Jasper's adventures (Last update 28 april 2024)

[Toet]

Chapter twenty, Fort Fun, Part two

Jasper and Dries ate their picnic as quickly as they could. They sat in the sun and it was quite warm now. Meanwhile they had taken off their pullovers and put them into their rucksacks. As they used to do at school, they also swapped sandwiches with each other. They quickly checked what was in their own sandwich and then passed it on, out of habit, to see what the other one had. It hadn't occurred to them that this time Jasper's sandwich had been made by Kathy. They looked at their sandwich in surprise after the first bite. Then it dawned on the boys how they came to be made in the same way. They all laughed about it.
Jasper and Dries flew back to the playground while Heleen, Kathy and Koen continued to eat in peace. They climbed the towers, went down all the slides and went from one side of the castle to the other.

Right next to the playground was another attraction, Thunderbirds. This was an attraction where you sat in pairs. The chairs hung from a long arm and this long arm was attached to a sort of merry-go-round. The special thing about this attraction was that the long arm could rotate like a big propeller and you could also go upside down. . Jasper was disappointed to find he was too small again. Kathy stayed with him while Jasper was allowed to continue playing on the playground, but playing alone is not as much fun as playing together. Eventually, Jasper found himself sitting in one of the playground's towers, looking at the exit of the attraction and waiting for Dries and the others to appear.
He was delighted when they finally appeared and ran towards the family. They all picked up their rucksacks and continued across the park.

They walked further down the park to a Ferris wheel. For once, Dries also needed guidance. Jasper liked that for once he wasn't the only one who was 'too small'. Although he understood that sometimes it was just a matter of safety, he didn't like it.
The whole family climbed into a gondola on the wheel together and enjoyed the view of the countryside from the top. From the air, they had a wonderful view of the park and all the attractions they had already done and could still do.
Now that it was afternoon, there were more people in the park and it was busier everywhere. They could no longer go from attraction to attraction, but had to join the queue at the end of each attraction. They were glad that it was still doable - they didn't have to wait for more than half an hour at most.
So they made their way through the park, doing their best to see the various shows as well as the rides. The children did not understand much of what was being said during the shows. It was all too fast for Koen to translate, so they just enjoyed everything they could see; fortunately the show was still easy to follow.

In the afternoon, they took another break to eat some fruit and later a cookie. In fact, it was Kathy, Koen and Heleen who took a break. Jasper and Dries ate their snack quickly and then went straight to the nearest playground to let off steam. They seemed tireless.

Finally, the day was coming to an end and the park was about to close. There were two rides the family hadn't been on yet: the Capt'n Crazy and the Los Rapidos.
In retrospect, the Capt'n Crazy was Jasper's least favourite attraction of the day. It was a boat that not only swung up and down, but could also spin on its axis. This ride made Jasper completely nauseous and he felt terribly sick.
He almost missed the next attraction. But it was the last ride of the day and there was no time for anything else before the park closed. So he decided to go on the attraction anyway, despite his nausea.
Together with Dries, Heleen and Kathy, he got into a round boat that went down a big river of wild water. Koen didn't go with them; he wasn't that keen on water attractions and he could look after the rucksacks in the meantime.
At the start of the attraction, the children were amazed. On either side of the boats there was a large spiral, painted in beautiful colours, which lifted the water up. Then they sailed down and the boat turned on its axis. The children enjoyed the ride, squealing with delight when they were about to get wet and complaining loudly when they felt a few drops.
At a slightly quieter point, the family's boat slowed down a little and turned a bit. The boat behind them suddenly came up fast and crashed hard into the family's boat. Everyone screamed. Kathy, Dries and Heleen were shocked by the jolt.
The impact pushed water up between the boats and splashed over Jasper's back. The equivalent of a large bucket of cold water fell on and over Jasper. His T-shirt, trousers and underpants were instantly soaked.
Jasper also screamed, he was also surprised, but mostly because of all the cold water.
The fun was over for him. He was wet and the wind was making him cold. He pulled his knees up and hugged himself, trying as hard as he could to shield himself from the cold.
By the time they got out, Jasper had had enough for the day. He was still nauseous from the previous ride and now he was soaked and cold.

Koen was startled when he saw Jasper walking outside. "Jasper, you're soaking wet. It's like you've been swimming?"

Jasper shook his head that he hadn't. "There was a collision with another boat and a lot of water came over me," he sniffled.

"Take off your t-shirt and we'll put on your dry jumper from your backpack." Koen said as he unzipped Jasper's backpack and took out the pullover.
When Jasper took off his T-shirt, his teeth chattered from the cold. He was glad to have a dry, warm jumper to put on; it made him feel a little better. His trousers and underpants were still wet and that bothered him too.

"I don't like it here anymore," Jasper complained. "I'm cold and I feel sick."

"I can see it's a lot less fun for you now. This was the last attraction anyway, the park is closing now. Let's go back to the car and we can get you out of your wet clothes and into something dry." Kathy said. "But the rest of the day was good, wasn't it?"

Jasper thought about all the attractions he had been to. Despite his size disadvantage, it had been a good day. He didn't contradict Kathy.
Dries, Heleen and Kathy picked up their rucksacks, Koen took Jasper's rucksack and they all walked towards the exit of the park. Kathy had taken Jasper's hand. Since Jasper was feeling miserable, his speed would have been much too slow otherwise. She took him straight to the car to give him more comfort as quickly as possible. Koen, Dries and Heleen went to the toilet first.
Once in the car, Jasper was quickly stripped of his wet clothes. Luckily, this morning's towel was still open in the trunk, so Jasper had a dry and clean place to get out of his wet clothes.
Kathy searched Jasper's bag for spare clothes; she hadn't seen any the day before, but she wanted to be sure. As she'd feared, there were no clean clothes. Sighing, she took Jasper's onesie, bodysuit and a clean nappy. "These are the only dry things we have for you, Jasper. We're going to have dinner later and you can't walk around in wet trousers or dry bare bottom." Kathy said.

"As long as I get warm," Jasper replied shakily. Kathy nodded and hurried to get Jasper fully dressed as quickly as possible.

While Kathy strapped Jasper into the car seat, the rest of the family went over.
Finally, Kathy pulled a blanket over Jasper. "This will help," she said. Jasper nodded: the warm onesie and blanket quickly warmed him up, and the car seat with the straps fastened and secured felt a bit like a mummy hugging him firmly and warmly from behind.

Dries and Heleen took their places beside Jasper, Koen got behind the wheel and Kathy took the passenger seat and started setting up the GPS. Less than half an hour from here was a restaurant that several Google reviews described as exceptionally child-friendly.

"Are you feeling better, Jasper?" asked Dries after buckling in.

"Yeah, I'm a bit warmer already. I'm glad to be out of those wet clothes, although I still feel very sick from being on that rocking boat."

"Here, in case you throw up." Kathy said as she handed a bag to Jasper as a precaution, just to be on the safe side. The start of the road would be full of twists and turns and a lot of ups and downs, far from ideal for someone who was already feeling nauseous.
The car slowly made its way to the exit of the car park. Now that the park was closing, a lot of people were leaving at the same time and they were stuck in traffic for a short while before they could leave the car park and continue on their way. Jasper only just realised that Dries and Heleen had gone to the toilet, but that he had gone straight to the car with Kathy. However, the cold water had affected his bladder and now, during the trip, the urge to urinate began to appear.
Jasper didn't feel like giving himself an extra stomach ache by holding his pee, and he didn't think it was appropriate to ask to stop immediately after they set off. He knew they were going to eat 'later', but he didn't know if it would be in a motorway car park, a restaurant or somewhere in between. And he didn't know how long the drive would be.
He decided to make himself comfortable and relaxed; before the car had even left the car park, Jasper's nappy was wet.
Jasper took the headphones Dries held out to him and they watched a film in the back seat. Dries had 'The Clone Wars' on DVD and Jasper loved watching it. He loved Star Wars.

After just over half an hour of turning, accelerating, braking, going up and down, Koen pulled into a car park. "Dinner time, get out," he said cheerfully after parking the car and looking back over his shoulder.
Jasper was sick and happy to get out, Dries and Heleen were hungry and happy to get out too. They all untied themselves. At least Dries and Heleen did it easily. Jasper looked at the buckle and tried to get a hold of the pushbutton.

"I'll help you, this clasp has always been stiff," Heleen said, seeing Jasper struggling next to her. Heleen first unfastened the chest strap and then the one on Jasper's stomach. Then she pressed a button at the bottom of the seat and pulled on all the straps to release them. Now Jasper was able to continue on his own and took his arms out of the loops.
Dries and Heleen got out, but Jasper hesitated before setting foot on the tarmac of the car park.

"Where are my sandals?" he asked Kathy.

I'll get them right away. Kathy quickly got the sandals out of the trunk, adjusted the buckles so they would fit easily over the feet of the onesie, and slipped them over Jasper's feet. When the whole family was ready, they walked across the car park to the restaurant. Kathy and Koen noticed that child seats were visible in most of the cars. So they had made a good choice.
The restaurant itself was painted in cheerful colours, both inside and out, and decorated with lots of lights. Despite being a large restaurant, they managed to create a homely atmosphere at the tables.

There was a waiter at the entrance to greet them. “Willkommen in unserem Restaurant. Sie sind zwei Erwachsenen und drei Kinder?” Koen nodded in agreement. His German wasn't very good, but he could tell that they were welcome and that they were indeed two adults and three children. The waiter entered all the details, took two menus and handed them over.

“In Kürze wird jemand kommen um Sie zu Ihrem Tisch zu begleiten.”

Another waiter arrived and took the family to the other side of the restaurant. She quickly scanned the family and saw a father, a mother and three children. Because Jasper was wearing a onesie, and apparently a nappy from the sound of it, and Dries was wearing normal clothes, the contrast between the two boys was much greater than usual. It had happened before that passers-by thought Jasper was Dries' younger brother, but now Jasper seemed to be a much younger brother of Dries.
The waiter led them to a large table with only four chairs. She quickly walked to the side of the room where there were three different types of high chairs. Seats adapted for babies, seats for toddlers and Triptraps for slightly larger children. The waiter took the largest high chair and placed it at the table.

“Bitte, Sie können sich jetzt alle setzen. Ich bin Hannah, Ihre Kellnerin für heute Abend. Jemand anderes wird später für die Getränke kommen. Für die Kinder zahlt man nach der Größe der Portion, und wenn diese zu klein ist, kann man gegen eine Gebühr eine Extraportion bestellen.” She introduced herself as Hannah and explained a little more.
Koen looked at Kathy to see if she had understood. She shrugged quickly, she hadn't understood Hannah's explanation either.

“Entschuldigung, können Sie das langsamer wiederholen, ich spreche Niederländisch.” Koen asked for more explanation.

“Ein Moment bitte, ich bin gleich wieder da.” said the waitress. She quickly went to a nearby cupboard, rummaged through the papers at the bottom, returned with a plastic sheet and handed it over.
It was a Dutch translation of the restaurant's concept. It explained that there was a single price for adults, but for children the price depended on the portion they took. It also said that if the children were still hungry after emptying their plates, they could always order an extra portion for a fee.
While Koen studied the Dutch explanation and looked at the menu, Kathy sent Jasper to the Trip Trap.

"The waiter brought this for you, just sit on it." Jasper was tired from the day and still felt nauseous. He didn't feel like protesting and obediently crawled on it.
The children were given the children's menu and together they studied the options. Heleen chose a Hawaiian pizza and Dries opted for 'bouchée a la reine' or 'chicken vol-au-vent'.

"I'm not hungry, I don't want anything," said Jasper. "My stomach still hurts too much."

"I understand, Jasper." Kathy said. "But choose something anyway, we'll ask for the smallest portion for you. If we're leaving later, we won't eat until tomorrow morning."

Jasper looked at the menu again and decided on fries with sausage and applesauce.
After they had all chosen their food, they waited for a while and soon the waiter appeared. Because there were pictures everywhere, they could easily point out what everyone wanted and indicate how big the portions should be. Heleen took half a pizza, Dries a normal child's portion and Jasper a mini-portion, the smallest possible.
When the waiter saw that Jasper was loose in the chair, she took a step towards him and closed the straps. There was a strap with a loop on it that went between his legs, and the buckle that wrapped the strap around his stomach went through that loop.

“Aus versicherungstechnischen Gründen muss jedes Kind in einem Kindersitz immer mit den zur Verfügung stehenden Mitteln gesichert werden.” she said as she strapped Jasper into place.

Koen had understood. "The straps have to be in place for the insurance, Jasper."
Jasper nodded that it was OK and put his thumb in his mouth in anticipation of the meal. After the five point harness on the car seat and the straps on the guest bed, this was not much. Heleen thought he was adorable: in his pyjamas, nappy, thumb in his mouth and in the high chair, he looked absolutely cute and precious.
Not long after they had ordered, another lady came to get the drink.

"Are you driving home later, Kathy?" asked Koen. She nodded that she would.
Koen ordered a glass of red wine with his dinner, Kathy and Heleen took a glass of coke. Dries and Jasper both had apple juice.
Moments later, the woman trudged back with a trolley full of glasses and cups. You could tell she was either tired or didn't really feel like working.

“Heute gibt es ein besonderes Angebot: die Kinder dürfen sich ein Glas oder eine Tasse ihrer Wahl aussuchen und mit nach Hause nehmen.” she said, gesturing to the glasses and mugs the children could choose from. They were all glasses and mugs of various famous characters from the Disney repertoire.
The woman glanced down at her board to see the family's order. She looked at Heleen first and pointed to the glasses. “Welches Glas willst du gerne?”

“You can choose a glass and you can take it home later.” said Koen to Heleen. “It's a special promotion.”

Heleen looked cheerful and took a good look at the glasses. After a moment's hesitation, she pointed to a glass with Merida, the princess from the film Brave, on it.
The waiter's expression was one of disinterest. She filled the glass with coke and handed it to Heleen. Koen and Kathy began to dislike her. They were glad that she only came for the drinks and that they had another waiter, Hannah, for the rest.
The waiter quickly checked the order. The small portion Dries had taken came with a cup.

“Welchen Becher soll es sein?” she asked Dries as she showed him the cups. Dries did not have to think twice. He immediately pointed to a cup with a spaceship and a droid from Star Wars on it.
The waiter looked over and saw that a mini-portion had been ordered for Jasper. The mini-portion came with either a cup or a bottle. She looked at Jasper, who still had his thumb in his mouth. The waiter didn't feel like giving a difficult explanation and chose for Jasper instead. She opened a door on the trolley and took out four baby bottles.

“Und du kannst dich auch eine aussuchen.” Jasper looked surprised that baby bottles were placed in front of him.

“Bitte wählen” The waiter urged Jasper to choose a bottle as she pointed to the bottles again. Jasper pointed to the bottle with the same design as Dries'. The waiter filled Dries' cup with apple juice and gave it to Dries, and she filled the bottle, put a feeding teat on it and gave it to Jasper.
Finally, she put a large jug of water on the table and gave Koen a glass of red wine and Kathy a glass of coke.

“Guten appetit” she said, barely audible, and hurried off with the cart. All the while, the family had not seen the slightest hint of a smile.

"You can go and play for a while until dinner comes." Kathy said to the children. Jasper unstrapped himself from the chair and followed Heleen and Dries as they had a look around the various play areas. There was a small sensory room, a corner with wooden blocks, a little further on a corner with a wooden railway and finally two televisions. One of them was showing a children's programme and the other a Disney film. Jasper and Dries chose the wooden train, while Heleen chose the Disney film. The film was in German, but Heleen already knew the story and the film. Although she did not understand what was being said, she could still follow the film.

While the children were away from the table, Kathy and Koen sat quietly and drank. "Funny that Jasper suddenly gets a bottle instead of a cup." Helga said. "Jasper must have looked very young in his pyjamas and the way he put his thumb in his mouth."

"At the next table, the smallest child was given the choice between a cup and a bottle." Koen replied. "I think the waiter just didn't want to make the effort and chose an easy solution."

"Should we say something and ask for a cup for Jasper?" Kathy asked Koen.

Koen was busy with the bottle, studying it, turning it upside down and shaking it.
"I think we've found our solution for sleeping in bed at night," Koen said. "He could put this next to him in bed when he goes to sleep. It won't leak if it falls over, like the drinking bottle we used at home last time."

Kathy paused and thought. "Wouldn't he mind using it?" she wondered.

"Maybe, but if we explain why, perhaps he'll see the benefits," Koen said.

They decided to leave it at that for now and waited patiently for the food.
When the first waiter, Hannah, came back with cutlery for everyone, she said the food would be coming soon.
Kathy went to collect the children and Koen waited at the table to welcome everyone.
Heleen arrived first, then Jasper, Dries and Kathy came in together. Dries sat down at the table and drank thirstily from his cup. Jasper was thirsty too. He took the bottle and wondered what to do with it.

"If you can drink with it, you can take it to bed with you. It can't leak if it's on its side," Koen said. He took the bottle from Jasper and demonstrated by holding it upside down. Jasper saw that not a single drop fell out. He held out his hand to take the bottle back and Koen handed it to him. Jasper tried it and found it hard to suck anything out. He moved his lips once and put the nipple a little deeper in his mouth and then it went better.

"It's not easy," he said doubtfully.

"I know you're much too big to drink from such a bottle, but for now it's what they provided and it would be useful for the night in bed," Koen said. "In case you want to have water with you when you sleep."

Jasper nodded that it was fine. He was tired from the busy day and therefore too tired to think hard. At this point everything was just fine for Jasper.
The food was brought and Hannah stopped by to see Jasper before going back to the kitchen.

“Denken Sie daran, dass die Schnallen geschlossen sein müssen, wenn er auf dem Stuhl sitzt.” Hannah said with a friendly smile at the parents as she fastened the buckles on Jasper's chair. Jasper looked at Koen questioningly.

"You forgot to fasten the buckles, she says."

Jasper nodded that it was OK and picked up his cutlery to start eating. The first few moments at the table were quiet. There was a good cook in the kitchen and everyone's food tasted good. Dries was the first to finish his meal and waited impatiently for Jasper. Although Jasper's portion was smaller, it didn't go as smoothly because of his stomach upset. In the end, Jasper and Heleen finished at about the same time. When Kathy and Koen finished a little later, they were asked how their stomachs felt. All three children said their stomachs were full.

"Hmm, then you can go and play and Kathy and I will have some dessert." Koen teased the children.

"But I want dessert too!" said Dries immediately.

"But you just said your stomach was full, didn't you?" asked Koen.

"I still have room in my pudding tummy." Dries replied wittily. "It's my usual stomach that's full."

Koen laughed at the answer. "It's OK then."

Hannah came back and asked if the family would like an extra serving.

 

“Nein danke, wir haben genug gegessen.” Koen rejected the proposal.

 

“Möchten Sie einen Kaffee oder ein Dessert?” asked the waiter kindly.

Koen nodded yes. He ordered two coffees and asked for the dessert menu.
The waiter brought the dessert menu first and then took care of the coffee. When she returned with two hot coffees, the family had already made their choice. A slice of cake for Koen and Kathy, a pancake for Heleen and Dries and a small scoop of strawberry ice cream for Jasper.
After dessert, Koen and Kathy took their time to enjoy their coffee while the children continued to play. Until Koen looked at the clock. "It's already half past eight and we still have a couple of hours to ride," he said in shock.

Kathy said it was indeed time to leave and quickly went to the car to get the bag of clothes so she could put Dries into pyjamas too.
There were changing rooms in the restaurant and Kathy and Jasper went into one of the empty ones. She told Dries to go to the toilet first and then come back to the room. Kathy saw that Jasper's nappy was already well filled and decided to change it. This nappy certainly wouldn't make it until tomorrow morning. "Go and sit on this table," she said, patting a changing mat on a long table after unzipping the back of Jasper's onesie.
Jasper crawled onto it and lay down obediently. While Kathy was busy, there was a knock at the door. Heleen and Dries entered. "I've been to the bathroom, Mummy," he said.

"I came to brush my teeth," Heleen said, looking in the bag for her own toothbrush.

