with us, and Patty went home with Gloria’s family. She and Chuck were about as far apart in age as Gloria and me, and good friends. Our two families lived only a block away from each other, both close to Mayfield Elementary School, where we’d be beginning fourth grade. Gloria and I sat in the backward facing third seat of the station wagon like we often did, holding hands but not saying much. Both of us dozed off after a while. So did Susan. Mom kept talking with Dad so he wouldn’t get sleepy during the trip.

We didn’t stop on the four hour ride home. When we pulled into our driveway, Mom and Susan both ran for the nearest potty. Gloria and I didn’t need a potty. We needed our diapers changed. That would happen as soon as Mom had gone potty herself.

Dad didn’t rush. Instead he began to unpack the car while Mom and Susan occupied our two bathrooms. Dad didn’t say, but I knew why he wasn’t rushing. He was diapered, too. He was often diapered when we were on car trips. I had never seen his clothes wet, and he never smelled like pee. When we stopped for a potty break, Dad would usually ask Mom to change me in the ladies’ room, while he went into the men’s room carrying something that was supposed to look like a gadget bag but held, I knew, diapers, powder, and lotion. Dad didn’t try to hide his diapers. He just didn’t mention them very often.

Gloria knew about Dad and his wetting problem. Her mother, she said, wore diapers on car trips, too. Gloria’s mom and my dad both wore them every night for sleeping. They always had. Neither of them woke up soaked like Gloria and I did, but they woke up wet at least half the time. Gloria’s mother was a little less self-conscious than dad, I guess. Gloria said her mom let Uncle Phil put her diapers on at night. Gloria sometimes heard giggling coming from their bedroom, and once in a while she’d hear something like “Ouch! Be careful with those pins!” I wondered if my mom helped Dad with his diapers.

When they were traveling, Gloria’s mom had always kept Gloria’s diapers in the same bag as her own, and changed her own diaper after changing Gloria’s. When Aunt Bridget changed our diapers together, she always changed me first, no matter how wet or poopy Gloria’s diaper might be, and asked me to wait just outside the ladies’ room door. I wouldn’t get so many nasty looks that way, she said.

Both Gloria and I pooped while waiting for Mom to finish in the bathroom and bring us in for changing. We did it in almost the same instant. I guess I started first. As soon as she saw my face scrunch up, Gloria gave a little gasp and began filling up her own diaper. Dad saw us, smiled and said “Thanks for waiting to poop until we got home!”

Neither of us had waited. We couldn’t have waited if we wanted to. In fact, we hadn’t planned to poop at all. It just happened, like it so often did.

Both families got together for pizza at Gloria’s house. As we were leaving, Gloria said to me “I still don’t know for sure what I want to do about school and diapers. Maybe I’ll know tomorrow. Would it bother you if my decision was different from yours?”

Yes, it would bother me, at least a little, I thought. But that’s not what I said. Much as I wanted Gloria to continue to be my diaper buddy, I didn’t want to try to influence her to do something she didn’t want to do.

“Like your Dad said, Gloria,” I responded, “You’re a smart, terrific girl. You’ll make the decision that works for you.”

Neither of us could know, at least not then, whether our decision would work or not.

[Tinkles123]

The Family Babies – Chapter 12 – All Those Questions!

“Good news, Teddy!” Mom had just finished a phone call with Dr. Feldman, the pediatric urologist who had been seeing both Gloria and me since we were about three years old. Dr. Feldman worked in a group practice with several doctors who specialized in treating children with special needs. The group included Dr. Lawrence, a pediatric proctologist. Dr. Lawrence was a kind woman, but the kinds of things both she and Dr. Feldman had to do to see how Gloria and I were progressing were difficult to endure. I still don’t like talking about them.

“What’s the good news, Mom?”

“Dr. Feldman just said, based on the tests they just did, that he and Dr. Lawrence will be able to confirm your need for wearing diapers to school. Dr. Feldman asked me to tell you he’s sorry you’ve had to make a decision to ask to wear diapers to school, but he understands how that’s probably the right decision for you. He and Dr. Lawrence will tell the school that you are, in fact, less able to control your bladder and bowels than you were a year ago, and that diapers are a reasonable way for you to deal with the problem.”

