diaper dimension Done Adulting, Vol. 2 (Final chapter posted 12/21/20)

[littleTomás]

15 hours ago, Alex Bridges said:

You’re too young to drink! Go stand in the corner and wait for me with your diaper pulled down in back.

? 

[Alex Bridges]

Chapter 101

 

“Cold,” Jamie asked Ella as she pulled a blanket around their feet.

“Just my feet. The air feels good.” She laid back down next to him, and he put his arm back over her. She scooted herself backward again, sharing warmth and enjoying the sensation of each other. “You like it here yet,” she asked as she reached for his hand and intertwined their fingers.

“Yeah. It’s different, but I guess I’m finally used to it. Feels more like home now that we made the bed our own,” he chuckled, looking around at the bedroom her shared with Manda.

“I’m sure Manda’s on the other side of the door traumatized.”

“Were we that loud?”

“We weren’t, but you were.”

“I was not.”

“Should I do the impression again,” she teased him.

“That’s not funny,” he said back. She’d done that once, and it seriously freaked him out. He put his forehead against her head and took a deep breath, inhaling her scent. He looked down the length of her back, his favorite part of her, how soft and smooth and womanly it was. He stopped seeing the scar a long time ago.

“You falling asleep on me,” she asked.

“It is nap time,” he reminded her, “but no. I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“How beautiful you are.” He kissed the back of her neck. “How sexy.” His hand traced a line down her side.

In the living room, Manda had her ear buds in and was working hard to pretend they weren’t doing what she knew they were. It was less because they were littles than because he was her brother. A loud thump made her look up from her book and shake her head. They didn’t do this every time she came over, but enough for her to miss him having his own bed and room. Not that she begrudged them their relationship, but it always took hours before she could look at Jamie and see her little bear again.

When Jamie finally emerged from the bedroom, Manda was asleep on the couch. Not wanting to wake her, he went back into the bedroom and got two diapers from the changing table, and the two littles diapered each other. “We wore her out,” Jamie told Ella.

“So what now,” she asked as she searched the sheets for the bottles Manda put there for their nap, like she always did, and that they’d tucked out of the way.

“I think I was asking about your family before you jumped me. Something about your sister,” he said.

“Oh. Yeah, she wrote. She got her first job and moved out.”

“What about grad school?”

“She wants to take some time to teach first. Just a year.”

“Good for her.”

“She asked me to send some stuff,” Ella said with a wink.

“Not surprising. Stacy gonna accommodate her?”

“Eventually. It’s expensive. Better to do it in bulk.”

“I’m glad that makes her happy. Probably hard for her, too, but she’s got something that makes her happy,” Jamie said.

“I think it’s probably lonely.”

“That too. Still, there are lots of kinds of loneliness. Not all of them have an upside.”

“Like you?”

“Like me what?”

“Like you figured out you like little stuff,” Ella said.

“I like ... yeah, sort of. I like how it makes Mom and Manda treat me. I like how it makes them happy.”

“You like having a dinosaur on your butt.”

“Like I care.”

“Is that what I should paint in the kitchen? A great big dinosaur for wittle Jamie?”

“Shut up,” Jamie said playfully. “Like you don’t have your share of clothes with ruffles on them.”

Ella shook her head. “It’s weird still. It’s like some kind of double life, but it’s not. It’s the same life. Your sister is going to give us a bath later like we’re not two adults who fuck.”

“I sometimes tell her she doesn’t treat me like a little. She treats me like a king. Bathing and dressing me and feeding me just like people would treat royalty.”

“It still makes me glad to see you’re okay with it.”

“How do you mean?”

“Just that you hated it so much at first, and now you’re so good at it. You’re better than I am.”

“At what?”

“At being a little. You just go back and forth so seamlessly. Honestly, I feel more like an invalid than a little sometimes.”

“You are not,” he said.

“I know, but I never ... embraced it the way you have. I have Stacy. You have your mom and sister and Mel and Amy and April and even Danny sometimes. Right into that role with them. I don’t have people like that, who I’m okay being a little with.”

“What about Carrie?”

“The opposite, really. I was more a little with her when I got here than now.”

“Do you want more people?”

“I don’t know. Sort of. Or maybe I just want to want more people. I don’t know what difference it would make.”

“Maybe that’s something to talk about with Stacy. She’s always seemed like a pretty self-contained person. If it weren’t for me coming along, would it still be just the two of you?”