After Jasper got a clean nappy and was dressed again, he swapped places with Dries. Jasper also brushed his teeth and then waited with Heleen for Dries to finish getting dressed. While Dries brushed his teeth, Katy cleaned up the clothes and put them in the bag. She threw the dirty nappy into the waste bin that was waiting for her there.
When they left, Koen paid for the meal, thanked the waiter for the delicious food and finally, just before nine o'clock, everyone was in the car ready to go home. Jasper and Dries had taken off their sandals and all three children were under a blanket. They had put the glass, cup and bottle in the bag with the clothes.

Kathy got behind the wheel and Koen sat next to her. Koen set the GPS, looked at the time it indicated for getting home and then sent a message to Celine and Helga via the Whatsapp group. << We went to a restaurant to eat first and it will be after 12 o'clock before we are back home. We'll take Jasper to bed with us so you don't have to stay up for him.
<< That's good. Thank you.>> Shortly afterwards a message came back from Celine.

The children were allowed to watch a film, but within fifteen minutes Dries and Jasper were asleep. It had been an exhausting day for them. Heleen changed the film to one for herself and enjoyed it in silence. When her film was over, she closed the DVD player as well and settled down to sleep with her pillow and blanket.
When they got home, all three children were fast asleep. Koen carried Dries upstairs first, then Kathy woke Heleen and accompanied her to bed to sleep.
Before Koen went downstairs to get Jasper, he first opened the straps so that he could put Jasper on the bed and then closed all the straps.
Once Jasper was safely tucked into bed, Koen and Kathy quickly tidied up the things from the trip and crawled into bed too.

Author's note: I've never been to Fort Fun, so what I've written about it is all in my head and not necessarily true.

[Little_Mouse]

Sweet chapter. Although not the adults' intention (I think), Jasper is slowly settling into a comfortable and carefree "little space". I think that deep down he loves all the attention and almost being treated like a much younger child than his age.

[Toet]

On 11/4/2023 at 9:04 AM, Little_Mouse said:

Sweet chapter. Although not the adults' intention (I think), Jasper is slowly settling into a comfortable and carefree "little space". I think that deep down he loves all the attention and almost being treated like a much younger child than his age.

Thanks for your comment. He indeed is enjoying all attention he have. It's indeed not the adults' intention but there's a flow everyone is following.

Chapter twenty-one

Heleen woke up well rested. She wondered what Jasper would look like asleep, remembering how cute he had looked in his pyjamas the night before. Heleen crept quietly over to Dries’ room and opened the door as quietly as she could. She was disappointed to see the two boys reading a comic book in bed. But even though they weren’t asleep, she was touched by the way they were lying. Both of them on their stomachs in Dries’ bed, concentrating on the comic they were reading together. She couldn’t see very well because of the way the boys were lying and where Heleen was standing, but she thought Jasper had his thumb in his mouth again. The thickening at the level of their buttocks was well in evidence on both boys.
She must have made some noise because both boys looked back to see Heleen standing there.

“Good morning Heleen,” they said almost in unison.

“Good morning Jasper, good morning Dries,” she replied.

“I’m going down, are you coming?” asked Heleen.

“Yes, that’s fine,” Dries said and got up. Jasper followed, took two steps towards the door and then seemed to think of something.

“Your mum and dad don’t want us to go downstairs with a wet nappy.” Jasper grabbed his chest with his hand, noticed that the zip was not there and then went to his neck to open the zip there. “I can’t get it out,” Jasper said with disappointment in the tone of his voice.

Heleen heard this and quickly turned to jump in. “I’ll help you, Jasper.”

Dries went to the bathroom on his own and helped himself, pyjamas off, bodysuit off, nappy off, freshened up and pyjamas back on. It was all done very quickly. Dries immediately went downstairs to wait for Jasper and Heleen.
Heleen took her time with Jasper. She opened the zip on Jasper’s back and pulled Jasper’s hands out of his sleeves. She pulled the onesie off until it hung around Jasper’s waist. Jasper had held it back so it didn’t fall to the floor. Now she pushed Jasper back a little until his legs were against the bed.

“Just lie down,” she said as she guided Jasper until he was lying nicely on the bed. She pulled the onesie down a little further until she could remove the snaps from the body. She pulled it open and then peeled off the tape from the nappy.

Jasper immediately felt a cold shiver run down his spine. From being snugly and comfortably wrapped up, almost everything was now open and exposed. Heleen noticed. “Are you cold?”
Jasper nodded yes. Seeing an opportunity to practice putting a nappy on him again, Heleen suggested, “Shall I put another nappy on you for the cold?”
Jasper hesitated for a moment, but thought it was a good idea and nodded yes.
“Great, then I can practice to learn how to do it properly,” Heleen said pleased. She covered Jasper with the blanket and went into the bathroom.

Almost dancing with joy and excitement, she went around to collect all the things, to the bathroom to get a washcloth, a towel and a clean nappy. As she collected the things, she mumbled to herself, repeating all the points of attention her mother had already given her. She wanted to do it right, without forgetting anything.
Heleen helped Jasper completely out of his onesie and body, laid him on the towel on the bed with his arms up, opened his nappy, pulled it away from Jasper’s bottom and freshened up his private parts. Heleen worked hard to make sure not a single detail was forgotten.
When she had cleaned and freshened everything up, she removed the wet nappy and put a new one under Jasper. Paying attention to all the important points, such as the position of the wings, she placed Jasper on the nappy.
.

“Stand up and turn around so I can see properly,” Heleen ordered.
Jasper stood next to Heleen and turned around so that Heleen could look around to see how everything was.

“Is it all right?” she asked Jasper gently.

“It’s usually a bit tighter with your mum. Now I have the feeling that it could easily slip off,” Jasper said. He found it hard to say anything bad about Heleen’s work, but he also wanted to be honest.

“Thank you for telling me, go lie down again and I’ll see what I can do about it,” Heleen said.

Jasper got back on the towel.

“Breathe out as much as you can,” Heleen said, thinking that might work better. Jasper did his best to exhale as much as he could and suck in his stomach as much as he could and Heleen opened and closed the two tapes again. They were getting a lot closer to each other now than they had been before.

"Better now?’ she asked Jasper.

Jasper didn’t answer right away. He stood up and turned around again, feeling the nappy with his hands.

“I think so,” Jasper said.

Heleen looked at the leakproof borders again and thought it was good too. Heleen helped Jasper back into the bodysuit and onesie, and they walked down the stairs together.

“Finally,” said Dries, who was waiting downstairs.

“Sorry, it wasn’t easy to help Jasper with his nappy,” Heleen said.

“Jasper, are you wearing a nappy again?” Dries asked in surprise.

“Yes, I was cold and Heleen wanted to practise to do it well.”

Dries shrugged. “Girls…” he muttered to no one in particular.

Luckily Heleen had not heard the remark.

“Shall we make breakfast for mum and dad to thank them for going to Fort Fun yesterday?” suggested Heleen.

Dries looked doubtfully at Jasper to see what he thought. Dries didn’t really feel like working, he preferred to play.
Jasper nodded enthusiastically; anything he could do to make Heleen happy was good. He adored her.
The three children began to prepare breakfast together. Jasper and Dries set a beautiful table with fresh flowers from the garden, Heleen cooked eggs for everyone and put chocolate bread from the freezer in the oven.
They then made coffee and poured glasses of fresh fruit juice for everyone.
Koen and Kathy had woken up when the children started messing around in the kitchen, and when breakfast was ready they both came down to the kitchen dressed. They were pleasantly surprised by the breakfast.
The whole family, plus Jasper, were at the table for a long time, enjoying the bounty of the breakfast table. As they had got up late and were sitting comfortably at the table, it was almost midday when the doorbell rang.
Dries opened the door and Jasper came along, curious to see who it was. “Mummy!” called Jasper when he saw that Celine was at the door.

“Call her in,” Koen shouted from the kitchen, having understood from Jasper who was there.
Celine brought in a bag of clothes. She lifted it up to show everyone.

“I noticed this morning that we haven’t provided any clothes for today, so I’m just dropping in with a set,” she said.

“That’s nice, they will come in handy indeed.” Kathy said. “Would you like to have some coffee first?”

Another chair was quickly pushed into place and Celine ate a sandwich for the comfort of it. “Jasper, making breakfast like this is something you should do at home,” she said, enjoying the atmosphere in the house.
“How was Fort Fun?” she asked.

As she drank a second cup of coffee, Celine listened intently to the whole family’s story. She enjoyed all the highlights and sympathised with Jasper about the less pleasant ones.
The bottle that Jasper had received in the restaurant the day before was also discussed in detail. She thought it was strange that the restaurant had given Jasper such a thing, but she also understood that they hadn’t said anything about it because it might come in handy; a bottle that wouldn’t leak when lying flat on the bed. With other bottles it can always happen that the cap is not closed properly and then they leak.

“It’s time to go home, Jasper, we’ve enjoyed Koen and Kathy’s hospitality for too long.” Celine said.
Jasper thought it was a shame that he had to put an end to the good times.
“Time to change, Jasper.” Celine continued.
Jasper stood up to carry out his mum’s orders. He turned undecidedly. “I can’t take my pyjamas off by myself, the zip is in the back,” he said.

Celine took a closer look at the onesie. “It looks nice and warm,” was the only comment she made.

“Come on, I’ll help you,” she said and pulled the zip of Jasper’s onesie all the way down, freeing Jasper from his confinement. He could do the rest himself.
With the zip open, Jasper took the bag of clothes to Dries’ room and changed.

“He looked so cute. It reminds me of the past.” Celine reflected nostalgically to no one in particular.

While Jasper was undressing, Kathy entered the room to help Jasper collect his things.

“Let me get you a washcloth to freshen you up, Jasper.” Kathy said.

“Don’t worry, the nappy’s still dry,” Jasper said. “I’ll keep it on.”

Jasper was sad to have to end the weekend. He went to get changed. Kathy saw something was wrong and sat down on the bed. “Jasper, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“It’s been so nice, I don’t want to go home.”

“Dries is home all week, so you will have lots of opportunities to play with him. And soon we are going on holiday together. Do you remember?”

“Oh yes,” said Jasper. He was immediately in a better mood. It might have been a nice weekend, but there was still a lot of fun to look forward to. Jasper put on his regular clothes and a moment later he was ready to head home.
Jasper happily said goodbye to Koen, Kathy, Heleen and Dries and hopped home next to his mother.

Two days later, Jasper was sitting in the garden with Dries. It was a sunny day and the children enjoyed being outdoors. They had played a lot, but they were bored with what Dries had to offer in the way of garden toys. They wanted to go to the playground;

“Mummy, can we go to the playground?” Dries asked.

“I don’t have time to go with you Dries, I have too much to do today.” Kathy replied. “But if Heleen wants to come, that’s fine with me too.”

Jasper and Dries exchanged a quick glance. “Are you going to ask Heleen?” Dries asked Jasper. “I think she will agree with you much more quickly.”

Jasper’s eyes sparkled. Could he really manage that with Heleen? Cautiously, he and Dries made their way to her room. Jasper knocked gently on the door, suddenly a little shy.

“Come in,” he heard from her bed. She was reading a book.

“Heleen?” he began carefully.

“Hmmm?” she replied.

“Would you like to go to the playground with us?”

“Hmmm.”

Jasper looked at Dries questioningly. What did she mean by that?

“Keep asking.” Dries urged Jasper in a whisper.

“Can we go now?” Jasper asked.

Now he got a little more reaction from Heleen. “Sorry Jasper, I wasn’t listening. What do you want to do?”

“Do you want to go to the playground with us?” Jasper asked.

“Mum can’t.” Dries interrupted.

Heleen looked doubtful; the book was exciting.

“Why don’t you just go with us to the playground and continue reading there?” Jasper proposed.

“OK, that’s fine, I’ll go with you.” Heleen was convinced.

A little later, Heleen, Jasper and Dries had arrived at the playground, and Jasper and Dries immediately shot their way to the play castle that was there, and captured it from hundreds of invisible enemies.
Heleen saw her friend Mila, who was also at the birthday party, sitting on a bench. Mila was bored and staring at nothing in particular.

“Hello Mila.” Heleen said happily as she sat down next to her.

“Hey, hello Heleen.” Mila said, looking much happier now that she was no longer alone. “On the babysitting service too? I’m in charge of my little brother Billy,” she said with a nod to a boy who was a bit further away.

“Yes, I am on the babysitter service too. My little brother and Jasper, do you remember him from my birthday?”

“Yes, that cute little boy. Both boys enjoyed the party. Where are they now?”

Heleen pointed to the castle that was there. “Dries has just finished the slide and Jasper is waiting up there. Where’s Billy?”

“Billy’s over there with that group of girls. They’re playing hopscotch.”

“A boy playing hopscotch? That’s weird,” Heleen said.

“No, it’s quite normal for Billy. He plays a lot with the girls. It seems he feels better with them, that he fits in better.”

“Doesn’t he feel all right then?” asked Heleen, who always got worried when she thought there was something wrong with someone.

“I don’t know.” Mila said. “He always seems so depressed all the time. He seems to be feeling bad, but I don’t know what it is. When I ask him, he doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, he says.”

“It’s holiday now, maybe that will do him some good.” Heleen repeated what she had heard many others say.

“I hope so, we are going to Portugal by plane in three days. I am really looking forward to it. It’s my first time flying.”

“Sounds nice. We are going to the south of France by car. The resort we’re going to is nice, but I don’t feel like driving for two days. A plane sounds much nicer.”
Mila nodded enthusiastically.

Dries and Jasper paid no attention to Billy; they didn’t know each other either. Only their sisters knew each other. Dries had discovered a nest of spiders under a shelf in a corner and was looking at it with fascination. It looked like a hundred spiders all together!
Jasper crouched next to it and watched. He also found it interesting to watch.
Three spiderlings seemed to be leaving the nest, and Dries blew gently at them to guide them back to the nest. But that didn’t seem to help and Dries blew again with full force. Suddenly, hundreds of baby spiders shot out in all directions! Amazed by the reaction, the children stopped to see what was happening, but the baby spiders did not return.
For the rest of the afternoon, the children walked around the playground looking for more spider nests, but they were unable to find any more.
It was almost dinnertime, and Heleen and Mila bid each other farewell, wishing each other a happy holiday. Heleen went over to Jasper’s house to drop him off, and then returned home with Dries.

“Dries, are you coming to play with me tomorrow?” Jasper asked.

Helga heard what Jasper was asking and intervened. “That’s not possible, Jasper. There’s a sale at the clothes shop and I’m going to go shopping with you tomorrow.”

Jasper was disappointed. “Okay Mum.” Buying clothes was not his favourite pastime.

“Are you coming the day after tomorrow?” Jasper asked.

Dries nodded that it would be fine. “Bye!” he waved to Jasper.

“Bye!”

[Toet]

Chapter twenty-two

 

Jasper was fed up. This was the third shop he had been to with mum Helga. She loved to push him into the changing rooms and give him one garment after another to try on. He especially wanted a cool denim vest, but she wouldn't let him have it.
Other clothes he liked, with nice colours or designs, were never available in his size. They were bargains and discounts, and his size was almost always sold out. The new collection also had some nice things, but he was not allowed to have them, they were too expensive.

Mama Helga held a checked shirt out to him. "You'll look like a big man in that," she said, pointing to a pair of ribbed velvet trousers.
Jasper obediently put the clothes on; he had already learned from the previous shops that there was no point in protesting. He tried to express his horror by making as ugly a face as possible when he emerged from the changing room.

"He looks like a big boy now, ma'am. Almost like a boy of seven. Shall I pick out some other shirts?" asked a saleswoman, trying her best to be encouraging.

Jasper shook his head fiercely. "I'm already eight," he muttered.

"Yes, please." Helga nodded.

Another shirt with lines was brought in and two more with garish prints. Jasper kept coming out of the changing room with his eyes closed. He didn't want to look at himself in the mirror.

With a sigh, Helga realised that this shop was not going to be a success either. Helga wanted to dress Jasper properly, but he wasn't open to it at all. She decided to leave it at that and look for another shop. Regretfully, she handed the shirts and trousers back to the saleswoman, leaving Jasper to put on his own clothes and go to another shop.

Once outside, Helga looked up and down the shopping street. "I have an idea where we might find something in your size," she muttered.
Helga took Jasper's hand and they marched down a side street to enter another shop.

"But Mum, that's a baby shop!" cried Jasper in horror.

 

"I know, but they do have some clothes in larger sizes here. And since this is a baby shop, I hope that they still have your size in stock and that they have not sold it out already."
Jasper followed Helga into the store with an anxious foreboding. After looking around the store for a while, they ended up in a small children's section next to the baby clothes.

"Your size is the biggest here, Jasper, I hope we find something here."
Jasper took a quick look around the racks and was pleased to see that there were no stiff shirts. The clothes here were colourful, cheerful and fun.
Helga was glad to see that Jasper was finally more enthusiastic. She would have liked to dress Jasper in stylish clothes, but if she had to admit it to herself, it didn't really suit him, it wasn't his style.
Helga looked at the list again and saw what was on it. She had gone through his clothes with Jasper this morning to see which ones were too small or needed replacing.
There weren't many clothes that were too small, but there were some that were worn out, had holes in them, or had stains that couldn't be washed out.
Helga looked at the list: four pairs of shorts, three pairs of long trousers, four short-sleeved T-shirts, two long-sleeved T-shirts, a summer jacket and four jumpers.
Together with Jasper, she searched the racks for clothes in his size. Eventually there were clothes that both of them could agree on.
Once they had found the right size, the process of choosing was quick. Soon there was a huge pile of clothes on the side of the shop, ready for payment.

While searching the racks, they suddenly came across a rack full of bib overalls. "Remember when you borrowed one from Dries?" Helga asked.

"Yes, it was nice," Jasper said.

Helga took two pairs of trousers from the shelf. One with short legs and one with longer legs. Jasper needed help to put them on. He wasn't used to putting the straps over his shoulders from behind and he didn't immediately see how the buckles worked. Helga also had to help adjust the straps so that the trousers weren't too high or too low.
The trousers were added to the pile and Helga looked at the list again. They had put aside three shorts and two T-shirts too many.

 

"You need to get rid of some of this, Jasper. You chose a little too much." Helga said, pointing at the trousers and T-shirts.
Jasper was disappointed, he thought they were all nice and pretty clothes.
He looked through the pile of T-shirts and shorts. "I don't know Mummy, I think they're all so nice," he complained. He didn't want to get rid of any of them.

"If you can't choose, I'll choose for you." Helga said, grabbing the top trousers and t-shirt.

"No mum!" he shouted. "Not that one!" Anxious to protect his future possession, he pushed the trousers and T-shirts towards him and went through the pile again. "Do I really have to get rid of so many, Mummy? Please?" he asked in the sweetest voice he could muster.
Helga couldn't stand it when Jasper behaved like this. She knew Jasper was wrapping her around his finger, but he was doing it so well.
Helga started to go through the trousers again, looking at the price tags as she did so. She did the math in her head. There were big discounts in the shop and the total price was actually well below the budget she had originally planned.

"If we leave a pair of trousers and a T-shirt, that is fine. But we won't buy any more clothes for you until the next winter sale. Together with what you have left at home, you should have more than enough clothes.

On their way back to the checkout, they passed another section of clothes. "Clothes for Specials" read a sign hanging over the counter.
Jasper hadn't noticed the sign, but he immediately noticed a onesie hanging there, a onesie with short sleeves and short legs. The onesie was dark blue with different little coloured stars and planets all over it. Looking at the onesie was like looking at the starry sky through a periscope. There was a small breast pocket with no stars on it, but a rocket.

"Wow, Mum! Look at the onesie!" Jasper exclaimed. Jasper jumped up and down in excitement as he pointed to the onesie. Jasper thought the onesie with the stars looked great.

 

Helga had seen the 'Clothing for Specials' sign and took a closer look at the onesie. There was a zip on the back, and it was closed by two metal snaps, which Jasper would never be able to get on and off by himself.

"Jasper, look at this," Helga said, pointing to the zip at the back. "You'll never be able to get it on and off yourself."