I didn’t know I had less control than I’d had a year earlier. It didn’t feel especially good to find that out. But knowing what was going on helped me feel better about my decision to ask to wear diapers.

“Speaking of less control, Mom, I’m carrying some dangerous cargo,” I said, shifting my weight from one leg to the other because I had pooped while Mom was talking to me.

“Oh, wow!” Mom exclaimed! “I won’t argue with that! Let’s get you changed! We’d better be more careful about feeding you chili with onions!”

As always, Mom didn’t flinch at all while she changed one of the nastiest diapers I’d had all summer. As she cleaned me up and diapered me, Mom mentioned that she’d talked with Aunt Bridget, who had told her that Gloria was planning on going to fourth grade wearing “Just in Time Pants,” like both of us had worn last year. Gloria’s bladder and bowel control was at least a little better than mine, and she REALLY wanted to be out of diapers. I had pretty much given up the idea of being able to be without diapers. In fact, I had to admit the idea scared me.

“I know, Mom. Gloria and I were at the school playground together just now, and she told me. She was wearing her Just In Time Pants, practicing for when school starts. She had to run home to poop, so I came home too. I hope she made it in time.”

“How do you feel about being the only diapered kid in class, Teddy?” Mom asked gently.

“Maybe I won’t be the only one, Mom,” I answered. You know my friend, Doug, right?”

“Sure,” Mom said. “You and he both pooped your pants on the first day of kindergarten and had to go to the nurse’s office to get cleaned up. You’ve been pals ever since.”

“Yeah, we have,” I said. “Doug’s problem is different from mine. He still wets his bed, and wears diapers for that. But his dad’s been really sick, and things haven’t been going well around his house. Doug’s grandma has come to stay with them and help out, and Doug told me he had asked her to let him wear diapers because they made him feel safer. She let him, and now he doesn’t want to give up wearing diapers when he goes back to school. He doesn’t care who knows about them, he just wants to wear them. Oh, and he’s sucking his thumb a lot now, too. Looks weird, but he’s my friend so I don’t say anything. Doug’s grandma talked to Dad, and Dad’s helping them with Doug’s application to wear diapers as well as mine.”

“I didn’t know that,” Mom said, thoughtfully. “Of course, I wouldn’t expect to know, since Doug’s grandma has become one of Dad’s clients, and he doesn’t discuss his clients’ business at home.”

Both Doug and I had appointments the following week with the superintendent of schools, the school psychologist, the principal, and our fourth grade teacher. A parent was allowed to attend the interviews with us, but was not allowed to coach us in any way. I wondered – and, yeah, I also worried about – what the interviews would be like.

The interviews took place at our school. I saw the psychologist first. I had seen him before. Dr. Forest knew I’d had lifelong wetting and pooping problems. I wasn’t sure what he thought about my situation. With Dr. Forest, I was never sure of anything.

“Teddy,” Dr. Forest began, “I want to be able to approve your request to be allowed to wear diapers to school. But before I do, I have to be sure that you understand some of what might happen if you do wear them. That’s why we’re meeting today. Do you have any questions before we begin?”

I did have one question, so I blurted it out before I lost the courage to ask it. “Yes, one question, Dr. Forest. What happens if you don’t give me permission?”

“Good question, Teddy. Might as well ask it up front. Probably, we’d put you in with the special ed kids and give you your own work. You and your cousin Gloria are the two brightest kids in the class. I don’t like the idea of separating you from your classmates, but that would be better than putting you in a situation where you were the object of constant teasing. Your cousin won’t be wearing diapers, as you know, and her not wearing them to school might make it more difficult for you.”

“Dr. Forest,” I said, “I still get teased some about the accidents I have. The special underwear I’ve been wearing can’t handle it when I lose control, so I end up wet or even messy more and more often in school than I did when I was younger. The kids who know me and like me sort of understand that it’s all because my peeing and pooping system doesn’t work like theirs. They don’t especially like it when I stink up the classroom, but they don’t get on me about it like they used to. It’s mostly kids who don’t know me who make the biggest fuss. I can handle whatever they have to say.”