“Yeah,” Ella said. “She doesn’t have family. Not really any close friends.”

“So you don’t have any close friends,” Jamie said. “Maybe if you put it to her that way, it would be a little more motivation for her to branch out more.”

“She doesn’t want to branch out. She’s not like your mom. She just doesn’t need a lot of close friends. Her idea of a good time is the two of us with a movie to watch and ordering a pizza. I’m not not okay with that. I just sometimes think, well, it would be nice to have what you have. There’s a lot of love in your life.”

“In yours, too,” Jamie reminded her. “Manda loves you, Mel loves you, my mom loves you.”

“Your mom is so-so with me.”

“She loves you. I don’t know if you’re everything she ever wanted in a daughter in-law before, but she does love you.”

Ella didn’t say anything for a moment. She looked down at her hand, intertwined with his. “I love them, too … Weird, sometimes, like being on an island. You love the ones you’re with or you hate them.”

“That’s true everywhere. Whole world of people, and no matter how many are in your life, it’s a speck. Everyone lives on an island, everywhere.”

“I remember it being so big.”

“What’s that?”

“My island. You remember how it was, being in high school and college. It was this whole self-contained world, and it seemed so big and like everything in it was so big and everything was a big deal.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“It’s really because our lives were so small. All that stuff only seemed big. Maybe I just missed out on learning that the normal way.”

“Well, what matters is that you do have an island, and the people on it love you.” He brought her hand up and kissed each finger. A knock interrupted them.

“You ready for this,” she asked him.

“I guess.”

“Still can’t believe you agreed to it. Come in,” Ella called out.

“Your babysitter trainee is here,” Manda said.

“Are you sure she’s ready,” Jamie asked, wondering if it wasn’t too late to get out of it.

“To take care of you with me sitting right next to her? I think she’ll manage,” Manda assured him. “It’s really nice of you to do this.”

“I don’t know why I said yes.”

Manda helped Ella down and checked her diaper. “You’re almost as good at this as a big,” she remarked to Jamie as she untaped and re-taped one side of Ella’s diaper. Ella redressed herself.

Jamie scooted off the bed and bent down to get his own clothes, and Manda said,” Nuh uh. You gotta let your trainee do that.” She and Ella both wore schadenfreude smiles.

“I’m owed,” Jamie said. In just his diaper, he followed Manda to their living where Yasmine was waiting patiently.

         “This is Ella,” Amanda introduced her to Yasmine. “She’s Jamie’s friend, and she’s also unregressed. And Ella, this is Yasmine. People call her Yazzy; she’s Jamie’s friend and lives in the complex, and she’s gonna be my helper this afternoon. She wants to learn to littlesit and babysit.”

         “Hi,” Yasmine said, looking worried. “Do I have to take care of both of them?”

         “I’ll look after Ella,” Manda said, “you just need to worry about Jamie.”

         Manda helped Ella onto the couch. “How old are you, Yazzy?”

         “I’ll be twelve next month.”

         “Well, Manda is a good teacher,” Ella said. “And Jamie is a good practice little.”

         “What does that mean,” Jamie asked. No one answered, and he had a feeling he was going to be ignored a little bit, and that Ella especially was going to take more delight in this than was kind.

         “You got a mostly naked little,” Manda said. “We’d better go get him dressed.”

         Jamie, as he had agreed, played along. He’d played at Yasmine’s apartment with her and she at his, and Manda and Yasmine’s mother had gotten to know each other enough to be comfortable leaving their charge in the other’s care for a few hours. The topic of littlesitting came up at some point, and the idea was floated that Jamie, being unregressed, would be a safe way for Yasmine to learn the basics. She was too young to sit for an unregressed little or even a toddler, but she wasn’t too young to learn, and Jamie had agreed. He blamed the bottle he’d been fed, but Amanda suspected it was because he had a soft spot for the girl. It looked like she and her mom were comfortable, but also like they were one missed paycheck away from hardship, something Jamie understood.

         Manda got a sleeper out of his drawer of the dresser. “Not that one,” Ella said. “The grey one. It’s cuter.” Jamie blushed.

         “Show me what you got,” Manda said, handing Yazzy the grey sleeper.

         “Do you dress him standing up or laying down?”

         “Either way, but why not practice laying down.” Jamie started to sit when Manda said, “No helping.”

         “I just pick him up and lay him down?”

