Baby's First Swim Lesson

Mall Trip

She carried me upstairs "wipe that frown off your face! You're a baby now! Isn't that what you wanted" she asked holding me like a newborn, cradled in her arms.

"Yeah I guess" I said still sad from being spanked

She smiled at me then blew a raspberry on my belly

I couldn't stop giggling, I squirmed around in her arms laughing like an actual baby

"Now we don't have any diapers to put you in yet, so I'm going to put you in your undies. Just let me know when you need to go potty" she said

"Ok mommy" I said in a babyish voice

"That's my baby" she said patting my butt. We got to my room and she set me down on the floor and picked out my clothes. She chose basket ball shorts, cyan undies with zoo animals on them, and a baby blue buttoned down shirt. She had me grab onto her shoulders while she lifted my legs and put on my undies, then shorts, then shirt. She gave me a kiss on the cheek, grabbed me by the hand and took me downstairs.

I sat down on the dining table and she brought over a plate of chicken nuggets, ketchup, and peas with a glass of apple juice. I happily ate.

I got ketchup all over my mouth and I giggled when mom wiped my face with a napkin.

When I was finished with the chicken nuggets I said "all done!" With babyish excitement

"Not yet honey! You still have your peas!" Mom said picking up a spoon and scooping the peas. "Open wide"

I shook my head and giggled as I kept my mouth shut.

"Here comes the airplane!" She said while making airplane noises

I opened wide and in went the peas. The sweet yet mushily disgusting taste of the peas permeated through my mouth

When I was finished with everything she wiped my face with a wet washcloth and said "what a messy little boy I have!"

I giggled

"Ok baby, we're going to go out. We need to pick up everything we need for you to be a baby; diapers, clothes, furniture, stuff like that."

I gulped and clung onto my mom "I don't want to go out mommy!" I said

"I know baby, but remember. You agreed to follow the rules, and one of the rules is that you won't get embarrassed about being out in public as a baby, right?" She said

I whined but nodded

"Good, let's get you ready to go" she said then got my shoes on and we walked out to the car, hand in hand. "I don't have a car seat either so you'll just sit in the back for now."

She buckled me in gave me a kiss then tickled my tummy. Then we started going to the mall.

My heart beat fast.

My mind, tunneled on fear

My body, shaking furiously

My mouth, glued shut

I couldn't think. I only imagined what would happen if mom made me act like a baby in the mall.

After a ten minute drive we parked in the mall, since summer just started there were a lot of cars.

She took me out of the car and we held hands as we walked to the mall. "Let's make a list. We're going to pick up the little stuff today, I'll work on furniture later. First things first; diapers, baby wipes, baby powder, rash cream, changing mat, diaper bag, pacifier, teddy bear, blanket, baby clothes, bottles, toys, car seat, baby monitor, baby soap, and baby shampoo. Let me know if you can think of anything else."

"Ok mommy" i said thinking of the diapers. I mean when I wore the swim diaper it was pretty fun, not to mention going potty in it felt pretty good.

We went to a baby care store and started checking off the items. We couldn't find diapers my size of course, we'd have to go to a specialty store. But we did find all the diaper changing supplies, body cleaning stuff, and even a larger than average changing mat -which was made for twins- as well as everything else besides toys, teddy bear, and clothes. On the way out of the baby care store the cashier made some conversation

"Out on a supply run for your babe?" The cashier asked, my face turned red and I looked to the floor.

"Oh yes! I'm taking care of a baby boy over the summer, just want to be prepared!" She said

"Well good luck!" The cashier said

Then we went to a toy store. Mom let me pick out 3 toys, a teddy bear, and a blanket. I picked a play kitchen set, a set of duplo (which were just big legos), and a rocking horse. For my teddy bear I got a bigger teddy bear that was the same size to me as a child's teddy would be to them. For the blanket, I picked one that was exactly the same to the blanket I had as a baby; blue on the outside and soft yellow on the inside.

We then went to a specialty store, one that sold items for older children who were still in need of care by a parent. There we found a carseat big enough to hold me. As well as a lot of babyish clothes. Mom picked those out for me, she picked 3 onesies

"Mommy, will I have to wear these out in public?" I asked afraid

"Oh no baby, these are just for bedtime" she told me

one of the onesies that had a hood and was made to be a cow with ears and horns, one that said 'cutie pie' on the front, and on other that said 'warning! Toxic Waste!' On the butt (all the onesies had snaps on the crotch), 1 red romper, a variety of overalls, shirts and tank tops, and of course we found youth diapers. The biggest size we found said it was recommended for children 14 years old, but I was smaller for my age and mom said the weight and waist measurements were perfect so we got those. They had designs of toy story characters on them. The cashier didn't seem to care too much but I felt like I was dying inside.

We got out of the store with bags full of stuff. We put all of the baby stuff in the car and set up the car seat, "how about before we go home, we get some ice cream? Does that sound good baby?" She asked me

"Uh huh!" I said nodding, even though I knew I was lactose intolerant.

We walked hand and hand over to the ice cream parlor. "Do you need to go potty yet baby?"

"No" I said

We went inside and we both got cones. We happily ate. "Ok Mikey, you only have 2 days of swim lessons left, but next week there is going to be a swim camp with the same instructor. Ms. Baxter signed up Cody and I was wondering if you would like to go as well"

Hmm... I hated swimming, but I did want to be with Cody again. "What do you do at the swim camp?"

"Well it's more camp than swimming. Most of it is normal summer camp stuff; arts and crafts, games, team building, but there also a lot of swimming, water games, and swim lessons" she told me

I thought about it. And I came to a decision "if Cody is going then I would like to too"

"Ok good" she said "also remember that we are going to Ashlyn's birthday on Sunday"

Oh right! Ashlyn is my little cousin, she's turning 6, she lives around 2 hours away. If today is Wednesday, then her birthday is 4 days away.

Eventually our ice cream was finished and mom took me back to the car. She put me in the new car seat and we drove home