“But, Teddy, except for one or two times that I’ve known about, you’ve been wearing a kind of special underwear to school, not diapers. Won’t it be different wearing your diapers and plastic pants, and having them show sometimes?” Dr. Forest didn’t seem unfriendly, just concerned.

“If it’s different at all, Dr. Forest, I think it would be better. If I could be like other kids, I would. I think diapers would give me a better chance to be more like the other kids than Just In Time Pants (that’s what my uncle calls them, he invented them). Wearing diapers and having them changed when they need it will give kids a whole lot less to notice than having accidents in my underwear that leak onto my clothes.”

“Thank you, Teddy.” I appreciate the grown up way you’ve told me why you want to do this. Thanks for being so open with me. I don’t need to ask you any more questions.”

“You’re welcome, Dr. Forest,” I answered. The interview was over. I had trouble believing it. I wondered if I had “passed.” I didn’t like the thought of having to be in special ed. I’d be more alone there, because of the very different school work I’d be doing, than in a regular classroom. Sure, about half of the special ed kids wore diapers, and they had two changing tables behind curtains in their big classroom. I knew, though, that I’d rather be the only one going to have his diapers changed than the only one doing the school work I enjoyed so much.

Dr. Duncan, the Superintendent of Schools, and Mrs. Rayburn, the new school principle, interviewed me together. Dr. Duncan had known me since kindergarten. He was aware that I did really well in school. He was also aware that I had a LOT of accidents, and that the number had gone up during the past year.

We had our interview in Mrs. Rayburn’s office. I noticed more chairs in the office than I’d seen when I’d been in the principal’s office before. Dr. Duncan introduced me to Mrs. Rayburn. Mrs. Rayburn spoke first.

“I’ve been learning about you, Teddy, and I’m glad to be meeting you. You and your cousin Gloria were the two best students – by far – in the third grade last year. That’s quite an achievement!”

My face turned red. “Thank you, Mrs. Rayburn,” I tried to speak up, and look her in the eye like my mom and dad had taught me to do.

“It was a surprise for me to learn that you have so much trouble keeping your pants clean and dry, Teddy,” Mrs. Rayburn said, frowning a little, I was sure. For one so intelligent as you not to know when he has to use the toilet seems so strange! I’m not sure what to make of you!”

My face turned a deeper shade of red. Dr. Duncan started to speak, but I spoke first, looking right at Mrs. Rayburn, trying not to lose my cool.

“Mrs. Rayburn, I said, not being able to control when I wet or poop has nothing to do with how smart I am or how good a student I am in school. It’s just the way I was born! I can’t do anything about it, so I want to wear diapers to keep from ruining my clothes and interrupting the class. I hoped you’d understand.”

Now it was Mrs. Rayburn’s turn to shock me.

“I do understand, Teddy,” she said, very gently. “I said what I said just now to see how you’d respond. I wanted you to speak up for yourself, and say what you had to say without disrespecting me. I tested you and you got an A plus. I promise I won’t do anything like that again.”

I was a little stunned, but happy. I suppose I wet just then, with relief, but my diaper was in no danger of leaking so it didn’t matter.

“You’ll find, Teddy,” Dr. Duncan remarked, “that Mrs. Rayburn is a rather interesting school principal. She’ll keep you – and everyone else – on your toes.”

“Yes, I think she will,” I answered, smiling.

Dr. Duncan had no questions for me, but he did ask if I had any more questions for him.

“Yes, one question, Dr. Duncan. When will you tell me whether I’ll be allowed to wear diapers to school or not?” Just then there was a polite knock on the door.

“Come in, we’re ready for you,” Mrs. Rayburn said, loudly enough for those outside the door to hear. In walked Mrs. Winkler, my fourth grade teacher, followed by Mom, Dad, and Dr. Forest. I wondered what was going to happen next.

[the diaper mike]

more plz

[Inky_Wonky]

So tell us, how much of you is in this story? Obviously you have experience with urologists and protologists, so how much of you is seen in this story?