✅ The Baby Makers

33. Start the Day Early

"And what a good girl you are," Phil patted Stacie on the head as he praised her, and the glow of pride swelling within her became so powerful that she couldn't think of anything else. She loved that feeling, and she hoped that it would go on forever. "Now, is there anything you need this morning? I think a little girl might need a change to start the day."

He reached down to check her diaper, and Stacie found herself blushing just a little as she realised how wet it was. It was heavy and bulky between her legs, but she had gotten used to it so much that she didn't even notice. That was an amazing feeling, and she knew that she was already turning into the baby that she wanted to be. So she smiled and wobbled along as he led her by the hand back to a changing room. She could almost climb up onto the changing table by herself now, and she lay back and tried to stay quiet so she wouldn't be making it any harder for him. She couldn't stop squirming just a little, because it tickled when his hands almost touched her tummy. And when he reacted to the first spurt of giggles by tickling her sides, Stacie couldn't help letting out a little spurt of pee too.

Once she calmed down it didn't take long to get her diaper changed. Phil knew very well what he was doing, and she just had to play along. She didn't kick him at all, and she didn't pee while he was changing her. She felt like she was being such a good girl, and she was grinning with pride by the time he reached out and took her hands so that she could sit up again. Pride, and just perhaps a little excitement at how cute the pattern of mermaids on her new diaper was. She hadn't seen those ones before, and she wondered how many different patterns there were. They could have hundreds of different ones, or even millions, and then she would never get to see them all.

"Now let's get you some nice clothes for today," Phil suggested, and Stacie nodded eagerly. She knew that whatever he wanted her to do would be so much fun, and clothes sounded like they were already a good idea. So she hopped down from the table and held onto his hand, down the twisty-turny maze of identical corridors, until they were back in the room with all the dresses. Now she was too excited to fall, and she ran up and down the lines of clothes, everything trying to catch her attention at the same time. There were so many beautiful dresses. Some of them were fancy, like something a princess would wear at a ball, and some of them were just cute and simple clothes that would be fun for climbing trees in, or running around trying to play with all the toys. She didn't know what to choose, but she could see that something inside of her wanted to pick all of them at once. She wanted to be the best baby ever, and do all of the things that were on offer.

"What do you want to do today?" Phil came to the rescue again, asking questions that made it easier for her to think. "Do you want to play in the garden? Play board games? Watch cartoons? Make new friends?"

Stacie nodded to all of those answers, because she wanted to do everything. But it seemed like Phil knew what she wanted, because he watched her carefully and then walked over to the rails along one wall. He came back with something like a cowboy might wear. It was like overalls made out of rough fabric, with a big picture of a horse on the front. And there was a hat with it too, just like a real cowboy. There weren't any boots, which puzzled Stacie for a minute. But then she thought that maybe cowboys didn't put their boots on until they got to the door, if they were polite cowboys. Their mummies might be upset if they walked around in big cowboy boots and put mud all over the floor.

"Yeah!" she cheered. "I'm a cowboy?"

"You can be. I'm sure we've got some wonderful games you can play."

Stacie was so excited then that she couldn't stop running in circles around the room. Phil chased after her with the new clothes, but she was too excited to stop. And when she realised that he was trying to help her it seemed so funny, like a game that had started before she knew about it. Once the game had started she had to win, so she ran and ducked when Phil came close, trying to avoid being caught. Somewhere in her mind she was a big cow now, and Phil was the cowboy trying to catch her. They didn't stop running around until she got tired and ended up lying on the floor, giggling and trying to ger her breath back.

"You're full of beans today, aren't you?" Phil asked, as he lifted her legs up one by one and pushed them into the legs of the cure little overalls. Then he helped her to sit up, and pulled the outfit up around her. She didn't know how she was supposed to wear something like that, but that was okay because she was just a little baby. And Phil was a genius, he could do everything. He pulled her arms up next and put a little T-shirt over her head, and then pulled up the straps of the other thing to cross them over her shoulders. Before long she looked like a real cowboy, ready to capture any kind of bandit who came near. The hat was the finishing touch, and even that had a little strap at the side, which Phil buckled under her chin to keep it from blowing away.

"No!" she answered with a giggle, now she didn't need to think about her clothes anymore.

"No?"

"No I'm not full of beans," she said with a laugh. "I'm full of... umm..."

"Well, why don't we make you full of breakfast? I think that's a good idea, you can't be a cowboy on an empty stomach."

Stacie wasn't going to argue. So she let Phil put socks on her – brown with big yellow stars on the side, like a badge – and then went along as he led her to the dining room.

She got a choice of breakfast. There was oatmeal, or a bottle of milk, or different types of cereal with all kinds of different shaped pieces and coloured bits that looked like candy. But Stacie was determined to be a good girl, and she remembered being told that eating sweeties at breakfast was anughty. She thought about having a bottle, and she could imagine that would really make her like a baby. But as much as she wanted to be a perfect baby and please Phil, she was sure that he would be happy whatever she picked. She could eat by herself and still be a baby, so she picked the oatmeal.

Phil lifted Stacie up into the high chair, and while he was clipping her in place so she didn't fall another little baby came in. This one was a boy, and Stacie got a little bit nervous for a minute. She'd heard that boys could be mean sometimes, or gross, and she didn't know if she wanted to play with one. Bit this boy had a grown-up with him, a man with red hair in the same clothes as the one who had woken her up this morning, so she thought that he must be a good boy.

"Hello, little one," the grown-up greeted her. "This is Kyle. Would you like to say hello?" Kyle was already sitting in the high chair opposite Stacie, so she raised a hand and, after a couple of false starts, gave him a cheery wave. It seemed like a lot of fun once she had started, so she kept on waving, wider and faster until she was waving both hands back and forth over her head.

"Hi Kyle!" she called out. "I'm Stacie!"

"Hiya Stacie!" he called back. And after a few seconds to think about the message, he added "I'm Kyle!"

"Clever boy," the other grown-up praised him. The thoughts in Stacie's head were running full speed towards the question of whether she was a clever girl, but she couldn't even form the thought before Phil put a hand on her shoulder and whispered: "Good girl." Then there was nothing to do but blush, and enjoy the thrill of having done a thing just right.