"It's OK Mummy, you can help me, can't you?" There was only one thing that mattered to Jasper at that moment and that was getting those beautiful pyjamas with the stars on them.
Helga saw how excited Jasper was; she had rarely seen that before when it came to clothes.
She looked at the price tag and was pleasantly surprised. The base price was already cheap, but there was also a sticker with a seventy percent discount. For what it cost in the end, she couldn't pass up the onesie. "I don't know Jasper, we'll have to try them on first to see if they fit."
Jasper grabbed the onesie and held it close. He hoped with all his heart that the onesie would fit.
In the dressing room, Helga helped Jasper take off his clothes and then put on the onesie. She pulled up the zip and fastened the metal buttons at the neck. Then she straightened the onesie and had Jasper make a circle to see how it connected to his crotch. She saw that there was still plenty of room and decided that it was a good fit.

"It's OK Jasper, we'll buy it."

"Yippee! To the checkout!" exclaimed Jasper excitedly.

"Not so fast Jasper, first take off the onesie and put on your normal clothes."

"Oops," Jasper said, forgetting that in his enthusiasm for the onesie.
Jasper was helped out of the onesie and into his normal clothes by his mum. Together they went to the checkout, with Jasper wearing the onesie and his mum wearing the rest of the clothes. Jasper did not want the onesie to get lost, so he wore it himself, which made him feel more comfortable. When they got to the checkout, there was a small queue and they had to wait a while before it was their turn.

"Hello Helga, hello Jasper," came a voice from behind them. They turned in surprise to see Kathy and Heleen standing there.

"Hello," Helga replied. "Chasing discounts here too?"

"No," Kathy replied. "A colleague of mine has just become a mother and I came to buy a present. Unfortunately, Dries no longer fits into the clothes here."

Heleen held up a nice dinner set and a sleeping bag. "This is our present for the baby."

 

As the mothers continued to chat and the line moved slowly towards the checkout, Jasper was fascinated by a kind of ribbon hanging from a rack next to the cash register.
When they finally got there, Jasper took a good look at the ribbon. It was from Star Wars! Jasper picked up the ribbon to have a closer look. It had Yoda and a droid on it. Jasper thought it was very pretty. On one side of the ribbon was a little string, and on the other side of the ribbon was a clip that could be used to attach the ribbon to something.

"Look mum, it's from Star Wars, isn't it nice?" he nudged his mum to draw attention to the ribbon.

"Yes, it's nice, you like watching Star Wars, don't you?"

"Yes, and I don't have anything from Star Wars yet. Can I have the ribbon?" asked Jasper in his sweetest tone, trying to look super cute to his mummy.

"But what are you going to do with it, Jasper? The ribbon is for hanging up a dummy."

Jasper looked at his mum in confusion. He hadn't expected this answer. He looked at the ribbon again.

"Look, Jasper, you can easily attach the pacifier to this loop and you can attach the other side, the clip, to your outer clothing. That way, if a baby spits up or accidentally drops their binky, they won't lose it."

Jasper quickly tried to think of a reason why he needed the ribbon. It looked so pretty!

"What if I use it to hang my keys on?" suggested Jasper.

"You never need to carry your keys around."

Jasper didn't know what to say. He had hoped so much to get this ribbon, but it didn't seem like he was going to get it. Disappointed, he turned away and followed the lady at the counter, who was busy with Jasper's new clothes.
Outside the shop, Kathy and Helga continued their conversation. They all walked towards a nearby ice-cream stall.

"Jasper, because you've been so good today, you can have an ice cream." Helga said as they joined a long queue at the back.

Heleen was still in doubt. She remembered how sweet Jasper had been on her birthday. She had wanted to give him a present back, but she hadn't had time to find something yet.

"Mum," Heleen interrupted the conversation between Kathy and Helga. "I forgot something at the last shop. I'll go and get it and then I'll be back."

Kathy nodded at Heleen and then turned back to Helga to continue the conversation.
In the shop, Heleen bought the Star Wars ribbon with a matching dummy. She wanted to keep it as a surprise until they went on holiday together. Since Jasper is not allowed to suck his thumb, this would be a good alternative, she reasoned.

[Pierry Louys]

Sooo cute !!! Jasper is a lovely baby boy 

he gonna be so cute with his new onesie and star war pacifier with a ribbon 

[Toet]

On 11/17/2023 at 9:25 PM, Pierry Louys said:

Sooo cute !!! Jasper is a lovely baby boy 

he gonna be so cute with his new onesie and star war pacifier with a ribbon 

He certainly will be

[Toet]

Chapter twenty-three

 

Jasper couldn't wait to get home that night to put on his new onesie. As soon as his other mum was home, the first thing he did was to show his new onesie to his mum Celine. She looked at the onesie with awe, she liked it. She tried to imagine what Jasper would look like in the onesie and it was a cute picture.
After dinner Jasper had to get ready for bed and for once he didn't complain. Celine went upstairs to help Jasper.

"Jasper," Celine began, "you can't get this onesie on or off by yourself. If you need to go to the toilet later or tonight, you won't be able to. Are you putting on a nappy again? I know Dries is not here, but you are allowed to do that even when he is not here'.

Jasper didn't hesitate. He wanted to wear the onesie and if that was the price he was willing to pay. He didn't think the nappies were bad either, in fact he thought they were quite comfortable.
"That's good mum," and Jasper lay down on the bed to be helped further by his mum.

"But won't Gert see this later?" he thought to himself when he was all set and standing at the door. He voiced his concern to his mum.

"Don't worry. Gert is still with Ine, who will only come home when you are long asleep, and tomorrow he has to get up early for his student job. Will you brush your teeth? When you're done, you can play for another half hour and then it's time to go to bed, enjoy it".
Reassured, Jasper went downstairs and played some more until Mummy Celine told him to go to bed.
Mama Celine read a story first. She started with the first Harry Potter book. Jasper thought it was funny what happened.
After fifteen minutes of reading, Celine decided it was enough. She gave Jasper another kiss, tucked him in and wished him good night.

"Sleep tight, Mummy," Jasper said, then rolled over onto his side for a good night's sleep.

Jasper woke up in the middle of the night. He hadn't gone to the bathroom before going to sleep and that had consequences. Jasper knew there was no point in getting up. He couldn't get out of the onesie, and he'd been given a nappy by his mother just for that reason. He didn't even bother opening his eyes. He relaxed and at the same time concentrated on his bladder, trying to let it all flow. After a while he was successful and with a feeling of bliss and a smile on his lips, Jasper turned back to his side and went back to sleep.

Well rested, Jasper awoke the next morning to the sound of hail drumming on the shutters. He got up from the floor - he had been falling out of bed a lot in the last few days - and walked down to the kitchen. Mama Celine was still at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper on her tablet. The place at the table where Gert and Mama Helga had been eating showed the marks of a hasty departure.

 

"Good morning Mummy," Jasper said as he kissed his mother on the cheek.

"Good morning Jasper," Celine replied as she kissed him back.

"Where are Mummy Helga and Gert?" Jasper asked.

"Helga has taken Gert to his student job because the weather is so bad. It was not the weather for cycling. Afterwards she went straight to her own work. It's just the two of us today."

Jasper looked outside and was disappointed to see that the weather was indeed very bad. "I wanted to play outside with Dries today."

"Let's have breakfast first and then we'll see." Celine said.

Jasper took his plate and knife and pushed them, along with the bread and chocolate, towards his mother. Then he sat on his mom's lap and started to make a sandwich.

"Jasper, is your nappy wet? Is it possible that I can smell it?" Celine asked.
Jasper didn't dare answer properly. It was still wet from the night before and he wasn't sure what his mum would think. He didn't find it too disturbing himself. The nappy was a little thicker, the pad under his bottom a little swollen, but it didn't feel wet or uncomfortable.

"We'll go upstairs and freshen up Jasper, then you can continue eating." Celine said.

Jasper followed his mother upstairs and in no time at all he was undressed, out of his wet nappy and his waist was scrubbed clean with a good dose of soap and water.

"What do we do now, Jasper? Continue to get dressed or go back into your pyjamas and have breakfast first?" Celine asked.

Jasper didn't have to think for long. "Can I have a pyjama day today? Just don't put on any clothes and play in my pyjamas all day?"

Celine had already seen the weather report in the newspaper and it was going to be bad all day with hail, rain and strong winds. Playing outside was not really an option.

"That's fine Jasper. I'll get you a new nappy."

Happy Jasper lay down. Mummy Celine put a clean nappy on him and it felt really good. Jasper enjoyed the feeling. It felt right.
The onesie was zip fastened at the back and when Jasper heard the two snaps and felt them close, he knew he couldn't get out. "Safe and sound." Celine said. Jasper had to smile.

Celine and Jasper went downstairs together and Jasper started his breakfast while Celine continued to read the newspaper and drink her coffee.
As Jasper started to spread his second sandwich, Celine's phone rang.

"Good morning Celine, this is Kathy. Dries would love to play with Jasper, but he has a pyjama day here at home. Would Jasper like to come over?"

 

Celine laughed when she heard that. "Jasper is spending the day in his pyjamas too. Otherwise you can bring Dries here if he wants to, Jasper has been with you so much lately. Dries can also come in his pyjamas if he wants to," Celine said.

"Okay, that's fine. I'll drop him off in five minutes. See you then!"

Jasper ate his sandwiches quickly, making sure he was ready as soon as possible. He sat down behind a window next to the front door to keep an eye on the street and watch for Dries' arrival.
A short time later, Kathy's car pulled into Jasper's driveway. Jasper stood up and held the door open. Kathy and Dries sprinted in through the rain.

"Thanks Jasper." Kathy said, relieved that she didn't have to wait outside a closed door in the rain.

Dries took off his shoes, but otherwise he was still in his pyjamas. "That's nice," Dries said, looking at Jasper's onesie.

Jasper nodded vigorously. "We bought it in the shop yesterday. Yours with the crocodile on it looks nice too. Come on, let's play with the Playmobil," Jasper said and they went into his room to create a real battlefield, literally and figuratively, where dragons and vikings would go off to fight the bad guys together. Kathy was led into the kitchen by Celine and together they enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee.

"About the forthcoming voyage," Kathy began, eager to take the opportunity to discuss some practical matters.

"We want to leave at night. Can Jasper come and sleep with us the night before? We will also make sure that all the luggage is loaded in the evening and that the food is ready, so that in the middle of the night all we have to do is get in the car and go".

Celine nodded that it was good for her. "What about the bedding? Should he bring some?"

"No, that's not necessary." Kathy said. "In the cottage there is one sheet per person and a towel set with one large and one small towel. So he only needs one towel for the pool. If he wants to bring something to play or read, that is certainly allowed, but Dries will also bring some toys.

"Jasper will probably want to bring his Nintendo. Is that possible?' Celine asked.

"Yes, that would be fine. Can you divide Jasper's luggage into two? A small rucksack with some clean clothes for the first and second day, his toothbrush and toothpaste and a few things to keep him occupied in the car. We'll be travelling for two days and spending the first night in a hotel. You can put the rest of his luggage in a large suitcase with everything for the rest of the trip. The night we sleep in the hotel, the suitcase simply stays in the car".

"Okay, that sounds convenient." Celine said. "Where is the hotel where you will be staying?"

 

"More or less halfway. It would be possible to drive it all in one day, but then we'd have to spend two or three days recovering from driving, and then the holiday wouldn't make much sense".

While the mothers continued to chat, Jasper and Dries played together with the Playmobil.

It was almost noon and Dries had noticed that he had been to the toilet twice already and Jasper hadn't gone once. He looked at Jasper's waist and at one point Jasper was on his knees, fixing something on the Playmobil. This position made the onesie fall tighter over Jasper's bottom and the outline of a nappy was visible.

"Jasper, are you wearing a nappy?" Dries asked in surprise.

"Yes, that's right. I can't get the onesie on and off by myself, so this was more practical. Besides, I find the nappy comfortable and easy."

It was not the first time Dries had heard this from Jasper. He wondered if Jasper was still wearing nappies for him or if he was just doing it for himself. Whatever the reason, Dries decided that Jasper was a great friend and he wasn't the only one wearing nappies anymore. Dries decided to just keep playing with the Playmobil and ignore everything else. Having fun and playing with his best friend was what mattered, that was the most important thing.

 

[Pierry Louys]

Awww jasper is loving being the baby of the house ! In this trip I think jasper gonna be treated just like a toddler in every way ! Using a crib , high chair  , stroller and everything a baby needs ! Gonna be so cute 

[Toet]

On 11/23/2023 at 2:47 AM, Pierry Louys said:

Awww jasper is loving being the baby of the house ! In this trip I think jasper gonna be treated just like a toddler in every way ! Using a crib , high chair  , stroller and everything a baby needs ! Gonna be so cute 

I know the answer, but i won't tell it. I don't want to give any spoilers. (And the little inside me is sticking out his tongue now) 😝

Chapter twenty-four

Jasper moved around the house nervously. In one hand he had a list of things to pack, and with the other he carried the things to his bed, where he put everything on. Little by little, the pile on his bed grew bigger and the cupboard emptier. He made two nice piles, one for his rucksack and one for his travel bag.
Helga let Jasper get on with his work in peace. As soon as they were done, they would check to make sure everything was done properly.
After Jasper had put everything on his bed and checked three more times that he had ticked everything off the list and laid it out correctly, he went to fetch Mummy Helga.

"Everything's ready, Mummy," Jasper said as he went to find Helga enjoying the garden.

"I'm coming to see Jasper. Have you got everything you need?"

"Yes, everything is ready. But don't I have to take some sleeping clothes? There were only nappies on the list."

"No, that is not necessary. Kathy is going to bring all of Dries' onesies and bodies that are too small for him, you can have them and there will already be bed linen in the house."

"OK, now I understand," Jasper said. "My shoes are downstairs too."

"You can do that later." Helga took the list from Jasper and went through it again. Jasper had done a great job, he hadn't made any mistakes and the clothes and other things were nicely divided into two piles.
Helga looked at the amount of stuff that was there and handed a travel bag and a rucksack to Jasper.

"Everything should fit in here. If you put it all in the travel bag yourself, you will know where everything is and it will be easier for you to find it when you go on holiday. Put the toys away in your room when you've finished packing; I'm going to go back to the garden and if you need me, you'll know where to find me."

"Okay Mum," Jasper said.

"One more thing. If you want a game or your Nintendo or anything for the road, you can put that in your rucksack too; toys for the holidays are allowed in your travel bag."

Jasper started to fill his rucksack first. He went downstairs to get his Nintendo, some games for the Nintendo, a travel game, the book he was reading and an empty bottle of water to put in his rucksack. He tucked it all in neatly and then put another soft toy on top, along with a small bag containing his toothbrush and toothpaste.
Finally, he put the two sets of clothes into the rucksack and tried to close it. No matter how hard Jasper pushed on the clothes or pulled on the zip, the rucksack wouldn't close.
When Jasper gave up trying to close his rucksack, he decided to move the two sets of clothes from his luggage to the pile. After all, his luggage was going into the car for the trip. He hadn't quite understood from the start why the two sets of clothes had to be in his rucksack.
After zipping up the rucksack without his clothes, Jasper set it aside and continued with his travel bag.

 

Jasper started by gathering his trainers and hiking boots and putting them in the travel bag first. He put his sandals aside for the journey. Then he grabbed another big box of a board game and put it in there too. As he packed his swimming clothes, he realised that he had brought a towel for the pool, but his mum had forgotten to put a towel on the list for washing in the house. Proud that he could think and reason so well on his own, he took out another large towel and put it in the travel bag too. He added an extra cuddly toy, two extra books and even he didn't need to bring any sleeping clothes, he decided to take his new onesie from the previous week. Finally, he piled the clothes on top of the other items in the travel bag. When Jasper saw what a mountain it had become, he sighed deeply. Mum Helga had told him to put everything in the travel bag, but it wasn't possible.
Jasper decided to leave one set of clothes out of the suitcase, he thought he had enough for the week without it and looked at the pile again.
There was still far too much!
Jasper chose between the jumpers, t-shirts, trousers and underwear, and one by one more clothes were taken out of the bag until it could be closed.
Jasper carried the bag and rucksack downstairs and looked at his work with satisfaction. He was all prepared for his holiday.
Jasper returned to his room, looked at the clothes that were still spread out on his bed and therefore not in the suitcase, and decided not to worry about them.
He still had to tidy up his room and reluctantly began this last task. He tucked his sheet neatly over all his clothes, cleared away the Playmobil and made sure there was nothing else lying around on the floor and on his desk.
Jasper wasn't sure what to do when he was done packing and tidying up. Playing and making a mess was no longer allowed and his book or Nintendo were both packed away. After a little encouragement from his mum, he found distraction in helping to cook dinner. That evening, after dinner, Celine and Gert said goodbye to Jasper and wished him a very pleasant journey. Helga put Jasper's luggage in the car and took it to Kathy and Koen.

Jasper found a family in full packing chaos.

 

"Hi Jasper, welcome. Give me your travel bag and I'll put it in the car. I was just about to start loading what was already packed," Koen said after greeting Helga. Jasper's travel bag was loaded first and soon it was partly covered by other luggage that was loaded on top, in front and beside it. Jasper's rucksack was temporarily placed on the back seat to keep it from being buried. Dries' old car seat had been reinstalled in the car for Jasper.
Helga followed Jasper inside to say hello to Kathy, leaving Koen by the car. It was almost more like a game of 3D Tetris than loading, with the added difficulty of getting everything that would be needed during the drive to the resort and the first night in the hotel within easy reach.
Helga and Jasper met Kathy in the kitchen. She was just getting the last of the things ready for the next morning.

"Hi Kathy, good evening. Is everything all right?" Helga asked. As she greeted her, she handed her another envelope with the necessary documents and some pocket money for Jasper.

"We are seriously behind schedule. We forgot a few things and instead of packing this afternoon I had to run to the store," she replied. Meanwhile, Kathy tucked the envelope away in her handbag so as not to forget it.

"Oops, that's less nice. Can I give you a hand? Consider it a thank you for taking Jasper on this trip."

"Yes, please, can you help with the sandwiches and then get Jasper and Dries ready for bed? Their stuff is on their beds."

Helga sat down at the table and helped with the sandwiches. Jasper went to look for Dries and found him and Heleen in a state of great stress. Both were running around with a to-do list of everything that needed to be done. Dries was busy watering all the plants in the house and Heleen went to Koen with the luggage from all over the house to load it into the car.
While Helga sat at the table, she told Kathy that Jasper was looking forward to the trip, but had a lot of nerves. He had fallen out of bed several times in the last few days, so they had even temporarily reinstalled the bed barrier. Jasper hadn't fallen out of bed since the rail was installed, but he complained every morning that he'd woken up several times from the cold because he'd kicked off all the covers in his sleep.

"I have already laid out the safety belt on the spare bed for tonight. I'll have to do my best not to forget it when we leave tonight." Kathy replied.

 

"Write a note or do something to make sure you remember it tonight?" suggested Helga.
Kathy nodded thoughtfully. "Well, if I put the restraint bag somewhere..." she muttered to herself, searching for what would work best.

A little later Helga called to the two boys. "Kathy is still busy getting everything ready, I'll help you get ready for the night. Will you come upstairs?"

Laughing and giggling, the boys followed Helga upstairs. The tension before the holidays was too great for them to calm down.

Helga sent both children to the potty and then to the bathroom to brush their teeth, then helped them one by one into their nappies, bodysuits and a onesie with feet and a zip at the back. "Probably nice and warm for tonight in the car," she commented.

"Yes, dad doesn't want it to be too hot in the car at night because he's afraid he'll fall asleep more easily when he's driving and it's hot in the car." Dries explained.

Helga put the boys in front of the TV so they wouldn't disturb the others with the last preparations. She took the clothes Jasper had worn that day and put them in her own car. Then she went to say goodbye to everyone.
"Kathy, I'm going to take Jasper's soiled clothes home with me so you won't have to worry about them. Enjoy your holiday!"

"Thanks and goodbye, Helga."

Helga said goodbye to Heleen, Koen and Dries and finally came to Jasper. She sat down next to him and gave him another big hug. "I'm going to miss you, my little monkey," she said affectionately, "be good, listen carefully and enjoy yourself."

"I will," Jasper promised. He gave Helga another big hug and several kisses. "I'll miss you too."