         “Yeah,” Manda said. “Gently.” Jamie was a little nervous at the prospect but left his arms at this side as Yasmine, nearly twice his height, got down on her knees next to him, put one arm behind his shoulders and one behind his knees, and lifted him off his feet and onto his back very carefully.

         “How’s that?”

         “Fine,” Jamie said. Yazzy rolled the sleeper up as she’d seen others do and worked a foot in. “Should I kick and thrash like a regular little,” he asked.

         “Not unless you want a timeout,” Yazzy teased him back.

         “Uh oh, Jamie,” Ella said, “You got a strict one.”

         “I’m going to find a way to get you later,” he told her from his vantage point on the floor.

         Leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and paying Jamie no mind, Ella added, “He usually has a dirty diaper after his nap. You better check before you get him dressed.”

         “Oh,” Yasmine said. “If he does, do I hafta…”

         “I think it’s best if you stick to just the wet ones for now,” Manda said with a wink. Yasmine seemed reassured and reached for Jamie’s diaper tentatively. “You just feel if it’s warm or heavy. It’s pretty obvious.” Jamie laid there cringing inside.

         “It feels dry.”

         “Check his butt just in case. Just roll his knees back a little to get to it.”

         “I don’t think,” she said, glancing from Jamie’s diapered butt to Manda, not noticing Jamie blushing or Ella red-faced holding in a laugh at his expense.

         “Then get that little dressed before he catches his death of cold,” Manda said. Yasmine finished the job and zipped the sleeper up.

         “Not so hard, huh,” Manda said. “Now you just gotta keep him entertained and outta trouble.”

         “Can I get up now,” Jamie asked.

         “Have you ever held a little before,” Manda asked.

         “Once or twice,” Yasmine answered.

         “Let’s go try it.” The four of them went back to the living room, Jamie on his own two feet and wondering if he’d ever be able to play with her as a friend again. “Sit down first,” Manda told Yasmine, and Manda sat down next to her. Ella got up on her own, glad she had come over for the day. “When you pick up a little,” Manda explained, “you want to be very gentle with them. They’re heavier than a baby or toddler their size, so you want to be careful not to squeeze under the arm pits, like this,” she said and reached out to lift Jamie to her lap. “And sometimes you can put one hand under their arm and the other under their butt, like this,” she said and set him down and picked him up again, turning him so he was sitting in her lap facing the TV.

         “The second one is more comfortable,” he said.

         “He likes having his butt touched,” Ella said, cracking herself up and making Jamie blush again.

         “They all do,” Manda said to Yazzy. “See how I’m holding him?”

         “He’s just sitting there,” Yasmine said.

         “Where’s my arm?”    

         “Around his waist. Oh, I get it.”

         “With an unregressed one like Jamie or with a toddler, you don’t have to do that, but if you got a squirmy one or one who can’t sit up on their own, you have to keep an arm on them so they don’t fall. You can hold him like this,” Manda said as she shifted her arm so it was at his side, ready to steady him if he needed it, “or you can cradle him like this, or you can lay him against you like this.”

         “I’m getting nauseated,” Jamie said.

         “Sorry, buddy. Or you can just lay him against you like this,” Manda said, turning Jamie against so he was leaning back against her in the crook of her arm.

         “This is how I like to watch TV,” he said, making Ella laugh again.

         “Can I,” Yasmine asked, and Manda moved her arm. Yazzy held out her hands. Jamie sat himself up, and Yasmine lifted him like Manda had done, only a little more awkwardly. Jamie could feel how she wasn’t as strong, but she was still much stronger than him. She adjusted him so he was sitting up in her lap, reclined against her in the crook of her arm like he’d been in Manda’s lap. “He sorta fits there.”

         “Exactly. Littles just fit with bigs,” Manda said, admiring her Jamie Bear and the way he was so patiently going along with this. “And when he’s sitting like that, it’s a good time to tell him what a good bear he is.”

         “Manda,” he whined, “you’re making me look uncool in front of my friend,” he said, trying to cover his embarrassment with a joke.

         “What do you do with them when you’re littlesitting them,” Yasmine asked.

         “You play with them, watch TV, try to keep them happy and entertained and outta trouble.”

         So they sat and watched TV, and eventually Amanda made everyone a drink and a snack, and she took the opportunity to show Yasmine how to feed a little a bottle. “I think I can use our other demonstration model for this,” Manda said as she sat back down.

