The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: A Leap Day Paradox

Chapter 9: Zachary's "Second" Birthday

Two weeks passed. After four long years, it was Zachary's birthday again at last. The date was February 29, 2012 - The day Zachary turned two on his "special calendar". The time was 8:06 a.m. At this time, Stacy just returned from dropping off Audrey at Nimbleburg Elementary.

Stacy entered the house. There was not a sound to be heard. It was still quiet. David was already at work, at the corporate offices at Lawson & Wager. This left Stacy alone with her two boys.

Time to wake the birthday boy up. Stacy walked up the stairs and entered Zachary's room. She couldn't wait to get Zachary's reaction to all the decorations that she and David put up the night before....

Zachary lay in his crib, still fast asleep. This reminded Stacy of David, and how he liked to sleep in on the weekends. Near Zachary lay his two night time bottles, both empty. Since the recent introduction of night time Dreamies, Stacy didn't have to worry about Zachary wetting the bed like she did with Audrey. The new line of diapers were more absorbent than ever - about four times more absorbent than their day time ones.

Stacy approached his crib with a widening smile. "Wakey wakey, Zacky wacky..." she said, in a softly spoken sing-song voice. "Wakey wakey my birthday boy...."

Zachary sat up, and rubbed his eyes. "G'morning, mama. Today my birthday?"

Stacy nodded. "Yes it is, Zacky honey. Let's go downstairs." She lifted Zachary out of the crib. "Up we go...." Stacy then sat Zachary down on his feet.

Zachary, with his smiling face, almost ran out of his bedroom when he was stopped by Stacy.

"Not yet, honey." she said, grabbing him. "We need to change that diaper."

Stacy laid Zachary down on the floor and took off his footie pajamas.

After she did this, Zachary pointed at his diaper. "I pee-pee."

Stacy gasped, using her age-appropriate voice. "You went pee-pee? Well, let's see!" Stacy undid his diaper. Sure enough, he went, but it was well absorbed by now. "Zacky! You did go pee-pee! Let's get a new one on, okay?" With the new birthday gift that she got for Zachary, Stacy was already in pre-toilet training mode. This of course, would start tomorrow, after his birthday. Stacy cleaned Zachary and put a new diaper on him. With her new schedule, she would be giving Zachary and Timothy a bath after their breakfast. She then wadded up the wet diaper and threw it into the diaper genie. "No soaked sheets or PJ's. Gotta love these new ones!"

Now out of the room, Zachary was about to run down the stairs to go play with his toys. Once again, Stacy stopped him.

"Not yet, birthday man," she teased. "Let's go wake your brother up, okay?"

Zachary looked up at his mother and smiled. "uh-kay!"

Stacy walked with Zachary to Timothy's room. Opening the door, Timothy was awake in his crib. He was just opening his eyes. "Wake up, Timothy!"

Timothy smiled. In just seconds, he had an uncomfortable look on his face. "Mommy! I gotta go potty!" He climbed out of the crib and made a beeline for the bathroom. He unzipped his footie pajamas, pulled down his underwear and sat on his big boy potty. He made it just in time.

Stacy took Zachary into the bathroom to watch his younger brother go. In being so adamant to train Zachary, she wanted Zachary to watch, and follow Timothy's example. "See, honey?" Stacy said, smiling. "Your little brother can go all by himself!"

Looking at Timothy, Zachary laughed. "Timmy funny chair!"

Stacy nodded. One that I'll get him to use tomorrow, she thought.

Timothy then finished. He pulled up his underwear and rezipped his footie pajamas. "All done!" He was just about to leave, when Stacy stopped him.

"Wash your hands, honey!" she said to him as a kind reminder.

Timothy stood up on the stepping stool and squirted some liquid soap into his hands. He lathered it up and turned on the faucet. "Ow! Too hot!" Timothy readjusted the temperature, testing it with his hands until it was just right. "There."

After that, Stacy took Zachary and Timothy down the stairs.

To Zachary's surprise, there were balloons everywhere. There were balloons around the living room and patterns of balloons along the walls. "There balloons, mama?"

Stacy smiled. "It's your birthday, honey. You're two years old today." While Stacy knew that Zachary wasn't really two, she knew that Zachary wouldn't understand anything regarding his condition. She would explain all this to him when he was older. All Zachary needed to know right now is that he's a happy little two-year old with an extra special birthday.

Stacy took Zachary and Timothy into the kitchen to give them breakfast. There was a banner that read "Happy 2nd birthday, Zachary!" along the wall. Both of them were given sliced up waffles mixed with strawberries.

As Timothy was eating the waffles, he frowned. "When will it be m'birday?"

Stacy smiled and looked at the calendar. "Oh. That's a long way away, Timmy. You will have to wait a little while, okay?"

Timothy nodded. "uh-kay, mommy!" He then continued eating his strawberries and syrupy waffles.

The day moved on. After lunch, Stacy put Zachary and Timothy upstairs for their naps. Afterward, she kept Zachary and Timothy entertained with a movie while she finished setting up everything for the birthday party later.

After a few hours, Stacy looked at her watch. The time was now 3:15 p.m. Time to pick up Audrey. With that, she piled Zachary and Timothy into the minivan and went to pick her up.

Stacy arrived at Nimbleburg Elementary about two minutes early. It was 3:28 p.m. Audrey walked out of the school and toward the minivan, with Mrs. Shellenberg.