 

A little later, later than originally planned, Kathy came over to the two boys. They were both leaning against each other on the sofa, Jasper had his thumb in his mouth. "Jasper, thumb out, and Dries, it's time for bed, are you two coming up?"

The boys obediently followed her upstairs. Heleen, who had heard her mother's last comment, followed her into the boys' room with a small package in her hand. First Dries was tucked in and then it was Jasper's turn. The harness was fastened properly and then Jasper was tucked in.

"Jasper, I've already packed your water bottle for the journey, so I can't give it to you tonight. It will only be a short night. Also, for once, I will not put the key on the bedside table tonight. I'll hang it on my key ring so I won't forget it or lose it somewhere. Good?" Kathy asked.

Jasper nodded yes and automatically put his thumb back in his mouth to ease the tension.

"Jasper, thumb out." Kathy said wearily, having to say it again so soon after the last time.

"I've got a solution, Mum," Heleen said proudly. She pulled the package from behind her back and took out the dummy ribbon and the Star Wars dummy. "Look, this way he won't put his thumb in his mouth anymore."

Jasper's eyes lit up when he recognised the Star Wars ribbon. He loved that ribbon he had seen in the shop! Admittedly, he still didn't understand what it had to do with putting his thumb in his mouth; Heleen held the ribbon out for him to see, but she kept the dummy hidden in her hand.

Heleen fiddled with it and secured the ribbon to Jasper's onesie. "Open your mouth," she commanded Jasper.
Surprised, he opened his mouth; he hadn't noticed the dummy yet. Heleen immediately put the dummy in his mouth. "Now I always want to see it in your mouth instead of your thumb," she said sternly. She meant it as a joke, but Jasper thought she was dead serious; he hadn't recognised the irony. He nodded that it was all right and curiously examined the object in his mouth with his tongue.

"Heleen, go to your room, I'll be right there." Kathy said angrily.
Jasper was shocked. Why was Kathy suddenly angry? Because he had put his thumb in his mouth again? He promised himself that he would do his best to use the object in his mouth and not his thumb.
Kathy wished the boys a good night, switched off the light and went to Heleen's.

Curious, Jasper took the thing out of his mouth. It was too dark to see, but by feeling it with his fingers and mouth, he quickly recognised it as a pacifier.

 

"What's that, Jasper?" asked Dries, who was also curious.

"A dummy, I think. I don't quite understand why?"

"Probably what she said. Everyone is always angry when you put your thumb in your mouth, maybe this will help you get rid of that bad habit?" Dries suggested.

"I'm going to make the best use of it, then," Jasper said.

The two boys continued to whisper about the upcoming trip and holiday. They were looking forward to it. Every time Jasper spoke, he took his dummy out of his mouth; he soon realised that otherwise he was incomprehensible to Dries. As soon as he finished talking, he immediately put the dummy back in his mouth.
After a while, Dries finally fell asleep, but Jasper had a harder time falling asleep. Having the dummy in his mouth was something new, it was a bit like sucking your thumb, but a bit different. The fact that he was stuck in bed, but this time with the key out of reach, made it feel a little different. He knew it wasn't necessary for him to get out of bed, after all he would be woken up in the middle of the night and if there was something really important he could always wake Dries. Jasper tossed and turned for a while, as far as the restraints would allow, and finally fell asleep when it was quiet in the house.

"Heleen, what have you done now?" Kathy hissed angrily at Heleen.
"Just so he doesn't have his thumb in his mouth so much anymore, which is what you always complain about so much," Heleen said, anxious. She didn't quite understand what she had done wrong.

"Yes, if he spends too much time with his thumb in his mouth, his teeth will get misaligned. Holding a dummy in his mouth for a long period of time would only make it worse, not better".

Heleen turned pale when she heard this. She had been following a completely wrong line of thought, she was forced to admit to herself now.

"I thought I was helping," she sobbed, "Jasper looked so happy when he saw the ribbon."

"That's right," Kathy nodded, seeing that Heleen hadn't realised her mistake and hadn't done it on purpose.
"He needs to sleep now, we'll talk to Jasper about this another time."
The last things were packed and laid out and soon the whole family was asleep.

[Toet]

Chapter twenty-five

 

“Tuut-tuut", the alarm went off at three o'clock at night.

"It's way too early." Koen growled.

"We have to, otherwise we won't have a little traffic jam, but much too much, Koen," Kathy urged in a sleepy voice.

The parents got up with a sigh and got dressed. Koen went downstairs to make coffee; he would drive the first part of the journey.
Kathy woke Heleen first, made sure she got up and brought her bag of clothes for today and the hotel. Then she went to see the boys. She was sure that if she had just woken Heleen and left the room, Heleen would have just rolled over and gone back to sleep. She carried Jasper to the car first, using the key to release him from his restraints. She had to do her best to secure Jasper, who was still asleep, in the booster seat, but in the end she had all the straps in place and everything was as tight as it should be.
Kathy then tidied up the restraint kit, put everything in the carry bag and made sure the key was still on her key ring. She then closed the bag and took it to the car. Kathy went back inside and sent Heleen to the car with her pillow, and finally she picked Dries up from the bed and secured him in his car seat as well. She spread blankets over Heleen, Jasper and Dries. Dries had slept through everything, Heleen had settled down to continue sleeping, but Jasper was wide awake now from the sounds and movements of the others.

"Sleep on." Kathy whispered to Jasper. She blew up a pillow for herself and immediately settled back down to sleep in the car.
Koen had been busy in the kitchen with the cool box and then filled a thermos with the fresh coffee he had made.
Twenty minutes after the alarm went off, they were all in the car. Kathy set the GPS and Koen started the car. They were on their way!
After ten minutes of driving, Kathy suddenly sat up straight. "I forgot to lock the door!" Twenty minutes after they had left, they were back at their house. Kathy did a quick round of the house, checking all the lights and doors. She also checked the gas, but in the end she had to admit that turning back hadn't really been necessary.
Just as they left the village, Kathy sat up again in a panic. "The shoes are not with us, we carried the children to the car and then forgot to take their shoes."
Koen pulled the car to the side of the road and together he and Kathy looked around to see if they were indeed missing.
They returned home soon after. Kathy got the children's shoes and went back to the car.

"Think again, Kathy. Is there anything else?"

 

"The coats, in case it rains," Kathy said, pacing back and forth one last time.
Meanwhile, Koen was using his mobile phone to download their own packing list from the home server. When Kathy sat down again, they went through the list again, point by point. They didn't want to go back and forth again.
When they had gone through the whole list, and Kathy had gone to get the camera and checked again that she had locked the door, Koen started the car again. They had been on the road for almost an hour and had not moved a centimetre or an inch. Jasper was still wide awake, and he followed the whole thing in silence.

A little later, on the motorway, Jasper was enjoying the silence. The radio was turned up and playing some nice songs, and there was only the quiet hum of the engine. There was little traffic, so Koen kept the cruise control on as he drove further down the road. There was only the occasional oncoming car, which disturbed the peace by shining its headlights into the car.
As Jasper enjoyed the scenery outside, he noticed that the sky was becoming less dark. He followed the splendour of colour that a rising sun brought with the various shades of purple and pink that coloured the clouds. Jasper enjoyed the changing landscape where towns alternated with villages and fields, forests and farms.
Koen had seen that Jasper was awake, but it was impossible to force someone to sleep. Jasper was quiet and didn't disturb anyone. Koen regularly glanced at Jasper in the rear-view mirror and winked at him. When Jasper saw that, he always winked back.
It wasn't just because Jasper was awake that Koen glanced over from time to time, but also because it was an unusual sight. Jasper sat with his new dummy in his mouth all the time.

As they drove, it got darker for them instead of brighter. It wasn't long before the rain started rattling the car and waking the other passengers. No one would have been able to sleep any longer with that kind of noise.

 

"There is a gas station ten kilometres from here. We'll take a break there, get the kids dressed, have breakfast and then I'll drive for a while," Kathy said to Koen.
Koen nodded that it was all right. He was concentrating on the road ahead; the heavy rain had reduced visibility. The children had heard that they were going to stop and Heleen and Dries started to put on their shoes. With Jasper firmly secured in his booster seat, he couldn't reach the floor of the car where his sandals were.
Ten kilometres down the road and nine minutes later, Koen turned on his blinker and drove off the motorway. It was a large rest area where you could refuel and charge electric cars, two restaurants, a few small shops selling various products and a picnic area inside and outside. After Koen had parked, he and Kathy put on their coats while sitting in the car. Kathy got out and opened Heleen's door to quickly grab an umbrella and open it over the roof of the car.
When Heleen got out, Kathy handed her the umbrella. Heleen went around the car to let Dries out, while Kathy gathered the bags for breakfast and let Jasper and Dries change. Heleen took her own things.
Koen, who had seen that Jasper could not reach his shoes, took Jasper in one arm and his sandals and another umbrella in the other and walked straight to the building so as not to stand in the rain for too long.
When they were all inside, Koen looked for a bench where they could sit and eat freely and prepared all the breakfast items. While Heleen helped Koen, Kathy went into a changing room with Dries and Jasper, who was now wearing his sandals, closed the door behind her and started to get things ready. Dries' clothes were at the top of the bag, so she had them ready to go. When Kathy unzipped Jasper's rucksack she didn't immediately see any clothes. At first she tried to see if she could see them, but as she didn't see them right away, she emptied out the whole of Jasper's rucksack.

"Jasper, where are your clothes?"

"I couldn't fit them in my rucksack, so I put them in the travel bag. Mum told me to put them in my rucksack, but I didn't know that I was going to need them by now, so I put them in the travel bag anyway."

Kathy sighed and looked at Jasper. "Then you will have to have your breakfast in your pyjamas, but we will see about that later on. Is your nappy very wet?"

Jasper nodded. "A bit, I think."

"Did you pee in it a lot or not?"

"I'm not sure. Every time I felt I had to pee, I let it go straight away. I'm not sure if it was much altogether."

 

Kathy rummaged through Dries' bag, where she had packed everything for the night at the hotel, a clean nappy, a onesie and a bodysuit, both for Jasper and Dries, so that she could easily take a nappy here. She would refill the nappies later from the car.
.
"Wait here for a moment," Helga said as she lifted Jasper onto the changing table. "First I'll help Dries out of his onesie, then he can dress himself. Then I'll help you, Jasper." Dries's onesie was unzipped, then Dries undressed himself, took off the nappy, freshened up and put on normal clothes.
Jasper was put on the changing table, his onesie was taken off to his feet, the bodysuit was opened, the dirty nappy was removed and after a bit of freshening up, a clean nappy was put on.
When both boys were completely ready, they headed for Koen and Heleen.

"Jasper has put his clothes for today and tomorrow in his travel bag, can we take them out?" Kathy asked.

Koen looked outside; it was still raining cats and dogs. "Jasper's travel bag is at the bottom of the trunk. If I have to take it out now, I will have to unload most of the rest of the luggage first. It would all get rained on. We'll do it at another stop where it's dry," Koen said.
Kathy nodded and the family started to eat breakfast together. When they had all eaten, they went to the car, with Kathy behind the wheel this time.
Heleen helped Jasper take off his sandals and fasten his seatbelt, and soon the family was on their way again.
Dries put on a film and handed Jasper an extra pair of headphones so he could enjoy it too. Heleen picked up a book to read, but also tried to follow the film that Dries had started.

Two hours later, while they were stuck outside a big city during the morning rush hour, Koen received a panicky phone call from Helga.

"Almost all of Jasper's clothes are still at home on the bed, he hardly has anything with him on the trip!"

Koen was silent for a moment, he didn't know what to say. "What exactly do you mean?" he asked after trying to understand what Helga had just said. "Didn't I put Jasper's suitcase in the car?"

"Yes, but I had just gone into his room to make his bed, and there were many of his clothes hidden under the sheets. I had checked everything he had put out to take with him yesterday, and he had done a good job, but I let him do the packing himself. I was just about to take his sheets off to wash them when I noticed he had left a lot of his clothes here at home. Helga said a little calmer now. "Are you far away? Is it possible for you to turn around and pick up those things?"

"We crossed the border a long time ago; if we turn back now, we'll lose too much time."

 

Koen, Kathy and Helga continued to discuss the matter. Options were discussed. On the way there and back in the car they would leave Jasper in his pyjamas as much as possible. Tomorrow, when they arrived at the cottage, they'd make an inventory of what Jasper had and what he might need. Then Koen and Kathy would go shopping for the missing items. Helga promised to pay back everything that Kathy and Koen had paid for the clothes, and Koen and Kathy promised to keep it as limited and cheap as possible. After all, Jasper had just been given a whole new set of clothes, even more than he actually needed.

Shortly after the phone call, Kathy and Koen made another stop, the car was refueled and the children got out for a while; it had stopped raining by then. Heleen and Dries also used the stop to go to the toilet. This was not necessary for Jasper, no one cared that he used his nappy freely.
There was also a small shop at the petrol station where Kathy bought an extra pack of nappies. With Jasper now using extra nappies on the road, they certainly didn't have enough.
In the car, she immediately opened the pack to put some new nappies in Dries' bag.

Travelling by car is usually a boring journey from point A to point B, and this time it was no different. One film later, they arrived at the next stop; this time it was time for lunch.

 

Koen had driven the last part again, but he was tired from the short night. He drove the car to a quieter part of the car park and the family sat down on a bench and had a small picnic. By now they had left the rain showers and clouds behind and were enjoying the sunshine. You could tell they were heading south; it was already much warmer than back home. From the car park they could see that the traffic on the motorway was at a standstill, so they preferred to stay in the car park where they could walk around rather than all be stuck in the car on the road in the heavy traffic.
After everyone had eaten and drunk, a blanket was placed on the ground in the shade of a tree for Koen and Jasper, who had both had too little sleep, to rest on.
Before Jasper could sleep, his nappy had to be changed. No one was around at the time, so it was done quickly on the blanket outside. The onesie came off, the bodysuit opened, the nappy changed quickly and the bodysuit closed again. He was already quite warm and a blanket was quickly put over him so he didn't have to put the onesie back on.
Kathy started to read a book now that she finally had some time, while Heleen and Dries joined another family playing football a little further down the field. They didn't feel like sitting still after the long drive.
Kathy glanced at Jasper occasionally; he looked so cute, sleeping in just a bodysuit and nappy with a dummy in his mouth. She knew she had to talk to Jasper about the dummy, but she decided to put it off for a while. Apparently he needed it so badly that he had it in his mouth.
Koen didn't sleep for long; he got up after twenty minutes, but the sleep had done him a lot of good. He felt much fitter and sat down next to Kathy to read as well. Not much later they saw that the traffic jam was beginning to clear and they decided to continue their journey.
The stuff was tidied up as best they could, Dries and Heleen were called back and eventually only Jasper was still sleeping outside.
Kathy carefully removed the blanket Jasper was lying under and then Koen picked him up to put him in the car. He managed to do this without waking Jasper, and he put the seatbelt back on so that Jasper was fully secured in the car. The last blanket Jasper had been lying on was folded and put away, and the family got into the car.
Kathy and Koen were happy that Jasper was asleep, they had been worried that they would have a difficult evening due to Jasper's lack of sleep, but were now reassured that things would get better. Dries and Heleen watched a film together as they continued towards the south of France.

There was one last stop in the afternoon. Jasper got his onesie back on after a nappy change, while Heleen and Dries went to the toilet. Heleen complained afterwards that she was disappointed by the dirty, smelly French public toilets where you have to squat down and there is nowhere to sit and Jasper was glad to have an alternative solution.
They continued their journey and arrived at the hotel around dinner time. Heleen and Dries were still wearing their shoes from the previous stops, Jasper was just in his onesie and not wearing any sandals. So as not to get the feet of the onesie dirty, Koen carried him on his hip and so the family came together at the reception desk to check in.

"Il ya un problème monsieur," said the hotel clerk as he looked at the booking.
Koen looked surprised, he didn't understand what a problem could be.
The clerk turned his screen so that Koen and Kathy could follow. He pointed out that only four people had been booked and that Jasper was not one of the guests.
Koen went pale when he saw that. He remembered that he had copied the reservation from the previous year and that he hadn't thought about the fact that he would have to put Jasper on it as well.
Koen asked if they couldn't get a room for five instead. The hotel clerk called the manager and together they looked at possible solutions. They checked the rooms in the system, but they were all fully booked. There was no room available.
The hotel manager took a closer look at the family. Koen, Kathy, Heleen and Dries all stood there with their clothes on. The contrast between Dries and Jasper, who was being carried by Koen and was wearing a onesie with feet, sitting with a dummy in his mouth and resting his head on Koen's shoulder, was enormous.
The manager didn't have to think long about another solution. They decided to add a bed to the room for Jasper. Normally that wasn't allowed because of the fire regulations, but he was going to ignore that just in time.
Koen had to pay a little extra for the extra meal and the extra person staying overnight, and the reservation for the return trip was immediately changed by the first receptionist.
Together they went to the hotel restaurant and enjoyed a small meal. After dinner, they collected their luggage for the night from the car and went to find their room.
On entering, they immediately saw the fifth bed for Jasper. It was a folding cot! There was gauze around it and a thin mattress inside.
It had been a tiring day for Jasper; he really didn't feel like it and he started to act difficult.

 

"I don't want to sleep in this," he said with tears in his eyes. "I'm not a baby!"

For Jasper, it was as if they had put him in that place on purpose, just to have a laugh with him.

Kathy recognised Jasper's tiredness and quickly understood that this was the big problem. She took Jasper on her lap and comforted him: "Jasper, I understand that you don't feel like this, but we need a solution for tonight. We really can't start looking for another hotel that can accommodate five, and this hotel is already paid for."

"But I'm not a baby!" Jasper sobbed through his tears.

Kathy rubbed his back soothingly, took the dummy hanging from the ribbon of his onesie and put it in Jasper's mouth. "We don't see you like that at all, don't we, Jasper?"

Jasper nodded yes, it was hard to talk with a dummy in his mouth.

"Now, if you lie down in our big bed until you fall asleep, and when we go to sleep too, we'll move you to the small bed. Is that OK?"

Jasper nodded in agreement. Koen and Heleen immediately went to work getting everything ready for the night and the next morning. Kathy held Jasper on her lap until he had calmed down completely and peace had returned. Dries was also getting ready to go to sleep. You could tell he was tired too.
Koen tried attaching the fixation set to the double bed, but it did not work very well. After consulting with Jasper and Heleen, he attached it temporarily to Heleen's bed so that Jasper would fall asleep there instead of on the big bed.
When everything was done, Dries and Jasper were put to bed. Heleen and Kathy read a book outdoors on the terrace and Koen quickly checked his work emails and answered the three most important ones.
A short time later Jasper was asleep. Koen loosened the straps, put Jasper in the cot, tucked him in and removed the fixation kit so that Heleen could also go to sleep.

[Little_Mouse]

Thanks for the latest 5 chapters. I love to read this cute story about Jaspers regression adventure into baby hood 👍🥰

[Pierry Louys]

This story is getting better every chapter I like the way you are regressing jasper with plausible causes ! Like he gonna get toddlers clothes  since is the only option to buy ! Or he using a cot since he is small to fit 

 

[BBQ]

Hey Toet,

I would like to enjoy a new chapter.

If you have time to make one👉🏻👈🏻

[Toet]

9 hours ago, BBQ said:

Hey Toet,

I would like to enjoy a new chapter.

If you have time to make one👉🏻👈🏻

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in the story. I already have a few chapters ready, but I recently started publishing it on another website (https://forums.thescriptorium.casa) and I am waiting to continue publishing here until I have reached the same level there as here.

I see you are from the Netherlands. The whole story (already finished) can be read in Dutch on the website abdlz.nl.
Here I only post a translation, but it has surprised me a lot how much time it takes to translate it, despite tools like google translate and Deepl.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[007specialk]

You have done a great job I hear you ...yes you put a lot of work into the story.... It is a really great story hope you find the time I understand things come up in life. Thank you for sharing

[Toet]

Hello,

I think I will post the next chapter late next week or early the week after.
To support a new forum (https://forums.thescriptorium.casa/d/viewtopic.php?t=29), I will post the next chapter there first and then post it here later.
I'll announce it here when it's done.

I don't want to count all the hours I've already put into the story, but I'm sure it's a lot.