         “Fine,” Ella said and rolled her eyes. She didn’t often let anyone but Stacy hold her while she had a bottle. It made her feel vulnerable, and it was intimate because of that. Other than Stacy and occasionally Carrie, the person she most often found herself in the arms of as she drank a bottle was Jamie, not feeding her but simply laying against each other. She didn’t often have formula either, or as she pleasantly discovered when she was in Manda’s arms, breastmilk.

         “That’s it, Manda said. “They can hold it by themselves at a young age, but they like this more. Some will tell you they don’t,” Manda said as she looked down at Ella, “but I they don’t often say no.”

         “Milk makes them so sleepy,” Yasmine said. Jamie, who’d happily slid down to let Yasmine cradle him while he had his treat (milk in the middle of the day!), looked heavy eyed, as did Ella. Manda wasn’t surprised since they skipped their nap together, and acrobatically from the sound of it.

         “Yeah, it does,” she giggles as Jamie flexed his toes the way he always did when he fed or was put down for the night.

         “Do I need to burp him when he’s done.”

         “No. Only really regressed littles need that.” They both sat there feeding their respective littles. Manda wished Ella would let het do this more often, or at least drink milk or formula more often. She could feel a difference in her body when she did, a loosening of muscles and tension, the same way Jamie’s body reacted but even more so. She always felt tighter, and Manda assumed it was because of her injuries

         “I …” Yasmine stopped. “I think feel something warm,” she whispered. “He’s peeing.”

Manda smiled at her. “Part of the job.”

“Is he awake?”

“No. Neither of them are. They didn’t get their full nap in.”

“Should we put them back in the bed?”

“No, they can nap right here. They’ll probably wake up in a few minutes anyway.” Manda took the bottle from Ella’s lips and set it on the table. “What do you think? You like it?”

“It does feel good to hold him.”

“Be sure to thank him. Jamie doesn’t like being treated like a little by very many people.”

“But he is a little.”

“But they’re not all the same. These two are unregressed. They’re just like us for the most part. He doesn’t really need help getting dressed or being fed or being held. He just lets us do it because it makes us happy and makes him happy too.”

“I’ll thank him.”

“And you know, you can play with him like before. He needs friends he can play with; littles got a lot of energy to get out, just like kids.”

“I know. I don’t think I’m ready to look after a regressed little yet, or a toddler.”

“They’re a lot of work.” Manda looked at her phone. “What time do you need to be home?”

“Sedici.”

“You got about five minutes, unless you wanna stick around and change a diaper.”

“That’s okay,” Yazzy said with a grin.

“Another time then … Ella will be disappointed. She was looking forward to seeing Jamie blush again. Little meanie,” Manda said as she patted Ella’s shoulder and gently rocked her.

[SGTbaby]

Hehehe....future date night plans maybe?

[Alex Bridges]

Chapter 101.5

 

Jamie woke up in the middle of the night, not for any particular reason. He just rolled over and came back to consciousness. He was warm in the pajamas his big sister put him in for bed, and the covers were enough. The window was open just a bit, and he smelled the fresh night air of early autumn, cool after so many warm months. He looked around the ceiling from flat on his back, just the one pillow under his head. He rolled to his right, toward the wall, and took his second pillow, laying it alongside himself and putting his head back down. He sighed. 

He was tired, but just in the minute he’d been awake, he felt like he was starting all over again trying to fall back asleep. He checked his diaper and found himself dry. There was no reason for him to be uncomfortable or awake at such an hour.

He rolled to his left, and there was Amanda, the slow and gentle rise and fall of her form telling him she was deep asleep.

He looked down, and there was his faithful bear, almost a friend more than a pillow.

Jamie sat up, scooted himself further up the bed, and rolled back to his left. As gently as he could, he lifted Amanda’s arm, trying not to wake her, and moved her just enough he could wiggle his way underneath, leaving her arm behind his shoulder. It was the best he could do, her being so big and him being so small.

He scooted back down again, rolled to his left again, and lay on his side with his cheek on his sister’s shoulder and put his arm over her.

Jamie felt the breeze through the barely open window, reached back down to his blankets, pulled them back up, put his arm across Amanda again, and sighed once more as he closed his eyes and snuggled in.

[WBDaddy]

1 hour ago, Alex Bridges said:

There was no reason for him to be uncomfortable or awake at such an hour.

