About a week later when he arrived at the nursery Mrs Lawson was there. “Look, we’ve made a walker for you!” Joe glared at his latest accessory as she opened the side to let him in. He was helped from his stroller into the walker. The suspended seat in the middle held him at a height where his toes could just about touch the ground. Mrs Lawson drew the straps around his waist and secured him into it. She closed the side of it.
“You should be able to push yourself around in it”, she explained. They were all staring at him expectantly so he pushed as best he could with his toes and the walker moved a few inches on its wheels. “There you go!” His mother was clearly pleased.
He tried again and got a few more inches. “See, you just need lots of practice.” “We’ll keep him in it until lunchtime”, Aly assured her. “Look there’s bells and rattles all around you there”, his mother demonstrated. She flicked the lever on a bell and it dinged. Joe pawed at it with his mittens and with some difficulty got it to ring. They all clapped as if this had been a great achievement for him. “Look there’s a horn!” He managed to squeeze the rubber balloon on the end between his mittens and it honked. The babies all laughed.
“Thanks so much for everything you are doing for him”, his mother thanked Mrs Lawson. “You’re welcome. It’s been great having someone to test these all out. The next thing we need to figure out is if we can give a one or two year warranty.” “Well his play-pen, cot and high-chair all look as good as the day you brought them. He’s never been able to get out of any of them and it’s not for want of trying!” They all smiled. “But it will be interesting to see how they are after two years of use.” Joe suc-ked hard on his soother.
His mother went off to work as he was left to practice in his walker. He reckoned if they just lowered his seat a little he could get better purchase. Communicating that through his soother was not easy though. “Nnnggghhh!” “Yes dear?” He waggled his bottom in the seat and tried to demonstrate that it needed adjusting. Aly just looked puzzled. He spat the soother out and was about to speak but she took it and re-inserted it firmly “Now, now!” Joe just had to be satisfied with the set up and eventually managed to move a little more easily. “See! I told you that you would get better with practice.”
One day they were told that little Jean was old enough now to move to the creche, this was going to be her last day. They had got a cake for the occasion. Joe was let out of his walker and crawled towards the little table. He turned and sat on his thickly nappied bottom, his legs in his cerise tights pushed wide apart by his double-thickness cloth nappy. He smoothed his petticoats down and looked up cutely through the frills on his bonnet and Aly went to get his big plastic bib. She secured it around his neck and made sure it protected his pretty dress. She took a spoon and scooped up some of the cake. She carefully held it in front of his mouth and he leaned forward and took as much as he could in his mouth. Some crumbs and cream stuck around his mouth and some dropped on his bib. Aly scraped the crumb and cream from around his mouth and inserted the spoon again.
“Will Baby Joe be going to the creche again?” Jean asked. “I don’t think so”, Aly smiled, “he’s better suited to here. He’s our permanent one-year-old!” she giggled. Joe looked sad. “Oh now, you don’t want those toddlers teasing you again, do you?” He had to agree he didn’t. One of the baby boys crawled over to him and handed him a rattle to cheer him up. Joe sighed but took the rattle and shook it. They all smiled. “See, this is the right place for you.”
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Topic: Doll Factory (Read 11941 times)