Best wishes,
Toet

[Toet]

Hello,

I have finished the next chapter and will post it here in a few days. However, if you can't wait and would like to read it now, you can read it after registering at: the scriptorium (https://forums.thescriptorium.casa/d/viewtopic.php?t=29)

sweet greetings from Toet

[Toet]

Chapter twenty-six

Dries woke up in the morning to find his mother busy in the room. In the twilight he could easily see that she was preparing clothes and other things for the day ahead; she had already taken off her own pyjamas and was wearing normal clothes. Dries heard the sound of water from a shower in the bathroom. He saw that Heleen and Jasper were still asleep, so he guessed correctly that his father was washing himself.

"Just lie back until dad finishes washing," Kathy whispered to Dries when she saw him sitting up. "Then you can take a shower afterwards."

Dries nodded and lay back down. From his bed he could easily see Jasper rolling over in his sleep. The dummy was no longer in his mouth, but lying on the pillow next to him, still attached to the strap on his onesie. Dries also saw that Jasper had kicked off the blanket again and it was lying at his feet. With the air conditioning in the room, it was not too hot and Dries was glad to have the blanket over him.
The bathroom door opened and a narrow band of light fell over Jasper. It seemed to be the last thing he needed to wake up, because Dries saw him open his eyes.
Jasper looked around sleepily, pulled the blanket back over him and put the dummy in his mouth. Jasper looked at Koen who came out of the bathroom dressed but with wet hair.

"Come on Dries, it's your turn," Kathy said quietly, not wanting to awaken Heleen.

Kathy took Dries to the bathroom, helped him get out of his pyjamas and left him to do his own thing in the shower. When Dries had started to wash himself, she came carefully over to Jasper. "Are you ready to start a new day?" she asked him.

Jasper nodded yes. Kathy lifted Jasper out of bed. She took him to the bathroom as well. She took the dummy off the onesie and set it aside for a moment. Then she helped him out of his pyjamas and sent him into the shower with Dries, who was busy washing himself.
Kathy had laid out three piles of clothes for the children on the bed. Heleen's underwear, skirt and top, Dries' underpants, t-shirt and shorts, and Jasper's clean nappy, romper and onesie. She completed the pile for Jasper by adding his pacifier to it. 'I'll have a chat with Jasper tonight or tomorrow about how this is bad for his teeth,' she thought to herself. 'Another day or so wouldn't do any harm.'

When first Dries and then Jasper came out of the bathroom, washed and dried, but with a towel wrapped around them for warmth, Koen woke Heleen too.

"Good morning, sweetheart, time to get up," he said, shaking her gently by the shoulder.

In response, a murmur that sounded like "Good morning" came from under the blanket where Heleen lay. In the meantime, Kathy had opened the curtains and let the light of day flood into the room. She handed Heleen the pile of clothes she had laid out for her and ushered her into the bathroom.

 

"When you've finished washing, we'll have breakfast, then we'll collect our things and then we'll continue our journey." This message from Kathy motivated Heleen enough not to linger. She, too, got ready at a gentle but steady pace.
Koen took Jasper with him. "We've prepared a clean nappy, bodysuit and onesie for you, because we can't get to your clothes in the car. Once we've unpacked everything at the resort, we'll see what you have and don't have with you, and then we can change you into normal clothes. Lie down here and I'll put the nappy on you.
Jasper lay down on the bed and Koen helped him get dressed: nappy on, bodysuit and onesie on. This onesie had no feet and the zip was right at the front. There were drawings of racing cars all over the onesie.
Finally, Koen attached the dummy to the onesie and left it hanging down.
Kathy continued to clear up the room, put all the dirty clothes from the previous day in a bag and packed all their things together so they could leave quickly after breakfast.

Jasper and Dries waited impatiently at the door, but Heleen still had a bit of work to do. When she came out of the bathroom they were happy because they thought they could leave immediately, but Heleen had to brush her hair first. Kathy took the time to put a braid in Heleen's hair and at last she was ready to go for the day as well.
Together the family walked through the corridors of the hotel to the elevators and then to the restaurant.
They had to wait next to the entrance to the restaurant for a while before they were allowed to take their seats. The waiter at the counter verified their name and room number, then pointed them to an available table.
Jasper had noticed that he was getting a lot of attention from strangers on his way to the restaurant. He was smiled at a lot, patted on the head a few times, and Koen and Kathy were approached to tell them how cute and beautiful he was.
It was all positive attention and Jasper enjoyed it. He was also the smallest at home, but Gert looked down on him there; here it was the other way round. Dries also found it all very nice. The fact that everyone looked at Jasper in such a positive way made him feel proud. It was his best friend, after all, and if he and Jasper hadn't been friends, Jasper would never have been able to experience this.

 

Breakfast was a big buffet where they could take what they wanted and as much as they wanted. Kathy and Koen watched them closely to make sure they didn't go overboard with what they ate. After all, they were still allowed to have some more if they wanted to. They didn't want the children to waste the food by bringing back more than they could eat and having to throw it away in the end.
During breakfast, Jasper released small amounts of urine. He'd be wearing a nappy all day anyway, so he didn't bother to hold it in. As soon as he felt the urge, he relaxed immediately.
After everyone had eaten, they went back to their rooms. They all brushed their teeth, went to the toilet in preparation for the next long car ride and Jasper also sat on the toilet for number two.
When Jasper was finished, Kathy refreshed his bottom and put a clean nappy on him.
Kathy packed Jasper's rucksack with wipes and four fresh nappies so that they would be easily accessible if Jasper needed another change on the road.
Heleen helped Jasper into the car seat and secured it, Jasper took his cuddly toy from his rucksack and relaxed for the next part of the drive.
In the car, the children decided to play some games together before putting on a movie.

It was warm and summery weather in France, the sun was shining hard and the temperature difference from home was considerable. At a big stop in the afternoon, everyone went to the bathroom first of all. Jasper also had his nappy changed; there was a separate changing room where Kathy could freshen Jasper up. Because of the heat, Dries decided to take off his T-shirt and just walk around with his shorts on and have a picnic bare-chested. Jasper didn't know what to do. The onesie and bodysuit together were two layers and still a bit warm to walk around in, but taking his onesie off and walking around in just a bodysuit and nappy felt uncomfortable.
He decided to compromise at the table: he opened the onesie and pulled it down to his waist. He tied the sleeves of the onesie around his waist so that they hung at that height. Happy with this solution, he enjoyed the picnic while sitting at the table with the rest of the family.
After dinner, Koen, Dries and Heleen played a game of tag around the table while Kathy tidied up. Jasper didn't want to play because it was too hot to put his onesie back on, but he also didn't want to run around with his onesie tied around his waist: it wouldn't work very well, he thought. He didn't want to play with just his romper, because he was ashamed of it.
He watched the game with fascination and laughed at everything that happened. He really enjoyed the game and when Heleen hid next to Jasper and then sprinted away from Koen, Jasper also ducked out of the way.
Kathy could see that Jasper was in the mood, but needed a bit of a push to play along. The legs of the onesie were wide enough to stretch over the sandals and Kathy pulled them off in no time.

 

"Watch out, Dries is coming." Kathy whispered in his ear as she finished. That was enough for Jasper to run away screaming and join the game. Half an hour later, after everyone was physically exhausted, Kathy called out to everyone that it was time to continue the journey. Everyone sat down in their seats, with Jasper being strapped back in by Heleen. Kathy had removed the binky from the onesie and attached it to Jasper's bodysuit. "That can wait until tomorrow, talking to him about his dummy," she thought as she put the dummy in Jasper's mouth and he began to suck eagerly.
Kathy was moved by the sight of Jasper.

Late in the afternoon, Koen pulled off the motorway and into the driveway of the resort. "Just sit in the car for a while and I'll check in and get the key from our house," he said, stopping the engine after parking in the car lot. Koen headed to the reception to arrange everything.
A short time later he came back to the car, "They have a new system since last year: we all have to register in person and we get a wristband for the whole time we are here to prove that we have a reservation.
Jasper got out and looked around curiously, trying to see as much as he could. Kathy helped him quickly put on his onesie by the side of the car. While Kathy was busy, a few people passed by. Jasper felt a little embarrassed and nervous about how people would see him now that he was being treated like this. He noticed that they looked in his direction for a moment, but no longer than usual; they looked but did not really see him.
When Jasper realised that he wasn't standing out, he calmed down and let Kathy help him so that they could all go to the reception together.
It didn't take long at reception. The booking was checked and verified, they were given a key to the holiday cottage and a small information leaflet. The cottage and some of the facilities on the resort were marked on a map and finally everyone was provided with a cloth band around their wrist. For Koen and Kathy this was a blue belt, Heleen was considered a teenager and got a green belt, Jasper and Dries got a red belt as children, each with the name of the holiday resort on it.

They all got back in the car and drove slowly through the domain looking for the cottage. They followed the arrows and looked at the map to see where they were. After passing the swimming pool and a playground, they arrived at the house.
Koen parked in front of the entrance and the children happily looked up at the house.

 

"Is this our cottage, daddy?" exclaimed Dries enthusiastically. Everyone got out. Before Koen had even opened the door to the house, Dries and Jasper had already had a go on the slide from the terrace to the street. Brilliant!
Dries and Jasper ran to the door as soon as they saw that Koen had opened it. Together the family walked around the house to see everything. Beyond the front door was a small hall leading to the living room, a toilet and a bathroom. The children looked around the house with their eyes wide open. They immediately realised that this house was equipped with everything they needed for a fantastic and adventurous holiday.

In the bathroom, the decoration was wonderful. The frames around the mirrors resembled a ship's porthole, there were lifelike fish and aquatic plants all around the bath, and the wall by the door looked exactly like the inside of a submarine. They could hang their towels over the pipes to dry, and there was even a periscope. Dries looked through it first, then Jasper, and finally Heleen wanted to know what there was to see. Through the periscope they saw an island in the distance with a pirate's nest, snow-white beaches, palm trees and a smoking volcano.
The living room and kitchen were decorated to look like a medieval inn and pub, and a beautiful extractor hood was made over the stove. They later discovered that even the cutlery had extra decoration.
The next door they opened led to Koen and Kathy's bedroom. It was not richly decorated, but it was nevertheless stylish.
It didn't appeal to the children very much and they continued to explore.
The next room had two single beds facing each other. Between the beds was a ladder leading up to a small platform. There was also a fireman's pole in the room, through which you could slide back down. Jasper had climbed halfway up before Koen called him back.

"First we'll have a look at the last room, then we'll get everything out of the car and then you can climb up and play."

With his head bowed and his shoulders slumped, Jasper went back down.
Dries was already in the last room.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. Here was another single bed against the wall, completely converted into a ship. There was a small mattress deep in the bottom of the ship. Heleen would no longer fit in the bed, Dries just barely and Jasper easily. The walls all around were quite high, so there was a door in the side of the hull that turned outwards and was simply locked with a bolt on the outside.

 

"I want to sleep in that bed!" said both Jasper and Dries at about the same time.

Koen and Kathy took another good look; this had to be the junior bed they had read about on the website. It looked like it was 1m40, 55 inches long.
While Jasper and Dries continued to admire the bed, Koen and Kathy looked around the room. There was a large changing table against the other wall, and a climbing net had been made on a platform above it. It almost looked like the ropes led to the crow's nest of a pirate ship.
Jasper and Dries argued for a while and then looked at their parents.

"We both want to sleep in this room." Dries asked his parents for help in resolving this disagreement.

"How about we move the changing table to the other room and put a bed here?" Koen suggested. Also with the idea that Heleen would then have a room of her own in which to sleep, so that if she needed to have a rest or a private moment, she could easily find it.

"Then you and Jasper can take turns sleeping in the ship and in the regular bed." Kathy added.

"Can I sleep in the ship first, Mommy-?" asked Dries immediately.

Jasper looked a little dejected, he couldn't get a word in.

"No Dries, Jasper is our guest, he goes first, you can go tomorrow."

 

Jasper's smile betrayed how he felt about it.
Everyone thought it was a good idea, except Dries, who had wanted to sleep in the ship first, but he understood that a compromise had to be made, so the rooms were quickly divided up. First the bed and changing table were swapped and then the car was emptied. It seemed that the bed and changing table were made to be moved easily, as there were wheels at the bottom of the bed and changing table.
Heleen, Jasper and Dries unloaded everything and carried it to the cottage. Heleen did the heaviest pieces and Jasper and Dries did the smaller or lighter things. Sometimes they opened sacks or bags to carry in the heavy items one by one.
Koen brought everything from the terrace into the room where the luggage belonged and Kathy sorted everything into the cupboards.

Kathy let out a sigh when she saw Jasper's bag appear. She left it closed for a while, suspecting it would be disastrous, so she put it off until she was done with everything else.
Once the car was completely emptied, Jasper and Dries did a more thorough search of the house. After crawling onto a platform in one room, they noticed that there was a small sliding door leading directly to the platform in the other room, and a second sliding door leading through a crawl space in the living room to the other children's room. The living room also had a platform with a dome above it. If they stuck their heads through, they could see across the park to the other houses. The children's imaginations were stimulated by the many possibilities, and soon they were involved in a game while exploring.
Heleen, meanwhile, had begun to unpack her own things. The boys passed through her room, climbing up and down the platforms, but they didn't disturb Heleen.
She quietly took her time to arrange everything nicely, making sure it felt like home.
While Kathy put the nappies away in Heleen's room - after all, the changing table had been moved there - she called Jasper over.

"It's time to get you a dry bottom."

Jasper walked up, sweating, and stood curiously by the changing table. It was made of scaffolding wood. It had an open shelf in the middle and a door on each side. He had seen a changing table in other places, but not one as large as this one. It was not particularly wide or high, but it was long enough to fit two changing mats in a row.
Kathy took Jasper and laid him on the table. She untied the dummy strap and put it and the pacifier to one side.

 

"Take it off for a while. You've had it on for a long time." She unzipped the onesie and helped him out completely.

"I haven't been able to check what and how many clothes you have with you yet, I'll do that next, so just to be sure, until I see what you have with you, I'll keep you in your onesie for a while. Good?"

"Yes, that's fine," Jasper replied as he looked around the room. The changing ritual continued quietly and after closing the romper, she lifted Jasper off the dresser. Jasper was still sweating from playing and running around and with the onesie on he would be too hot again.

"Thank you ma'am." Jasper said as he ran off.

"Wait a minute," Kathy said, but Jasper hadn't heard her again. Kathy let him go and decided to start with Jasper's luggage now. She went to Jasper and Dries' room and unzipped the travel bag.
Piece by piece she took the clothes out of the bag and sorted them into a cupboard. She quickly got to the other things like the towels, the bathing suit, the shoes and the games.
Now she understood why Jasper had brought so few clothes; he had just brought far too much other stuff.
She looked at the clothes and tried to make combinations in her mind. There was only enough clothes for five days, except for the underpants, of which there were only three. Knowing Jasper, all his clothes usually had to be washed after a full day's play-time.

While Kathy tidied up and put away the last of the leftovers, Koen went to reception with two questions. Where is the launderette and where can I buy clothes in a hurry?
The receptionist laughed at Koen's story. Helpfully, the receptionist took out a folder and a map to look at the different options. There were a few shops in the immediate vicinity of the resort, but almost all of them were expensive designer stores. A cheaper option was the market tomorrow morning, which sold a lot of clothes. Gratefully, Koen also inquired about the possibility of washing clothes on site. Unfortunately this was not available, the lauderette was temporarily closed due to a problem with the water drainage, but as compensation Koen was offered a voucher for a free meal with the family in the restaurant.
After Koen returned from the reception, they rested for a while before it was time to eat. Kathy thought it was a pity that the launderette was closed, which made it a bit harder for Jasper to manage with his lack of clothes, but she was happy with the voucher for the restaurant. As she didn't know what kind of clothes they would find tomorrow, she let him spend the rest of the day in his onesie and nappy.

 

Koen and Kathy enjoyed going to the restaurant and not having to cook tonight. It had been a busy day, travelling and unpacking together. Helga put Jasper back in his onesie and the family went to the restaurant together. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet style restaurant. On entering, the voucher was accepted, the wristbands checked and the family were allocated a table, then they all sat down and filled their plates with delight and ate until they were empty.

The meal took its time. When the family returned to the house, the five of them played a board game, then it was time for Dries and Jasper to go to bed. Jasper was thrilled at the idea of sleeping on the boat. Dries was jealous, but he was promised it would be his turn the following night.
Dries undressed on his own and then went to Heleen's room where the changing table was. Kathy was already there with Jasper to change his nappy. Kathy finished by reattaching the dummy to his onesie.
After both boys had brushed their teeth, Koen put them to bed.
"Dries, Jasper will sleep in the boat tonight, but tomorrow you will change beds and you can sleep in the boat too, OK?"
Dries nodded, he was happy with this solution so that they could both enjoy the special bed.
Koen opened the edge of the bed with the bolt and let Jasper in. After wishing Jasper good night and tucking him in, Koen closed the door, locked the bolt and handed him the bottle of water. Jasper took a quick sip and put it down next to his pillow.
As soon as Koen was out of the room, Jasper got up to explore his bed again. He ran his hands around the outside of the bed, feeling for the latch until he found it. Jasper slid it open and closed it himself. Reassured that he wasn't really locked up, he flattered himself and fell asleep, hopefully dreaming of great adventures.

Koen sat down in the living room next to Kathy, who was quietly reading a book.

"I'm so glad the kids don't have a problem with the bed in their room. The cot was a problem in the hotel and here they almost fight over it."

"The decoration does a lot," Kathy replied with a big smile, "if it had been an ordinary bar bed, easily recognisable as a children's bed, it would have been a big problem."

Heleen, Kathy and Koen all went to see Dries and Jasper before going to bed themselves. They took turns looking down at Dries and Jasper, who was fast asleep with his dummy in his mouth. They tucked Jasper in separately, but there was no stopping him from waking up in the middle of the night by tossing and turning naked. It had cooled down considerably during the night and the cottage was not sufficiently isolated to keep out the cold.

 

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Cant't wait a copple of days for the next part? Chapter 27 can be found on the scriptorium website after a (free) registration. (Link )

 

 

 

On 3/14/2024 at 1:34 AM, 007specialk said:

You have done a great job I hear you ...yes you put a lot of work into the story.... It is a really great story hope you find the time I understand things come up in life. Thank you for sharing

Thanks for your comment. I Hope youcan also enjoy the next chapters.

[Toet]

Chapter twenty-seven, to the market

Heleen woke up early and tiptoed into the boys' room. They were still fast asleep. She quietly took a picture of the boys sleeping; she thought they were so cute and wanted to save the moment for later. When she tucked Jasper back in, he looked at her sleepily.

"Thank you," he mumbled, half asleep, pulling the blanket tightly around him before closing his eyes again.

"Please," Heleen whispered back, leaving Jasper and Dries to wake up on their own.

Heleen sat down in the living room and continued reading her book. She enjoyed the peace that still reigned there.
Half an hour later, Koen joined her in the living room. He made coffee for himself and Kathy and then sat down next to Heleen with his own book.
Shortly afterwards, Jasper, Dries and Kathy came out of their room almost at the same time. Kathy saw that the boys were not yet busy and had just come out of their room.

"Jasper and Dries, are you coming? We're going to take these wet nappies off first and then we're going to eat."

Dries and Jasper nodded sleepily that it was okay and followed Kathy into Heleen's room to get out of their wet nappies.
Koen got up and put breakfast on the table so that they could all eat when Jasper and Dries had freshened up.
Not long after, Jasper and then Dries, still in their onesies but both with clean bottoms and no nappies, sat down at the table.
Heleen joined them, and after Kathy had thrown the dirty nappies into a bin outside the door, she too sat down at the table. They all enjoyed breakfast and made plans for the day ahead.
First on the list was a trip to the market to buy some clothes for Jasper. Then they would go shopping so they would have fresh food for the next few days. The rest of the day could be spent at the swimming pool or playground. It was not intended to be a busy holiday.
When the children had finished eating, they got up from the table to play a little while Koen and Kathy enjoyed the rest of the coffee.