Except love.  And, while the love from Amanda and all the other bigs in his life is certainly love, it isn't quite the same as the love he shares with Ella.

I wonder how this plays out...  

[Sarah Penguin]

[Jayme]

Amanda and Jamie are showing the love they have. It's a beautiful addition to this wonderful story.

[Gentle Gemma]

Oh how I love Ella got to watch all that! 

[Alex Bridges]

9 hours ago, SGTbaby said:

Hehehe....future date night plans maybe?

After quarantine is over? Sure. What’d you have in mind? ?

[SGTbaby]

17 hours ago, Alex Bridges said:

After quarantine is over? Sure. What’d you have in mind? ?

Well now...

[littleTomás]

Great chapter and I love the embarrassed Jamie and Ella loving every moment of that embarrassment. Also nice mini bonus chapter! So sweet

[Alex Bridges]

Chapter 102

 

“He just got excited,” Becky assured Jamie as she put a bandaid on his finger. “He didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I know,” Jamie said as he winced. The wipe she used once more to clean the scratch burned. “I think he feels very guilty,” Jamie said, looking at Kazoo who was looking back at him.

“You’re so brave,” Becky said as she kissed his finger and straightened up to throw away the bandaid wrapper. It was unlike Kazoo to nip, but he and Jamie had been wrestling so hard. “You’re so brave,” she said again as she picked Jamie up, putting her hands under his butt so he was looking at her with his legs wrapped around her waist.

“I’m okay,” he said. Becky kept reassuring him, and he didn’t think he was giving any sign he needed to be. She was so attentive after he spent the weekend at the apartment. He wondered if she wanted him to need her because she needed him. She liked being needed, as do most who adopt a little.

“Did you have fun this weekend?”

“Yeah. Ella’s almost halfway done with the painting, and I let Yasmine practice littlesitting with me.”

“You did? Was she good at it?”

“Mhmm. I fell asleep while she was feeding me. What did you do?”

“I saw your Aunt Laurie and your cousin. It’s almost his birthday.”

“What will you get him?”

“I don’t know yet. What do you think?”

“He likes trains.”

“We could go on a train ride,” Becky suggested. “We could make a day of it. We can go to Bientovalle.”

“What’s there?”

“Lunch and cool stores and parks and stuff.”

“That would be fun for him.”

“And you.”

“And you,” Jamie countered. There was a pause in the conversation, and Becky rubbed his back. He wasn’t sure where the question came from, but without thinking about it, he asked, “Are you happy?” The question jolted Becky.

“What? Where did that question come from?” She patted his back with a solid couple of thumps. “Of course I am. Why would you ask that?”

“I don’t know,” Jamie said, regretting even the thought.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I don’t. I just wondered. You...” He stopped and grimaced mildly. “You’re not lonely?”

“No, honey, I’m not lonely.” She looked down at him and kissed his hair. “You’re very sweet.”

“It’s just, when I’m here, we’re always together now, almost, and now you have the house to yourself a lot.”

“I miss you when you’re not here, but I do stuff. I see Jane and Lauren and Danny. I have friends over.”

“And it’s enough?”

“Yes, I promise.”

“I used to be lonely.”

She adjusted him so he was leaning against her chest, his cheek resting on her. “And then we found each other. And that made me very happy.”

“That’s what I mean. Do you wish you had someone on the days I’m not here? Isn’t it hard sometimes being an empty nester?”

“For a few days? I manage. Kazoo keeps me company.” The dog picked up his head and began wagging us tail at the mere mention of his name. “Would it make you feel better if I said I’m lost without my Baby Bear?”

“It would make me sad.”

“You don’t sound like you believe me.”

“It’s just ... I was lonely for a really long time. I just don’t want you to not have someone to share with. Like Stacy. She has Ella, but she doesn’t really have any friends.” That wasn’t a fair comparison, because Becky had many friends. She had a robust social life for someone her age.

“Stacy is lonely?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, she doesn’t have any family or close friends, but I don’t think so ... I just mean ... I don’t know what I mean. I’m glad you’re happy and not lonely.”

“Where did this come from,” she asked. 

“I don’t know. It wasn’t a good question. Can we forget about it?”

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

She patted his back some more. “I could call Stacy, see if maybe she wanted to get together just the two of us,” she said off handedly. “Do you think she’d like that?”

“Probably. You guys always seem to have a good time when we’re together.”