Mrs. Shellenberg saw Stacy in the driver's seat and smiled. "A wonderful student, as usual. Audrey made a beautiful picture of her brother Zachary today. She said that it was his birthday today." Mrs. Shellenberg then brought her face close to Stacy and whispered. "Looks like you got rid of it. I don't see it anymore." She then looked at the window and noticed the other children. "Looks like you got little Zachary in there. Tell him that I wish him a very happy birthday. How old is Zachary going to be?"

Stacy smiled. "He just turned two. Isn't that right, Zacky?"

"I two, mama!" Zachary shouted, from the back seat.

Mrs. Shellenberg smiled. "Your little one told me he was eight, but he looked two. She has such a big imagination. See you tomorrow, Mrs. Willowbrook!" Mrs. Shellenberg then left and re-entered the school.

Audrey already had herself strapped in the car seat, so Stacy took off. Stacy, thinking about Mrs. Shellenberg, shook her head. She still has it, she said to herself. Let her humiliate herself and maybe she'll stop....

As they were turning out of the school, Audrey took her pacifier out of her pocket. While she held it, she opened her backpack and got out her picture of Zachary. "Mommy! Look at my picture of Zachary!"

Stacy's eyes were glued on the road. "I'll look at it when I get home, honey."

Audrey looked at Zachary again, and then at her mother. "Mommy! How can Zachary be eight years old? My friend Emma said that her second oldest brother is eight. Zachary don't look like him at all...."

Stacy smiled, looking nervous. "It's a little hard to explain, honey. I'll tell you later."

Audrey smiled. "Okay, mommy." She then turned to Zachary. "Happy birthday, Zachary!" She handed him the picture she drew and then placed her pacifier in her mouth.

The minivan then arrived home. At that time, the party was about to begin. This was evidenced by a few parked cars already in the driveway.

Stacy entered the house with Zachary, Audrey and Timothy. Her sister Mary was over, with Richard and Katie. Along with them was a couple of other close friends.

Within the next hour, more and more people came over. David came home early from work. Gina came with Emma to celebrate. (During that hour, Zachary, Audrey and Timothy were entertained with some cartoons.)

With everyone over, the party was underway. A clown was there to make balloon animals for the kids. An inflatable bounce house was set up in the backyard, so Zachary and the other kids could play inside it. When the kids were tired of bouncing, Stacy gathered them in to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

After that game, Stacy let the kids play some more. Katie supervised them to make sure they were all playing nice. The adults talked while the kids played.

By now, all the adults were used to Zachary's condition.

Richard glanced at Zachary playing in the other room, and smiled. "So, he's two years old today? What was the condition that they found with him again?"

David scratched his head. "The doctor told us that he found some mutations in some of his genes. He's actually considering looking at Audrey next, since she could possibly have the same gene and pass it to her children."

Richard grinned. "That would make a good news story, wouldn't it? It almost sounds like those cases that I've seen on TV."

Stacy shook her head. "David and I talked about this. We don't want Zachary in the spotlight. We want him to live a normal life....Well, at least as normal as we can make it for him." Stacy looked at her watch. "Well, I need to go and change Zacky. I'll be right back. Everyone be ready for presents, okay?" Stacy left the room and entered the living room, gathering Zachary from the group of kids. "Mommy needs to change you. After that, we'll open presents, okay Zacky Wacky?"

Zachary smiled, as he was scooped up by Stacy. "Mama! I poo-poo!"

Hearing this from Zachary, Stacy hurried up the stairs and into Zachary's room.

Meanwhile, the adults were still talking.

Richard shrugged his shoulders. "That kid has to experience everything four times as long as we do. I wonder what it would be like to live like that."

David cracked a smile. "You know what? I've often wondered that myself. You age four times slower, so you're pretty much blessed with extra time."

Mary shook her head. "I'd consider it a curse. Just look at him. It will take poor Zachary forever to get through his childhood. I wouldn't want to take 40 years to get to adolescence. I mean, we'll all be dead before he reaches 30!"

Gina sighed, grinning with uncertainty. "What he has is quite strange. I've never heard of it before. His real age is eight, right? He doesn't look anything like my eight-year old. He looks more like my youngest. He'll be turning two in a couple weeks."

By this time, Stacy came back down the stairs, holding Zachary.

Minutes passed. Everyone was gathered around for Zachary to open up his presents. Several of his gifts were similar to the ones that Timothy got for his second birthday.

This was especially true with the presents that Stacy saved for last. The last two presents that Zachary opened was a big boy potty chair and some big boy underwear.

Zachary looked at the potty chair and laughed. "Funny chair!"

"Yes Zachary!" Stacy said in her age-appropriate voice. You're going to be using that funny chair tomorrow!"

After that, everyone had some cake and ice cream. The cake was angel's food with vanilla frosting. The ice cream was chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, since Strawberry was Audrey's favorite ice cream. After they sang happy birthday and ate, everyone left, except Emma, who was spending the night with Audrey. Stacy agreed with Gina to take her to school tomorrow. Gina would then pick her up.

With the party over, Stacy and David got everyone ready for bed. Stacy and David went to bed soon after.

At four o' clock in the morning the next day, Stacy woke up to a sound. It sounded like someone throwing up.

Then a bedroom door burst open. There were quick footsteps and the slam of a door. And then, more vomiting and the sound of someone crying. "Mommy! I don't feel well!"

Stacy bolted out of bed. Definitely Audrey, she said to herself. As she approached the bathroom, it hit her. Audrey has come down with the flu.