 

Not long after that, the family got ready to go out, everyone washed and Jasper put on normal clothes for the first time since they had left home, Kathy had chosen and laid out everything for Dries and Jasper.
One of the items Jasper had brought from home was a pair of dungarees. Jasper had dressed himself, but he still struggled with the bib overalls. He was unfamiliar with the buckle system used to fasten the dungarees and Kathy had to demonstrate how it worked. Jasper then tried it himself and after practising for a while he was able to open and close the buckles smoothly.

 

It felt a little strange for Jasper to be in his normal clothes, without the thicker package between his legs. He kind of missed it. His dummy had also been left on the changing table.
Everyone got into the car and Heleen helped Jasper into his seat. They drove for fifteen minutes until they reached the market. Kathy parked the car and they all got out. They walked from the car park to the market. Koen and Kathy decided to do a little reconnaissance and the family walked around the flea market for the first time to see which stalls were there. They found several stalls selling clothes, but only three of them had children's clothes.
They chose the largest of the three, hoping that they would find enough clothes. There were several racks of children's clothes. The clothes were sorted by price. There were two racks with all the clothes for ten euros each, and other racks where the price went up. All the clothes were hanging on the racks. There was no distinction between boys' and girls' clothes, or between big and small. So each item had to be looked at individually to see if it was suitable and what size it was. Kathy and Heleen began to search the two racks diligently, while Jasper stood by and was occasionally asked for his opinion.
Koen and Dries continued to search the market for new underwear for Jasper, which they had not seen anywhere.
After a long search, Koen found some underwear in the right size, but he had his doubts. The underwear was new and cost thirty euros for a pack of three. It seemed rather expensive compared to the rest of the clothes Kathy and Heleen were looking for. He decided to wait a while and check with Kathy before buying the underwear. Maybe they could look somewhere else. He and Dries went back to the others.
Kathy and Heleen were holding a few items. They had found two pairs of trousers, a T-shirt and two jumpsuits that met their needs. There was a good fit and they were cheap. They were both shorts, one yellow with an aeroplane print and the other blue jeans with a large application of Bliksem Mc Queen from Cars. The T-shirt had a large drawing of a bee with the words 'Bee yourself' underneath. The two jumpsuits were actually girls' clothes, but just decent enough for a boy. Both had short sleeves, long legs and buttons at the front to open and close. One had an army print all over the jumpsuit, the other had a cool drawing of Peter Pan with the Tinker Bell and the words 'believe in magic'.
Jasper mainly saw the army print and was therefore distracted from looking closely at the model.

 

"Jasper, do you like those jumpsuits?" Kathy asked.

"The army print looks cool." Jasper smiled. "I think I like it."

Kathy paid for everything and they went to the second children's clothes stall together, but found nothing there, and in the last stall there was just a big basket of clothes to rummage through. Kathy and Heleen went through the basket together to see what was in it. Soon Kathy was holding another pair of trousers that would fit Jasper, but were of mediocre quality. Heleen's eye fell on a plain dark blue garment, but she could not immediately tell what it was. She pulled it out of the basket and held it in front of her, it turned out to be some sort of large sleeping bag. There was a zip in the middle of the sleeping bag, closing from top to bottom, and three holes at the top, one for the head and one for each arm. Heleen immediately thought of the practical application.

"With this sleeping bag, Jasper wouldn't be able to toss and turn naked in bed," she said.

Jasper also took a good look at the sleeping bag. "But look, there's a hole here below the middle and on the other side too, it's damaged," he said in a disappointed voice after looking closely at everything.
Kathy took the sleeping bag from Heleen to have a closer look. There were indeed two holes in it, but they were not accidental as the edges had been well reinforced and sewn over. It had been done afterwards. She held the sleeping bag in front of her and saw that the two holes were directly opposite each other in the front and back. She then held it up to Jasper to compare the size. She saw that the two holes were about the height of his crotch and that the end of the sleeping bag was about six inches past his feet.
Kathy checked the label and saw that the sleeping bag was from Snuglezzz.nl, she knew the company from her work and they were in fact of good quality.

"I don't think you'll notice much of these holes, Jasper. I'll ask about the price and if it's not too much, we can try it."

She turned to the seller and tried to get the price of the trousers first and then the sleeping bag.

"The trousers cost twenty-five euros and the sleeping bag ten euros," the salesman began.
But Koen realised that the seller was counting on rich tourists and was actually overcharging. Koen pointed out the holes in the sleeping bag and that it had been lying at the bottom of the basket because no one was interested in it. Koen also pointed out the quality of the trousers.
The seller soon realised that there was no extra profit to be made. He dropped the price to ten euros for the trousers and added the sleeping bag for five euros because of the holes.
Satisfied, the family returned to the car and drove on to the supermarket.

 

Besides food, they also looked for underpants for Jasper, but they were even more expensive than at the market, thirteen euros each.

"Doesn't Dries have some underpants that Jasper could fit into?" asked Koen.

Kathy did not shake her head. "I packed a spare pair for Dries, but it's not enough, and we've already tried it once at home, it didn't work, they were too big."

"Then we'll have to buy them anyway. How many does he have already in his luggage?"

"He only has two clean pairs of underpants left after today." Kathy said.

"Then we will have to do a lot of buying. He did the math in his head on how many more would be needed before they were back home and was amazed at the amount.

"That's really going to be quite some."

Jasper stood by, feeling guilty about his luggage. Helga and Celine had agreed to pay back all the clothes they'd bought for him, so he was charging his parents for extra expenses that wouldn't have been necessary if he'd packed better.

Do nappies cost that much? Otherwise I'll wear them," he said. It was out sooner than he had thought. He had suggested it himself, but had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, he liked them, but on the other, he was a bit embarrassed to walk around with a nappy on. He was afraid people would see it and what they would think of him.
Koen saw Jasper cover his face when he made this suggestion.

"That would make a big difference, Jasper, but are you sure? You have such a downcast look on your face."

Jasper's eyes turned red and it was clear that he was having a hard time. He put his thumb in his mouth to try and find some comfort.

"Is it a bit much all at once?" asked Kathy, dropping to one knee so that her face was at the same level as Jasper's. She picked Jasper up and hugged him. "Lots of pros and cons to think about?" she whispered into Jasper's ear.

Jasper nodded with flushed cheeks and tears in his eyes. "Yes," he whispered into Kathy's ear.

 

Kathy waited silently to give Jasper a chance to continue.

"It feels nice to wear, but it's not right, it's not normal. And what if someone else sees me like this, how will they react? Even though I'm not a baby, others will get the impression and say I am. "

A single tear ran a damp line down his cheek.

"I forgot to pack the clothes and now we had to go to the market especially for me and that's why you couldn't do anything fun and now my mummies have to spend so much extra money on clothes that aren't necessary because we went shopping at the beginning of the holiday."
"It's all my fault!"

Kathy had to do her best to catch everything between Jasper's sobs. Comfortingly, she gave him a long hug. She understood that this was all a bit much for him.

"It's all right, Jasper. You don't have to be afraid of the people around you, they won't notice. And even if they did, you'll never see them again," Kathy said calmly. "There won't be anyone at home who will know about any of this." She hoped to comfort and reassure Jasper quickly.

"I want to be a big boy and take responsibility for forgetting my underpants. I can't afford to buy anything myself, but I can do my best to make it cost as little as possible by wearing nappies instead of underpants, but with nappies on I'm not a big boy anymore, am I?"

"These are indeed two different sides of the same coin. I can see how you're struggling with this. But I also understand that it feels good to be wearing nappies somewhere? You shouldn't think about reactions and what's done is done. Nobody expects you to be perfect. You really don't need to feel guilty.

"To take responsibility for something is an act of maturity, it is not something that babies do."

Jasper fell silent and continued to seek comfort in Kathy's arms with his thumb in his mouth.

"I'll make a deal with you, Jasper," Kathy finished a moment later. "We'll buy a pack of nappies, so we'll have enough for this week anyway. Tomorrow morning you can choose what you want to do. If you put a nappy on, that's fine, if you don't, that's fine too. Tomorrow we will go back to the shop to buy extra underpants if you need them, because you have chosen them. It is okay if we have too many nappies; we will just take them home and then Dries can use them for the night".

"And if you want to change your mind in the middle of the holiday, that's fine too."

Jasper nodded, relieved that he still had some time to think and didn't have to decide right away. The tears quickly dried up and Heleen and Dries, seeing that Jasper had had a hard time, gave him another hug. Jasper soon felt much better.
Dries took Jasper's hand and together they hopped ahead of the supermarket cart towards the checkouts.

 

Not much happened in the afternoon. The family unloaded their groceries at the holiday home, cooked and ate, and Jasper and Dries went to the playground. They could go on their own because the playground was not far from the holiday home. They enjoyed the adventures they had together.
Heleen played a game of chess against her father while Kathy read a book. When it was time for dinner, Kathy went to look for the boys. On the way she saw an information board with all the activities the animation team had organised for the next few days. She took a picture of it and decided to show it to the children in case they wanted to do some of the activities.
After dinner, the children played a game of Monopoly together until it was time to go to bed. Jasper ended up with the two most expensive streets, each with a hotel, and won the game of Monopoly. With a big smile on his face, he thanked everyone for the fun game. Kathy was happy that, despite his doubts in the shop, Jasper's day had gone well and could end on a positive note.

Jasper was given a clean nappy, bodysuit and two-piece pyjamas. No one asked if the nappy was really necessary for the night. It was self-evident for everyone.
This night it was up to Dries to sleep in the ship's dressed cot, so the straps for Jasper were attached to the normal bed. The sleeping bag was laid out on top of the straps and Jasper was invited to lie down on it. Jasper put his feet in the sleeping bag, laid his back on the open top, put his arms through the holes and the zip was pulled from top to bottom at the front by Kathy. The zip was closed with a small flap and press stud so that the zip could not interfere.
Jasper moved his head from side to side, up and down. Then, with one hand, he took the fabric at his throat and pulled it down. "It's kind of annoying when it presses on my throat," he said in a nagging tone.
Dries watched Jasper's treatment as he stood in the ship.

Kathy sat Jasper up and took a good look at the sleeping bag. "I see Jasper," she said, following the collar of the sleeping bag down his back. "The zip should be in the back. The neckline is a little lower here."

Kathy pushed Jasper back down and opened the zip again. "Turn around."
Jasper struggled with the sleeping bag to free himself and turn around. When he was back in position with his feet and arms, but this time with his stomach on the mattress, Kathy zipped up again and snapped the sleeping bag shut.
Jasper rolled over with Kathy's help and Kathy positioned Jasper correctly on the restraining straps.

"You'll never get it closed, the straps between my legs won't work with the sleeping bag," Jasper observed.
"I think it's possible, remember those two holes? I think that's exactly what they were made for".

 

Kathy reached under Jasper's legs to the end of the strap, and with the fingers of her other hand she reached through the front and back holes at Jasper's groin. After searching for a while, she had the strap in her fingers and quickly pulled it through the sleeping bag and up between Jasper's legs towards his stomach. The rest of the fixation kit was also placed over Jasper and soon everything was closed.
Kathy placed the key on the bed next to Jasper's pillow, there was no bedside table here, and also placed the bottle of water on the bed.
Finally, she tied the soother to the sleeping bag with the ribbon and then put the pacifier in Jasper's mouth. "He's had a hard day today, I'll talk to him about the soother tomorrow," she thought to herself.
"Good night, Jasper," Kathy said. "You're not going to get cold this time." She gave Jasper another wink and a kiss and then a kiss and a pat on the head to Dries, who was watching.

"Lie down and you can sleep. Sleep well boys!"

"Sleep tight," Jasper murmured from behind the dummy.

"Sleep well Mum," Dries yawned.

Both boys closed their eyes and quickly fell asleep.

 

 

 

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[Toet]

Chapter twenty-eight

The sleeping bag seemed to have done the trick, for Jasper woke up well rested the next morning. The cold hadn't woken him even once last night, and now he was comfortably warm. He listened to what Dries was saying for a moment, but he was still fast asleep.
He reached for the bottle next to him and took a drink of water. Then he took the key and opened the restraints. It was a bit of a struggle, but he finally managed to pull the strap from between his legs through the sleeping bag and he was completely free. However, the next step, the opening of the sleeping bag, was not a success. After a while he gave up and wanted to go into the living room to play on the Nintendo. He got up, but the sleeping bag almost made him lose his balance and he almost fell to the floor.
Jasper decided to take it easy and sat on the floor with his bottom next to the bed. As soon as he was stable, he began to slide forward, first with his feet, then with his bottom, and finally he moved his hands. When he got to the door, he had to get down on his knees to open the handle, but after a lot of effort he finally sat in the couch with his Nintendo.
Dries had been sleeping through the whole thing.

When Heleen got up and walked into the living room and saw Jasper playing on his Nintendo, she looked surprised. "How did you get in here with your sleeping bag?"
Jasper took his dummy out of his mouth, paused the game and described to Heleen how he had propelled himself.
"That's clever of you, well thought out," Heleen said.

Jasper beamed at the compliment.
Later, when Dries and later Kathy and Koen came out of their bedrooms, Jasper had to tell and show them again and again how he had managed to reach the living room with his sleeping bag still on. Koen thought it was inventive of him, and it made Jasper proud that everyone was amazed to hear what he had come up with on his own.
Once everyone was awake, the family went to have breakfast. Kathy quickly helped Jasper out of his sleeping bag so that he could walk to the table by himself. She reattached the ribbon to Jasper's pyjamas so that his dummy would not lie around.

"I'll talk to him about this later," she thought as she clicked the lock shut. Dries was quickly helped out of his wet nappy by Koen, Jasper's was still dry.
They all enjoyed breakfast. It was a nice, quiet morning and there was no reason to be in a hurry. There was pleasant conversation around the table. During the meal Jasper felt his bladder acting up and without thinking he relaxed and let it all go.

 

"Soon we will go to a museum," Koen said. The children's faces fell. Spending hours looking at old paintings with nothing to show, or gazing at so-called modern works of art that looked more like a failed toddler's craft project, were not exactly their favourite pastimes.
Kathy saw the children's faces darken. "No, it's not that kind of museum. It is a hands-on museum with lots of science experiments. It'll be special and fun for you."

Jasper and Dries' curiosity was stirred. They started asking questions to find out as much as possible.

"I haven't been there myself, I've only read about it on the internet," Koen said.
Still, he answered the questions as best he could, and eventually it was time for everyone to leave the table.
Kathy took Jasper and Dries to their room to collect the clothes.

"Jasper, what are we going to wear today?" asked Kathy, holding a pair of underpants in one hand and a nappy in the other.

Jasper stood in silence and thought hard about what to say.

Dries looked at his mother questioningly. "Jasper doesn't need nappies during the day, does he?"

"Do you remember why we went to the market yesterday to buy clothes for Jasper? He also forgot his underwear at home and we haven't bought any more yet. An alternative, which costs much less money than buying new underpants for every day, is to wear nappies during the day as well".

 

Dries nodded that he understood and looked back at Jasper.

"What Jasper doubts is whether he dares to wear nappies all day," Kathy continued, "but on the other hand he doesn't want to cost his mums extra money by buying extra underpants that they have at home and don't need, and he blames himself for forgetting to pack his underpants."

Jasper remained silent, but nodded his head to indicate that Kathy had summed it up correctly.
Dries had to think about how Jasper had always been there for him in difficult times. Jasper had really supported him a lot. Now it was time for Dries to give something back. They were blood brothers, weren't they?

"Jasper, if you put on a nappy today, I will too." Dries said.

Jasper looked up at his friend in disbelief. Had he heard that right?

"I'm here for you, Jasper. If you put on a nappy, I'll do the same. That makes two of us today. You're not alone.

Jasper's worried look broke into a wide grin. If Jasper's face had been a weather map, it would now be full of beautiful rainbows.

"I think that's a yes," Dries said, and to show he meant it, he took the nappy Kathy was holding and said: "Would you like to put a nappy on me first, please?"

Kathy took the two boys into Heleen's room and put a new nappy on Dries and then changed Jasper. In between, both boys went to the toilet for their number two. They'd been told that they could use the nappies, but there was certainly no obligation to do so.

"Dries, just for today and not for the whole holiday, do you understand?" Kathy asked Dries lovingly but sternly.

Dries nodded that he understood.

Both boys put on a T-shirt and shorts over their nappies in their own rooms and ran with their puffy bottoms into the living room, where they played for a while until everyone was ready.
Koen filled a rucksack with a picnic for the afternoon and Kathy filled Jasper's rucksack with care items for the rest of the day. While she was doing this, she explained to Koen what had just happened and why Dries was also wearing a nappy. Heleen was also informed quietly, so that she knew how to react when it came up.
Jasper was a bit tense about visiting the museum in a nappy. He distracted himself by putting his thumb in his mouth.
Kathy sighed when she saw this and put the dummy back in his mouth instead of talking to Jasper about the disadvantages.
While Heleen put on her shoes, she sat strategically behind Jasper and Dries, who sat on the floor to put on their shoes as well. She couldn't take her eyes off the boys, she thought it was cute to know how and why they looked the way they did. Jasper had a little bit of his nappy sticking out above his waistband, but she didn't mind. It was so small that you had to know what it was before you noticed it.

There was also a bag in the car with a large bottle of water, soap, wipes, a towel, washcloths and clean clothes for the children. In the past there have been many vomiting parties due to car sickness. Sometimes the children were completely covered in dirt afterwards. On one occasion, after having to make a U-turn and arriving two hours later than planned, they always had a set of spare clothes for everyone in the car for longer journeys. It hadn't been necessary lately, but it had become a habit that they kept. There were clothes for both Heleen and Dries, and for Jasper there was a nappy, bodysuit and onesie, as he did not have enough normal clothes.

Jasper was strapped into the car seat by Heleen, and after she and Dries had fastened their own seatbelts, Kathy started the car. After half an hour they reached their destination and Kathy parked the car under a tree. She turned and took the dummy out of Jasper's mouth. "Don't want to keep him in there while we go to the Museum," she said.

"Yes, that's true," Jasper said.

 

Heleen released Jasper from his car seat and then the family made their way inside the building. Kathy showed the tickets on her phone and soon the family were wandering from stand to stand.
It was indeed a museum full of experiments and the children were expected to touch and test as much as possible. There were experiments on the human body, such as sensory tests, balance, memory,.... You could also learn about different forms of energy - water, sun, wind. An oversized computer had been recreated for the children to crawl inside and learn how everything works and what it is for.
There was a large watercourse where the children could see different techniques for pumping water, different types of dikes and sluices, each with its advantages and disadvantages, ...
All the running water signalled to both Dries and Jasper that it was time to go to the toilet. Jasper let go at the slightest sign, but for Dries it was a little more difficult. He turned around for a moment and then asked Jasper if he had to go to the toilet too.

"I've already gone." Jasper replied after looking around to make sure no one else was within earshot. "I let everything go in my nappy. You can do the same, then you can continue playing here."

Dries looked around to see if anyone was there. While he was also looking for his mum, he saw Jasper moving to another set-up. Curious as to which one it was, Dries followed. While Jasper started to try out what was going on here, Dries wanted to join in as soon as possible. The decision not to go to the toilet was quickly made. It didn't really work out that easily and in the end Dries just closed his eyes and imagined that he was standing in front of a toilet. When the first drops of urine came out, Dries squeezed his muscles out of reflex and held everything closed. He carefully looked and felt his trousers to see if they were wet. Satisfied that they were not, he closed his eyes again and continued. Eventually, a small stream began to flow, getting stronger and stronger until his bladder was completely empty. Dries carefully felt his nappy and trousers. Apart from the fact that it was now heavier and swollen, there was nothing unusual about it. Dries turned to Jasper and together they continued to explore the installation.

It was a day of full exploration of medical science, physics, chemistry, electronics and mechanics. A lot of basic principles and fundamentals were taught without the children feeling like they were getting a boring lesson.
In the afternoon, Jasper and Dries were changed one by one in the toilets. Kathy got some strange looks when she came out of the family room with the two rather large boys, but she didn't care. She needed the space to change the boys' nappies, so she was entitled to use it.
The family went on a picnic. They all had a stamp on their hand so they could return later in the day. There were a number of benches next to the car park and everyone enjoyed tasty sandwiches and a drink.