“Maybe I’ll do that.” She looked down at Jamie. Sometimes he seemed to invent things to worry about, as though he needed to find something to justify his anxiety. It was sweet of him to worry about her. “What about you,” she asked. “Are you happy?”

“Mhmm.”

“You seem a little ...” She searched for the right word. “Subdued lately.” Clingy is the word she wanted to use. She liked that he was affectionate, but since the move, he seemed to be spending a lot more time at her side, or on her, than he had before. He didn’t play as much. It made some sense after the move, but it had been several months. She moved his bedtime, wondering if he were perhaps just not getting enough sleep, and asked him several times whether he felt okay, but he said he did. 

“When you talked to Dr. Mary during the summer, did that help,” she asked.

“Yeah. She’s always helpful. She helped a lot with Ella, too.”

“How would you feel about seeing her again for a little while? Would that be helpful?”

“Why,” he asked, sitting up. “Do you think I need to?”

“I think it can always be helpful to have someone neutral to talk to. Don’t you?”

“Yeah,” he said, putting his head back down. “It is.”

“Maybe we can go see her again.”

“Okay,” Jamie said, unsure why she thought he needed that. He was open to it; he really did believe having a therapist to talk to helped regardless of how he was feeling. His question had obviously led her to questions of her own, not what he’d intended, and he wasn’t sure what he intended.

“But what should we do with our afternoon? Anything you want. Just pick something,” she said. “We can go out for a second lunch, or we can go shopping, or the park, anything.”

“Will you build with me?”

“Sure I will.” She stood up and set him on the floor. “Play nice with Kazoozey, and I’ll go get your blocks.”

 

[littleTomás]

Jamie is so sweet worrying for everyone else in his life, but he doesn't need to worry so much. Also I guess Jamie got over his fear of bears or just became Vladimir Putin and started wrestling bears in his free time, lol.

[the diaper mike]

Interesting combination of emotion in that chapter it's kind of all over the place I like it continue please

[Jayme]

Hmm. Jamie may be unaware that he might be broadcasting some guilt about the move still. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next chapter.

[Sarah Penguin]

Used to play my dog with my moving my hands in front of his face and he'd try to grab a hand with his mouth.  He always new instantly if the playfull hand grab went wrong and got sad and guily seeming even if I hadn't noticed I had a scrape from him yet. Dogs

[SGTbaby]

Poor kazoo but nice conversation about Becky being lonely. I know Amanda likes him there but maybe he should be with Becky full time and Amanda less during the week given the way grad school can be, looking forward to more 

[YourFNF]

On 3/22/2020 at 10:55 PM, Alex Bridges said:

And we’re not just expected to remember the material but to remember the author and year so we can cite them off hand. That’s the final exam, two hours to write a paper complete with citations, not knowing the question in advance, no computer to help. Practice for comprehensive exams next year.”

“I thought this was a master’s program.”

The idea of having to hand write a graduate level paper is so weird. IDK I never made it that far but isn't like everything in industry and academia typed? Like even by 1920 weren't like typewriters the standard?

[Alex Bridges]

16 minutes ago, YourFNF said:

The idea of having to hand write a graduate level paper is so weird. IDK I never made it that far but isn't like everything in industry and academia typed? Like even by 1920 weren't like typewriters the standard?

You write on a computer, but the point is you’re expected to be able to do it without looking stuff up. You’ve not just memorized the knowledge but fully incorporated it and the meta data around it.

I was never good at the names and dates part. I remember the content, but that wasn’t enough. You had to be able to cite the source of the content. It’s about learning the discipline of evidence  but also a view of expertise that turns the person into a kind of living reference book.

I think it’s outdated. I don’t think it has anything to do with being a good researcher, which is what a professor really is. But when you write an academic journal article, you need to cite everything. Unless it’s elemental, if you state a fact, it needs to be followed by a citation backing it up. Even if your field has accepted X is true and has for 50 years and everyone knows it, the article is supposed to show it as “X (Einstein 1936)” with the full citation at the end.

I found it tiresome, and obviously you can look things up outside the rest environment, so I think it’s pretty worthless to make people memorize the content AND the citation, but that’s what we had to do.

Except I didn’t do it very well, didn’t want to get better at it, and left my doctoral program after I finished my masters. 

The funny thing is I AM a professional researcher, but not an academic, and while what I do and what academics do isn’t apples to apples, if you just compare the “unit” of research I do, I’ve done more research in my 10 years on the job than an academic will do in 40.

I do miss summer, though.

[Samriis]

It's sad, but higher education is no longer about the impartarion of knowledge but the learning of how to function in a high stress, impersonal environment.  Most, but not all, skills for a job can be, and are, taught on location as every business does things slightly differently.  It's just another sign that the old ways are no longer valid and that ways of thinking need to be updated.

[YourFNF]

9 hours ago, Samriis said:

It's sad, but higher education is no longer about the impartarion of knowledge but the learning of how to function in a high stress, impersonal environment.  Most, but not all, skills for a job can be, and are, taught on location as every business does things slightly differently.  It's just another sign that the old ways are no longer valid and that ways of thinking need to be updated.

Yep I washed out of undergrad mainly because I couldn't handle the combination of high workload and lack of structure with my disability. Extra time on tests and priority scheduling just wasn't enough.

[Shaunikins321]

Alex, I’ve spent the last several weeks reading this most wonderful story (volume 1 and 2). Together with my paci and a bottle of formula, this has been my bedtime reading each night and it’s been a very soothing relaxing way to end the day. 
 

I hope you’re keeping well during this pandemic and I look forward to future chapters. 

[Alex Bridges]

I haven’t really been in a Jamie frame of mind. I think I need to regroup on the plot of the next phase of this saga before turning my usual amount of attention to it, but I also miss my characters. I couldn’t resist writing something today just to hear them talking. I think I needed it, and I think we all do right now.

____________________

Chapter 103

 

“It’s the first cold night,” Becky said as she pulled the plug from the tub. 

“It will get warm again. It’s just a cold snap,” Jamie told her as he stood up. She took down the towel, always impossibly fluffy to him, and wrapped it around him, lifting him from the tub and carrying him to the nursery, patting his feet dry as she went.

“You like these cold nights,” she said.

“Mhmm. They make everything cozier.” She stood him in front of the rocking chair and sat down, dried him off,and combed his hair with her fingers. 

“Can I look outside?”

She smiled at him funny but did as he asked, picking him back up and taking him to the window. He reached out and opened it just a crack, leaned forward and took a deep breath through his nose.

“You silly boy. What are you doing?”

“It smells so good, the cold air.” She stepped forward and did as he had done. He was right.

“It does. How about we get you bundled up, and then we can go sit on the breezeway for a little bit?”

She laid him on the changing table and readied his bottom for his nighttime diaper, smoothing the cream onto his cheeks and into his creases. She taped a diaper snugly around his hips and sprinkled just a little powder on his belly, rubbing it in with her hands. “Does that tickle?”

“A little,” he said as he squirmed and yawned.

“You can’t fall asleep yet.”

“But it’s bedtime.”

“It’s almost bedtime.” She chose a sleeper from his dresser, the grey one with the bunny ears, and got him zipped in. She picked him back up, laying him across her chest, plucked his blanket from his crib, and carried him to the breezeway. 

Kazoo followed them out, laying himself at Becky’s feet as she sat down on the swing. “Are you warm enough,” she asked him.

“Mhmm. Are you?”

“I am, because I have this snuggly bunny on me.” She spread the blanket over him, tucking it in around his feet. “Was it a good day?”

“Mhmm. A very good day.”

“What made it so good?”

“Being together.”

His mommy kissed him on top of his still damp hair, smelling so sweet with the little shampoo she used to keep his hair so soft. “Ready?”

“Mhmm.” She began to undo her pajama top. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Baby Bear.”

“I love you.”

“I love you more.” 

She offered a breast to Jamie, who latched on. She pulled the blanket over his head, reached around and patted his thickly diapered bottom through the fuzzy material as he nursed his bedtime milk.

He’d be asleep in a minute, and she would let him finish feeding and carry him back to his crib, where she’d gently lay him down with his bear tucked in his arm.

“Mama’s sweet boy,” she whispered. “Mama’s bestest boy.”

[SGTbaby]

Glad to see this back...even if briefly! Very sweet! Great b-day gift as well...hehehe! Hope you continue again soon as I miss your characters as well. These little snuggly chapters are definitely needed! 

[Alex Bridges]

16 minutes ago, SGTbaby said:

Glad to see this back...even if briefly! Very sweet! Great b-day gift as well...hehehe! Hope you continue again soon as I miss your characters as well. These little snuggly chapters are definitely needed! 

Happy birthday!