 

At one point in the museum, Jasper was leaning over a viewing window that allowed him to easily study what was happening below the surface of the water. His T-shirt was pulled up and his trousers were riding down. It was now clear to those behind him that the edge that had appeared above his trousers was from a nappy. Two girls, about ten years old, stood not far behind him, giggling and pointing as they whispered to each other in a different language. Jasper hadn't the faintest idea what was going on, but Heleen had. She immediately positioned herself between the girls and Jasper, assuming as indignant and angry a posture as possible, and looked at the girls accusingly.
The two girls realised why Heleen was looking at them that way, and with their cheeks flushed and their heads bowed, they rushed away. When Jasper stood up, Heleen bent over him and gave him a hug, secretly pulling down his t-shirt and pulling up his trousers. Jasper eagerly returned the hug and gave Heleen a kiss on the cheek to thank her for the sudden embrace.
Kathy had seen it all and whispered a compliment in Heleen's ear afterwards. "Fantastic way to resolve things with these girls. And so sweet of you not to embarrass Jasper."
Now it was time for Heleen to be with her cheeks flushed and red.

In the car, Jasper and Dries couldn't stop talking about the various experiments they had done. Sometimes Heleen, Kathy or Koen would add something to give an additional interpretation and explanation of the hows and whys of the test results. Dries and Jasper listened in fascination.
When they arrived at the house, Koen immediately started to prepare dinner; Kathy tidied up the things from the previous day and then went to help Koen. Heleen sat down at the kitchen table to check her social media on her mobile phone.
Jasper started to play, but Dries lingered around his mother in the kitchen.

"Mummy, I need a clean nappy," he finally whispered in her ear.

"Oh yes, of course," she said. "I'm not used to thinking about it anymore, especially when I'm busy."

Kathy put down the knife she had been cutting vegetables with and ran her hands under the tap to rinse them.

"I can help mum, there's nothing interesting on TikTok anyway," Heleen said, realising what was going on and standing up.

 

"That's nice, Heleen. Dries, go with your sister, she will help you. Heleen, will you take a look at Jasper afterwards?" Kathy had remembered how much responsibility Heleen had shown at the museum and wanted to show her appreciation and trust by giving her this task.
Heleen was a little surprised by the answer at first. She had thought she could help with the food, but changing Dries and Jasper's nappies was also a lovely thing to do. Inside she blossomed with pride at being entrusted with this task.
Heleen took both boys into her room, where the changing table was. She gave Dries a clean nappy first, as he had asked for it, and then it was Jasper's turn.
Heleen knew how to do it from the last time and did her best to be careful. For Dries it felt a little strange to be helped by his sister. She had seen him naked many times before, but now it was very close and felt intimate. Heleen did it carefully and with respect for Dries. It was a positive experience for both of them and it strengthened the brother-sister bond they had.
Jasper was already used to being changed by Heleen and it didn't feel strange at all.
While waiting for dinner, the children decided to play a board game together.

 

There was an entertainment team on the campsite who ran various activities. The language barrier was too great for some of these activities, but a light show was planned for this evening. No language is necessary to enjoy this spectacle, so Jasper and Dries were exceptionally allowed to stay up late to enjoy the light show.
Before the show, the evening in the cottage was filled with dinner, another game and finally, half an hour before the show, Jasper and Dries were prepared to go to sleep. The intention was that they would be able to go to bed as soon as the show was over.
They both got a thicker onesie over their nappy and bodysuit. After all, with the sun going down, it was getting quite chilly.
Dries and Jasper were in the front between all the other children, Heleen, Kathy and Koen were in the back between the adults.
While waiting for the show to start, Jasper looked around at the other children. It was reassuring that they weren't the only ones in their pyjamas. Many children, both younger and older than them, were also there in pyjamas, onesies or nightgowns. Jasper looked closely at the other children and suddenly he noticed that another child, about the same age, had a little bit of a nappy sticking out over the edge of his pyjama bottoms. It wasn't much, and it was only noticeable because it was the exact same nappy that he and Dries were wearing. Having made this discovery, Jasper looked at the other children's bottoms. Jasper couldn't see any other nappies clearly, but there were suspicious shapes here and there.
When Jasper was sure, he whispered to Dries. "Look at the boy diagonally in front of us, at his trousers. He has a nappy on too. I've always told you that you're not alone. Do you remember? Now you can really see it.

Curious, Dries looked in the direction indicated. He had to search for a while, but then he saw it too.

"I knew that I wasn't alone because of you, but it's nice to know that there are others as well," he whispered.
Jasper went over to the other boy, trying to speak to him. When he was almost at the boy and about to touch him, he heard him talking to his neighbour in a strange language he couldn't understand. Jasper retreated quietly. "He's speaking French, I think," he said to Dries, who had been watching intently.
Jasper wasn't sure about the other children with suspicious shapes around their bottoms, so he didn't dare speak to them.

"There's no need to do that," Dries whispered. "The show's about to start and we've got each other." Dries put his arm around Jasper's shoulders and together they enjoyed the interplay of laser lights, fireworks and music that was now beginning.

 

 

Do you can't wait to read the next chapter? you're welcome to read it after a (free) registration on the scriptorium webpage. (Under writing => work in progress)

 

[Toet]

Chapter twenty-nine

Jasper woke up in the cot in the middle of the night. After all, it had been his turn to sleep there last night.
With his sleeping bag on, he wasn't cold and he'd slept through the night within a moment. Jasper had woken up once because his bladder was acting up, but he hadn't let that spoil his night's sleep. When he woke up half asleep and realised why, he rolled onto his back, let it all go and rolled back onto his side. When he awoke in the morning, he was glad he had slept so well. He vaguely remembered waking up, so he was not surprised that his nappy was already well filled, it did not bother him.

He knew he was the last one awake because he heard the voices of the rest of the family from the living room. He emptied his bladder, which was full, and then tried to get up.
Jasper struggled to the edge of the bed - which was more difficult with a sleeping bag on - and fumbled for the lock to open the bed door. When he found it, he pushed it open and the door slammed against the bed with a dull thud.
When the voices suddenly fell silent, he knew that they had heard him. A few seconds later, Koen cautiously entered the room to have a look at the source of the noise. If Jasper was still asleep, he'd have no intention of waking him.

"Good morning Jasper," he said as he saw Jasper standing up on his knees.

"Good morning sir." Jasper replied, smiling broadly.

Koen quickly bridged the distance between the door and the bed and carried Jasper, sleeping bag and all on his arm, into the living room.

"Everyone's up now," he said as he entered the living room. Good mornings were exchanged back and forth.

"How's your nappy?" asked Koen. "I can't feel it very well with the sleeping bag on."

Jasper flushed. It still wasn't easy for him to talk about it so openly. "It's a bit full, I guess." He said, in an attempt to minimise the state of his nappy.

 

"Doesn't matter anyway," Koen said and planted a kiss on Jasper's nose. He was not used to such affection from a man; the beard chafed and Koen was a bit rougher than his own two mothers. As a way of hiding his shyness, and because he had no idea how he should act during the treatment, he put his dummy in his mouth that hung on the sleeping bag.
Heleen and Kathy almost melted when they saw how Jasper looked.
Jasper loved all the positive attention, because in his home, where Gert left a big mark on the atmosphere, there was not always room for such cuddles and warm moments.
Koen took Jasper to Heleen's room to get him out of his sleeping bag and into a clean nappy, so that everyone could have breakfast.

There was nothing special on the agenda today. After breakfast the children were allowed to play on the campsite and in the afternoon the family would go to the beach.
For this occasion, Kathy had chosen a jumpsuit for Jasper. She chose the Disney version with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell and helped him to put it on.
It was Kathy who helped Jasper get dressed. His nappy from before breakfast was still dry and did not need to be changed. The day would be warm enough to wear nothing on or under the overalls.
Dries changed and soon after breakfast the boys put on their sandals and ran off to the playground. The holiday park was small and safe enough for the boys to go out on their own. Heleen took a seat in a hammock on the veranda with a book, and it was not long before Koen and Kathy followed her example. They sat outside on the terrace, had a cup of coffee and enjoyed the peace and quiet that a holiday can provide.

 

There were other children in the playground, but they mostly spoke a different language than Jasper and Dries Spook. There were mutual attempts to establish some contact, but the language barrier was too great and in the end the children played more next to each other than with each other.
When lunchtime came, Heleen came to look for the boys. It took her quite a while because there were three different playgrounds on the estate and they had forgotten to agree which one they were going to play on.
In the end, Kathy and Koen were so worried that Koen joined in the search, and Kathy almost told the management of the holiday resort about it.
Kathy and Koen couldn't really be angry, they should have sorted it out beforehand, but next time they would have to think about what and how.
They ate quickly in the afternoon, which meant they had enough time left to go to the beach. Kathy quickly helped Jasper change into a fresh nappy and then the family headed off in the car. It was a twenty minute drive to the beach.
The drive to the beach was quite abrupt. There were a lot of sharp bends and Koen had to speed up and slow down a lot because of the heavy traffic. A few times Koen cursed the traffic so loudly that Kathy had to make him keep quiet because his curses were too explicit.
Jasper listened a little confusedly to what was going on in the front of the car. He didn't know Koen like that at all.
Dries was not so concerned about what was going on in the front of the car. He felt completely nauseous and uncomfortable. With every bend, every brake and every acceleration it only got worse. The feeling in Dries' stomach grew stronger and stronger. If Kathy or Koen had looked at Dries at that moment, they would have seen that his face was getting paler and paler.
They had almost reached their destination when Dries really couldn't hold it any longer. He started with 'Mum, I...' and then it came out in a big wave; Dries couldn't hold it in any longer.
Horrified, Jasper looked sideways at Dries when suddenly the most horrible noises could be heard. Dries tried to grab a bag or a container, but it was hopelessly too late. Dries' lunch was clattering between his hands on his lap, he had vomited a lot.
Startled, Kathy and Koen stopped their earlier discussion. Kathy looked back at Dries to assess the seriousness of the situation. 'It would be best to stop as soon as possible,' Kathy said to Koen.
Koen nodded and looked for a safe place to stop the car. He soon found one and parked the car calmly. Even though Kathy and Heleen had opened the window, the smell made Jasper sick. He was glad when Koen stopped and Heleen helped him out of the car.

 

"Heleen, can you keep an eye on Jasper? Then we can help Dries." Kathy said.
Koen took the bag of spare clothes out of the boot, glad they always had it with them. He took out what he needed and while Kathy tended to Dries, Koen looked after the backseat.

A little later, Dries was freshened up and dressed, and the chair was cleaned as best it could be. They all got back into the car and a little later the family arrived at the beach. The rest of the way Koen had done his best to drive more slowly, the windows had stayed open to hopefully get the rest of the smell out of the car, and Dries felt noticeably better than before.

The beach was very busy, and Koen and Kathy had to search a bit before they found a free spot. After walking around for a while, they found a spot between a man lying on a towel and another family talking in German.

"Good day, are you on holiday?" rang out in a familiar language from next to Koen and Kathy. Koen and Kathy looked up in surprise. They had heard many languages on the beach, but their own had hardly been one of them. The man next to them had watched curiously as the family settled in.

"Yes, we arrived the day before yesterday. I'm Kathy, this is Koen, Heleen, Dries and Jasper. Are you on holiday too?" Kathy asked. Meanwhile, she had pulled Dries over to her and started putting sun cream on him. Jasper waited his turn next to Dries, Heleen did it herself.

"Half on holiday, half for work. Nice to meet you, I'm David. Today I have a day off to enjoy the sun, but tomorrow a conference starts that I have to go to. It will take a few days, but fortunately it is interesting and not a heavy programme. I also have some free time here and there. Are you staying far from here?"

 

"Just a twenty minute drive," said Koen, "if there is not too much traffic," mentioning the name of the resort and where it was located.

"Oh," the man said in surprise. "I'm staying near there too."

"What's the convention about?"

"Disaster management," said the man. "I volunteer with the Red Cross and the local branch has allowed me to come here. The congress is ending with a large-scale disaster drill, which I will be able to attend as an observer."

"A disaster drill? As an observer? What do you mean?" Heleen's curiosity was piqued and she wanted to know more.

"For example, an earthquake, a plane crash, a train accident or a chain collision," the man began, explaining what a medical disaster entailed. He told her what to do when a large number of people were suddenly injured in a major accident, and where things often went wrong.
Heleen listened with fascination and asked lots of questions to find out more. David was happy to have someone to talk to in his own language and to have an audience fascinated by his story.

It was a bit too complicated for Dries and Jasper and they soon dropped out. The boys did not want to go straight into the sea, so they started playing in the sand. They dug and built in the sand, first trying to build a medieval fortress on a mountain. When they had finished with that, they built another medieval town at the foot of the mountain, complete with ramparts and gates. This way the castle looked down on the town and the surrounding countryside. By the time the town was finished, Jasper and Dries were hot from playing in the sun.
With a little help, they changed on the beach. Dries took everything off himself while Kathy held up a towel for him, Jasper needed a little more help to get undressed as he had some trouble with the jumpsuit he wasn't used to wearing. Getting the upper part over his shoulders was much more difficult than with a jacket, because it was attached to the trousers. And he was certainly not used to manipulating the nappy himself. Once they were both in their swimming trunks, they were given a fresh layer of sunscreen and made to drink some water.
Soon they were off into the waves, enjoying the hot waters of the Mediterranean.

 

When evening came and it was time to leave, Heleen had persuaded her parents to meet David again later in the week. What she secretly hoped for was to see the disaster drill herself, it sounded so interesting.
Jasper and Dries were called and everything was prepared to return. Dries crawled back into his clothes on the beach the same way he had come out, but for Jasper there was no real solution. There were far too many people around to allow him to lie quietly and discreetly change back into his nappy. After a short consultation between Koen and Kathy, it was decided to go to the car and see if there was a way to get Jasper out of his swimming suit discreetly.
There were still a few passers-by on the street near where the car was parked, but it was fairly well hidden on the passenger side of the car.
While Koen stood at the front of the car and Dries and Heleen at the back to form a wall, Jasper was quickly helped by Kathy, who was changing him from his bathing suit into his nappy and normal clothes, standing by the side of the car.

Jasper and Dries had swapped beds that evening as planned. Dries was in the cot that looked like a ship, Jasper was in the normal bed, secured in the sleeping bag and straps to keep him from kicking off the covers and rolling out of bed in his sleep.

Jasper woke in the middle of the night. The house was quiet and he knew everyone was asleep. He needed to pee and was thirsty.
Jasper quickly solved the first problem. He no longer had any trouble peeing in his nappy.
He reached for the bottle to drink. The bottle was a bit trickier and sucking on the nipple wasn't so easy. Eventually he had a few sips of water and his thirst was quenched. He put the bottle down next to his head and accidentally hit the magnetic key that unlocked the restraint. Before he realised what he had accidentally bumped into, he heard the key fall to the floor.
Jasper turned on his side and tried to feel the floor. He could just reach the ground and after groping for a while he found the key. When Jasper tried to grab the key he pushed against it and the key rolled away somewhere, Jasper didn't hear where.
Slowly Jasper realised that he was stuck, completely and truly stuck. For a moment he thought about calling for Kathy or Koen, but he wasn't quite sure why. He had lost the key, but he didn't need to get out for anything. So if the key was found now, in the middle of the night, what would he do with it? Jasper was tired and decided to go back to sleep. He didn't really need the key now and didn't want to wake anyone up unnecessarily. Jasper straightened up to go back to sleep and closed his eyes.

 

Do you can't wait to read the next chapter? you're welcome to read it after a (free) registration on the scriptorium webpage. (Under writing => work in progress)

[Toet]

Chapter thirty

Jasper sighed and lay bored in his bed. He made up stories in his head and played with imaginary toys, but fantasising wasn't as much fun as playing in real life. Jasper rolled over on his side in bed. He did this very carefully so as not to make the bed creak and wake Dries. He lay there staring at the door, waiting for it to be time to get up.
Suddenly he saw the door handle go down gently and Kathy's head come squeaking around the door. Seeing Jasper with his eyes open, she spoke to him cheerfully.

"Good morning Jasper, we're all waiting for you to have breakfast. Are you going to join us?"

"I'd like to, but I can't. The key fell on the floor last night."

"Oops, that makes it hard to come." Kathy got down on all fours and looked around and under Jasper's bed for the key, but she couldn't find it immediately.

"Just a minute Jasper, I'll get a light."

Kathy disappeared from the room and a short time later Kathy and Koen returned to the room.

"I'll keep looking, Jasper," Koen said, while Kathy started gathering clothes for Jasper and Dries. Koen took his mobile phone, turned on the flashlight and started to search under the bed and the wardrobe for the key.
Koen didn't see it right away either and Jasper started to worry. What if they didn't find it? The fixation kit had been borrowed, so there was no way they could have just cut it open.
Koen asked Jasper to tell him exactly what had happened: where had the key fallen and where had it been rolled to?
Jasper could easily answer the first question, but not the second. Koen got down on his knees again and continued his search. It was only after he had moved the wardrobe and then the bed that he found the key: it had rolled between the plinth and a foot of the bed.
Koen immediately released the magnets with the key and then helped Jasper out of the sleeping bag. Fifteen minutes had passed between Kathy looking inside and Koen untying everything, but for Jasper it felt like an eternity. Koen felt Jasper's nappy for a moment.

"Come on, let's change this one first." Koen took Jasper into Heleen's room and lifted him onto the nursing table. The bottom of the pyjamas came off, the bodysuit was opened and the nappy was changed.
As soon as the body was closed, Kathy came in with the overalls they had bought with the sleeping bag. "Put these on now for today, and we can be on our way right after breakfast."

"To leave?" Jasper asked curiously. "Where are we going?"

"Some kind of adventure park." Kathy said.

That sounded like a good idea to Jasper and he quickly co-operated to get the dungaree on. Curiosity about the adventure park won out over Jasper's bad mood about the lost key. He was dreaming about the adventure park and didn't notice how the dungaree was closed. Without paying too much attention, Koen hurriedly fastened the two plastic buckles.
Underneath the dungarees, Jasper had simply kept on the body suit that he had been sleeping in.
Koen carried Jasper into the kitchen and sat him down. Dries and Heleen were also at the table, dressed and nibbling on their last slice of bread. Kathy was busy making some sandwiches for Jasper's breakfast, and immediately got to work packing lunches for everyone.
When everyone was ready, Heleen and Dries had a quick trip to the toilet and the family headed off in the car for the adventure park.

At the Adventure Park there were different types of tickets to choose from. From cheap to expensive, the options were "little heroes", "daredevils" and "big fan". They could walk around the park all day and do the different activities as often as they wanted. However, depending on the type of ticket they had bought, there were more or less different activities to choose from.
After a moment's hesitation, they chose the 'daredevils' option for everyone. Jasper and Dries were too small for most of the extra activities they could do with the 'big fan' option.
Kathy didn't want to take part, so she didn't have to pay anything. Koen just joined in.
At the checkout, the cashier asked for everyone's arm while waving wristbands. Heleen, Jasper and Dries raised their wrists as soon as they understood his intention. When the cashier saw that there were already wristbands from the resort, he looked closely at the name of the campsite.

"But sir, you should have told us right away that you were staying at this resort. That would have given you a discount."
The cashier opened up the cash register and immediately took out a small amount of money to give back to Kathy. Kathy held out her hand and accepted the money.

"Thank you," she said with a smile; she could appreciate the man's honesty.

"You will receive a security briefing from my colleague shortly, but he is busy with another family at the moment. If you wait there by the benches, he will come to you immediately."

Koen nodded to the man as a sign that he had understood him.

"Mum, I have to go to the toilet." Heleen whispered.

"An excellent idea. Dries, go to the toilet too, Jasper, come with me." Kathy ordered the other children. The family walked together to the toilet block where Heleen and Dries each went into a stall and Jasper waited by Kathy's side. "Jasper, are you still dry?" Kathy asked.

Jasper looked around quickly, 'phew', no one was close enough to follow the conversation. "Yes, but I have to do number two."

Kathy looked around and a little further on she saw a door with the symbol of a changing room, which she took Jasper to.
Jasper was placed by Kathy on a low cupboard in the room and then Kathy looked at the fastenings on the dungarees.

"Strange." Kathy muttered as she studied the buckle.

Jasper looked down at the buckle. "What's strange?"

"There's a keyhole in this buckle."

Jasper looked at it too. "Yes, that's right. Why would there be one?"

"So they can be locked, I suppose? These dungarees could have belonged to the same child as the sleeping bag you have." Kathy suggested. "But we need to get on now, so the others don't have to wait for us." Kathy unbuckled the buckles, opened the bodysuit and removed the nappy, then Jasper sat on the small toilet that was the only one in the room.

After he finished, Kathy quickly wiped his bottom and the process went the other way around. First the nappy was put on, then the bodysuit was closed and finally the dungarees were put back on.
Kathy looked again at the buckles with the keyhole, they were the same on both sides. She fumbled around in her pockets for something to try and turn them, but there was already a knock on the door from Heleen.

"Mum, come on, the assistant is waiting for Jasper to start the explanation."

"We're coming!" Kathy called back through the door.

She left the keyholes as they were. She lifted Jasper from the table to the floor and opened the lock on the door.
Together Jasper, Heleen and Kathy went to the man for the security briefing.
The employee looked at Koen, Heleen, Dries and Jasper and assessed their height and age. He then turned around and took a number of climbing harnesses out of the boxes behind him, giving the largest to Koen, a medium size to Heleen and the smallest to Dries and Jasper.
He started with an explanation. Koen translated some of it, where it was important for the children.

"This man will first help you put on your safety equipment, and then he'll show you how everything works," Koen said as the man approached Heleen.
The man opened the harness for Heleen. It was a model where you first put your legs in the two leg loops, then pulled the harness up behind your back and put your arms in. At the front, at chest height, there were two loops for the rope, carabiners or other safety devices.
The man first showed Heleen how to put the harness on, adjusting all the straps so that the harness fit properly. He then continued with Dries and finally helped Jasper put on the harness.
As the man put the straps around Jasper's hips and adjusted them, he looked surprised for a moment. He felt that Jasper was wearing more protection than just the climbing harness. But he ignored it and when he had finished with Jasper, he went on to check that Koen had put on his safety belt properly.
Then the man took out a whole set of ropes and carabiners. He divided them up and placed a slightly different set in front of Koen, Heleen and the two boys.
For Jasper and Dries, he prepared a set for a cable car, a set for an altitude course and two combination locks with a flexible wire instead of a U-shaped piece.
He prepared the same for Heleen, but without combination locks, and for Koen he also prepared two sets of belts, but different from Heleen's. For the high ropes course, he was given a set with two ropes, each with a snap hook, while the children had a single rope to slide over the wire.
This set had the advantage for the children that they could not get disconnected in the middle of the course, the disadvantage was that they had to stay behind each other anyway and could not let anyone lead or lead themselves anywhere. There could be no swapping of places.
Koen, however, like all adults, had the option of moving forward or backward. He could use the two carabiners to secure himself to the safety rope in front of and behind obstacles, always making sure that at least one hook was engaged. This allowed him to safely switch positions to help each of the children separately if necessary.
While the man explained to Koen that last year a child had completely disengaged from his harness at a height and fallen badly, the man closed the combination locks on Jasper and Dries' harnesses. With the first lock, he went through the two loops on the left and right of the chest, and with the second lock, he made sure that the climbing set and the cable car set could not be easily removed.
The man explained that the locks were only there to prevent the safety equipment from being removed, and that the two normal sets would still be there to protect you if you fell.
Koen translated everything for the children so that they understood the hows and whys.

The next step, before they were allowed to enter the park, was for the man to take the family to a demonstration course. It was half a metre high and the man was able to explain everything: how the safety system worked and what the rules were for the high course. Then he let everyone practice a small round under supervision and finally came the moment of redemption.
"Have fun and good luck!"

Throughout the adventure park there were all sorts of activities: there was archery, laser shooting, an artificial cave for speleology, a bobsleigh, a super long slip line to slide down, a climbing wall and a large playground.
Everything was connected by hiking trails, small cable cars or an altitude trail. There was also a section in the adventure park where there were only high ropes courses of varying difficulty.

Jasper, Dries and Heleen flew to the first obstacle course and went over it to the bobsleigh. Koen joined them on the ropes course and Kathy followed them on the hiking trail. While Koen and the kids were busy, she took the opportunity to take some nice pictures. There was an employee at the bobsleigh who unlocked the combination lock on the safety set, and then the children had to go back to him to put it back on. They all enjoyed two rounds on the bobsleigh and then moved on to another high ropes course.

However, on the high ropes course they got stuck. There was a small child in front of them who did not dare to proceed, and the mother, who was with the child and had shown him how to overcome the obstacle, could not go back. Koen and the children waited in line for a while - there were other families in between - before they realised what the problem was. Once they knew why everyone was standing still, they wanted to turn around and go back, but it was impossible because there were others already waiting behind them. It took a long time and eventually Dries got tired of waiting. He started fiddling with the combination lock, trying to unlock it. It didn't take long for Heleen to see.

"Dries, you are not allowed to touch it, you are not allowed to unlock it."

"I'm tired of standing here, I'm climbing down."

Koen's reaction was to jump into action as soon as he had a glimpse of what Dries was up to through Heleen's eyes. With a few quick steps and by moving his own karabiners, he was standing next to Dries. "You have to keep your hands off, it's about safety. Either you don't touch the lock or you can stay with mum for the rest of the day," he said strictly.

Dries pulled his hands away immediately; the climbing and clambering was too much fun and he didn't feel like giving it up. Koen checked everything and was relieved to see that everything was still in place. He was glad that the locks were there, they had prevented worse.

It was a beautiful day and the children enjoyed the challenges the adventure park had to offer. There was only one more difficult moment in the afternoon when they wanted to eat. Jasper needed his nappy changed and Dries wanted to go to the toilet. First they had to find a park supervisor to unlock the locks, then a supervisor to relock them and check everything. They would have liked to take their break on a quiet bench among the trees, but as they were dependent on the staff, they ended up in the crowd on the terrace next to the cafeteria.

During the day they did various other activities; they still enjoyed the cave box, did some climbing and after a few more activities Koen and Heleen had had enough.
The family went back to the entrance where they handed in all their materials. The staff helped them open the combination locks again and before they left, they all went to the toilet.
Jasper was again helped into the changing room by Kathy with a clean nappy.
As Jasper lay on the wardrobe and Kathy closed the overalls, she took another look at the buckles. They had been in a hurry in the afternoon and there had been no time. Now there was time to look at the keyhole buckles and Kathy could finally satisfy her curiosity. She took her bunch of keys and with a small flat piece of her key ring she managed to turn both locks a quarter of a turn.

"I'm curious to see how this works, Jasper," she said.

Jasper also checked that these were real locks.
After Kathy had tightened them both, she pushed on the latches and found that they wouldn't move. Kathy turned the keyholes another quarter turn and this time the buckles opened without a problem.

"Can I have a go, too?" Jasper asked. He took the key ring and turned the clasps a quarter turn.

"Mummy, can Jasper and I go to the playground?" called Dries through the door of the changing room.

Jasper's eyes brightened at once. "Please, is it all right?" he asked.

Kathy thought a bit about the pros and cons - it would help the boys burn off some extra energy - she finally thought.

"Yes, that's fine." Kathy replied through the door. Jasper immediately jumped down from the cupboard, opened the door and ran out with Dries to explore the playground. Together they rushed from one toy to the next.

One of the toys was a kind of playground with a sand pit. It was equipped with everything that could be used to scoop up, transport and dump the sand. Jasper and Dries went straight to work. At the bottom of a tower, Jasper filled buckets with sand, which Dries then lifted up and poured into a dumper truck that hung on a kind of monorail. Jasper and Dries did their best to fill the lorry. As the children continued to fill it, the cart became overcrowded and there was a lot of weight over the horizontal hinges. As Jasper stood under the cart, looking up at Dries as he poured the bucket into it, the cart became too unstable and the cart turned on its hinges. Jasper tried to get out of the way, out of the danger zone, but it was too late. He took a lot of the sand with him, and some of it got between his bodysuit and overalls. Dries and Jasper had a good laugh about the incident. Jasper started to knock the sand off his clothes and Dries was happy to help, he thought it was funny that he could beat someone to help him.

"There's still a lot of sand between them, Jasper," Dries said, pulling at the bib overalls. He tried to get his hand between the bib and the bodysuit to rub it off.
"Undo the buckles so we can open the dungarees a bit and we'll have a better chance." Dries said.

Jasper pushed the buckles but couldn't open them. He looked at them again and saw that the locks were still turned. "They're still locked," he remarked in surprise.

"What do you mean, did my mum do that?" asked Dries indignantly.

"No, she was just curious why the buckles looked different than usual. She had closed them and then opened them again. I asked if I could try it. When I closed it, you were there and then I forgot about it." Jasper reassured Dries.

Together they went to Kathy and asked for some help to keep chipping away at the sand.

Kathy had already seen what had happened and was glad that Jasper hadn't hurt himself. Jasper explained what was wrong and soon Kathy was undoing the buckles on his dungarees.

"Get out of those for a while," Kathy said as she pulled the dungarees down. "Otherwise you're going to be full of sand again when we've got it all off." Jasper took his legs out of the pipes one by one and stood outside, next to the bench with Kathy, wearing only his bodysuit and nappy. Suddenly aware of himself, he looked around him but no one really noticed him.
Kathy, Dries and Jasper quickly started rubbing everywhere to get rid of as much sand as possible. Dries only rubbed the back, but Kathy also rubbed the front and back of his nappy. It felt strange for Jasper to be touched in this way, but although he found it uncomfortable, he understood why it was necessary. Once all the sand had been rubbed off, Kathy turned the dungarees upside down, trying to get as much sand out as possible before putting them back on Jasper. When most of the sand had been removed, Jasper let Kathy put the dungarees back on him. Without even thinking about it, Kathy turned the locks back into place, after all, she had just unlocked them a moment ago.

Now that everyone was together, it was time to go home. Jasper was secured in the car by Heleen. Because Heleen always did it for him, he had never learned to do it himself, but by now he took it for granted to be helped. Heleen liked being able to mother Jasper from time to time.
When the family returned to the cottage and everyone got out, Kathy noticed that there was still a lot of sand in the car seat where Jasper had been sitting.

"The sand must be creeping into everything, Jasper. I don't want you scattering the sand all over the house. Help unload the stuff first, but don't go further than the hall."

"OK," Jasper said. He had heard that he had to help with the unloading. He walked to the back of the car and took one of the bags that was there and carried it inside.

"Stop!" shouted Kathy. "Not another step Jasper, look down!"

Jasper looked down, startled. He saw that there was sand all the way from the door to where he was standing.

"I told you not to go any further than the hallway." Kathy grumbled.

"Sorry, I only heard to help unload the car."

"Now step back until you get to the door and wait for me there," Kathy said. "In the meantime, take off all your clothes." She looked for a brush to clean up the trail of sand that Jasper had made before the rest of the sand was spilled out of the car.
Koen, Dries and Heleen walked nicely around Jasper, leaving him and Kathy alone. When Kathy was in a bad mood, it was better to stay away from her so as not to escalate the situation.
Jasper soon realised that he couldn't open the buckles on his bib overalls because they were fastened. Then he tried to pull the straps off his shoulders to get them off, but the front and back were too high so there wasn't enough room for that method. Jasper could see Kathy's bunch of keys and key chain from the hallway, with the extension that allowed them to turn the lock, but then he had to move away from the door where he had to stand. Realising that he could not reach anything, he sat down on the floor. He was worried because he hadn't done what he was told, but he really couldn't get his clothes off.
When Kathy came back with the brush, she saw that Jasper wasn't as ready as she expected, he hadn't taken any of his clothes off, and she shouted angrily, "Jasper, put your ears on. I told you to take your clothes off!"

Tears welled up in Jasper's eyes, he hated being called out by Kathy in that way.
"But I really tried, I couldn't," his voice sounded fragile. "The buckles are locked."

Kathy was shocked at Jasper's reaction. She had to admit that she had indeed asked him to do an impossible thing. Kathy knelt down beside Jasper and hugged him.

"I'm sorry Jasper, you're right. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." Kathy took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped away Jasper's tears, then held the handkerchief to his nose so he could blow.
When both Kathy and Jasper had calmed down, Kathy broke the embrace. "Come on, Jasper, we'll take off all your clothes and wash you. Then we'll put you in clean clothes and you can play while I start dinner. Does that sound good?"

Kathy saw Jasper nod. She stood up and got her keys to open the locks. When she had done that, she took off the dungaree, bodysuit and nappy in the hall. She took the hand brush and wiped it all over Jasper to get a lot of sand off him. "Crawl into the bath and I'll clean up here."

Jasper dreamed as the warm water splashed around him. He had filled the whole tub and was able to relax in it. Little by little his mood was getting better and better.
Dries opened the door and looked in.

"Jasper, is everything all right with you?" he asked carefully.

Jasper opened his eyes and looked at Dries, happy to see him. He was already feeling much better and was thinking of an answer to give.

"No," Jasper said curtly, faking anger.

Dries looked at Jasper closely. He'd heard the answer correctly, but the answer didn't seem to match the expression Jasper was wearing. Jasper's mouth pursed in anger, but his eyes seemed to be narrowed with pleasure.

"Oh, Jasper, what's wrong?" Dries tried the cautious approach for safety's sake.

"I'm alone in the bath without you and you promised we'd share everything," Jasper said.

Dries burst out laughing and started to undress where he was standing. "Here I come!" he shouted as he jumped into the bath. Jasper managed to pull his legs in just in time before Dries landed in the water.

"Dries, you're making me wet!" cried Jasper, immediately scooping up water with his hands to throw in Dries' face.

"You missed!" Dries shouted as most of the water flew onto the bathroom floor next to him. "And you're in the bath, of course you're wet."

By the time Koen came into the bathroom three seconds later to calm the boys down, it was too late, the whole bathroom floor was wet.

"Don't start..." he sighed to himself and closed the bathroom door. "It's too late now, we might as well wait until later to clean everything up," he said to Kathy. Koen went over to Heleen who was busy on her mobile.

"They are very rough." Heleen remarked.

"Yes, Jasper probably needs to let off some steam after just now."

Heleen nodded that she understood.

Look, I'm sitting here looking at a picture and a message that Mila posted," Heleen said, handing her mobile phone to her dad.
Koen took the phone and looked at the message.

"Proud of my sister," he read as the title. Underneath he saw a picture of Mila and Billy holding hands, but Billy was wearing a dress.
"Billy is discovering himself this holiday and I'm happy to be so close to it. I'm glad that Billy stands up for himself and lets everyone know what's important to her. Koen continued to read the message. He handed the phone back to Heleen.

"It's strange to see Billy in a dress, but it's nice of Mila to be so supportive of Billy."

"I've heard of transgender people before, but I thought only adults became transgender," Heleen said.

"Twice wrong Heleen, we don't know if Billy is transgender or just likes to wear girl's clothes, he/she could also be something in between or something completely different, only time will tell," said Koen. "And you don't become transgender, that's something you are," Koen concluded.
Heleen nodded that she understood. She put a thumbs up under the message and then went back to checking her social media.

Kathy had also heard that the boys were having a lot of fun in the bathroom, so she decided to put dinner on before getting the boys out of the bath.
When dinner was almost ready, she sent Koen into the bathroom with a bucket and mop.

"You start with the floor, I'll be right there to help you get the boys clean and dressed," she said.

Koen had half filled the bucket with the water he had mopped up from the floor when Kathy came to join him. Kathy took some shampoo and started lathering the boys. After she had done their hair, she took a washcloth and went to work washing the boys, literally from head to toe. No spot was missed and when Kathy had finished cleaning and polishing, Koen was ready with two large towels in which Jasper and Dries were wrapped. Together they went into Heleen's room where the clothes were laid out on the changing table.

"We're going to eat now. After dinner you can stay up for a while before it's time to go to bed," Kathy said. "Jasper, pyjamas are waiting for you as we don't have many clean clothes. Dries, are you wearing pyjamas or normal clothes?"

Dries thought for a moment. Wearing pyjamas with Jasper sounded nice, but if he put on normal clothes now, he would have to change just before going to sleep. And that was his strategy, to be allowed to linger and stay awake a little longer.

"Ordinary clothes," Dries decided.

Kathy took a pile and gave it to Dries, she put another pile away. Then she picked up Jasper and put him on the changing table.

"This way," she instructed, getting Jasper to lie down nicely on the changing table and she began to put a nappy on him. Once it was closed, a green body with short legs was slipped over his feet. It had no closure at the crotch, just a zip at the back.

"These are intended to be used as summer pyjamas," Kathy said as she covered the top of the zip with a piece of cloth that had been provided for that purpose. "Here's a pullover to put over them, the pyjamas are a thin fabric and you might be a bit cold now. We'll take them off before we go to bed.

After dinner, Dries and Jasper were allowed to watch a film. Heleen, Jasper and Dries wanted to make it a cosy evening and Koen and Kathy helped. The lights were dimmed and a few candles were lit. A plate with some biscuits was put out and everyone got a big cup of hot chocolate. Heleen and Dries each took their blanket from their room to sit under, Kathy helped Jasper into his sleeping bag and put him in the seat, the dummy was also attached to the sleeping bag. After these preparations everyone was ready and the film was set up.
During the film Koen's mobile phone rang a few times. Koen kept looking at his phone, whispering to Kathy and then answering the messages.
When the film was about half done, there was a sudden knock on the door. Koen stopped the film and got up to open the door.

"Good evening," came David's voice. He had a big smile on his face and stepped inside after an inviting gesture from Koen.

"So nice to hear my own language again. I was at the conference and all the time listening and speaking in English is exhausting," he continued. "As interesting as it was."

"Have a seat. Would you like something to drink?" asked Koen.

"Yes, please, what have you got?"

After David's reply, Heleen went to get the beer he had asked for. She still wanted to come along to the disaster drill to watch, and she hoped it would increase her chances.
The TV went off because there was a visitor. David was a good talker and soon had the attention of Kathy, Koen and Heleen. Dries and Jasper continued to sip their chocolate milk, but were actually bored.

"Shall we play, Jasper?" Dries whispered into his ear.

I want to, but I can't get out of my sleeping bag myself." Jasper whispered back.
Dries started to fiddle with the sleeping bag and opened it. While he was busy, he glanced covertly at his mother. She had seen what he was doing for a long time and nodded that it was good. Reassured, Dries continued until Jasper could crawl out of the sleeping bag.
David was busy talking to Koen and Kathy and didn't really pay attention to what the boys were doing, but he did see them heading for their room to play.

"What I'm here for anyway," David said, turning to the subject of the disaster drill he had to go to as an observer, "we're still looking for simulants. I have been given a whole list of different roles that they are still looking for. I was hoping to convince you to take part in the disaster drill by pretending to be injured.

David looked hopefully at Koen and Kathy.

"Yes, daddy, mummy, please!" whispered Heleen. She tried her best to look as sweet as possible at her parents.
Koen couldn't resist that look. "We have to ask Dries and Jasper first," he said.

Jasper and Dries were called in and David explained what he wanted to ask.
Jasper was a little nervous about his clothes. He was aware of how young he must look. He was the only one in pyjamas and the contours of his nappy were showing through the fabric. To channel his nerves, he started sucking his thumb, which didn't help the image of his age he was giving David.
David tried to explain the plan as simply as he could. The family would take part in the disaster drill. They had to act as best they could and pretend to be injured. Later, when the roles were assigned, they would be told exactly what to do. Jasper was immediately enthusiastic, he thought it would be fun. Dries was a little less enthusiastic, but was willing to join in if Jasper was.
Now that David had convinced the two children, it was agreed that the whole family would participate, except for Heleen, who hopefully could go with David to watch and take notes for him. Tomorrow David would get confirmation if everything could be done as proposed.

Not much later it was time for Dries and Jasper to go to bed. Both boys were dressed in clean nappies and Kathy put them to bed, reversing their places from the previous night. Dries in the normal bed and Jasper in the cot. David stayed for a while and chatted with Koen and Kathy. They agreed to have dinner together the following evening.

 

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