A year later and Monica and Norma were awaiting the arrival of the group they had so much fun with last year. The cars pulled in. Monica immediately went to Emma’s car. “Baby Bobbie! Welcome back!” Robert looked out resignedly from his booster seat. “You weren’t able to toilet train him again?” “I was never able to be sure enough, no. So he’s been in nappies since last summer.”
“What did you do about school?” Norma asked. “As far as they are concerned, he’s being home-schooled” his mother responded. “To be honest, I think they were relieved and didn’t ask too many questions. He’d been a bit of a problem pupil in the previous year.”
She freed Robert from the booster seat. He climbed out with some difficulty. “Oh I see he’s wearing a much thicker nappy now!” Monica couldn’t really miss that extra large bulge beneath his short baby dress. “Yes it can take several wettings and means I really only need to change him when he soils.”
Monica tried not to laugh at the way the thick nappy made Robert waddle and look even more babyish. “And that’s a new dress” Norma observed looking at his peach coloured baby dress with the obligatory matching bonnet and nappy cover. “Yes the mums have been great making him a new outfit every few months. I’ve loved having a baby girl to dress prettily”
“And the ringlets dangling beneath his bonnet? They’re not real, are they?” Monica asked. “Oh yes once his hair grew long enough I put it in ringlets”, his mother confirmed. “I found the old heated pins that my grandmother used to give my mother ringlets when she was a little girl. My mother hated it of course and thankfully never imposed them on me. But I think he looks to cute in ringlets and it reduces the chances of anyone who sees him noticing he’s a boy. The hair setting lotions available today are really effective at making his ringlets last.”
The other little ones were now toddling around the place much more confidently than a year before. “Let’s go to the playroom”, Monica shouted. They all ran off leaving Baby Bobbie waddling behind them.
When he got to the playroom they were already constructing things from the play blocks. Monica saw him look disconsolately at the children’s dexterity while his hands were still locked in mittens.
“Don’t worry we still have rattles and big letter blocks that you can play with”, she assured him. Robert sniffled as he waddled over to the rattles and flopped down on his extra thickly cushioned nappy.
When it came to meal time the little children ran to the eating area and pulled their little plastic chairs up to their special low table. When Baby Bobbie arrived after them he saw his high-chair had been brought here for the week.
He was secured in the high-chair and Monica fed him his bottle while he watched the children feed themselves, observing that he was the only one still being bottle-fed. Norma then spoon-fed him his pureed food while the children fed themselves bananas and milky rusks.
When she was finished spoon-feeding him she left him in the high chair and went back to the kitchen. The toddlers had finished and went back to their toys. He realised that Monica hadn’t popped his soother back in. It was dangling on a ribbon pinned to his dress. He gathered it between his mittens, popped it back in himself and started suc-king contentedly.
He wanted to get back to his toys though. He could see there were some new rattles he wanted to try. He squirmed in his high chair trying to show the women that he wanted out. They just smiled at his helplessness and otherwise ignored him. He could feel a tantrum coming on. He tried to control it. He was having tantrums more often now but he knew his mummy would leave him in a soiled nappy for a long time if he misbehaved so he suc-ked hard on his soother and tried to be good.
Monica emerged from the kitchen holding a birthday cake. Norma and the mums followed and started singing “Happy Birthday to you”. Robert looked over at the toddlers expecting to see the birthday boy or girl react. None of them appeared to. He looked at the cake and saw it was decorated with pink icing. He focused on the girl toddlers but they were also looking around to see whose birthday it was.
Then he noticed that there was a big candle in the shape of the number 1 on top of the cake. He frowned. None of the toddlers could be only 1 year old. The women continued singing. “Happy Birthday Baby Bobbie.” Now he was totally puzzled. They were heading towards him in his high chair. Monica placed the cake on the tray in front of him. “Careful the lace on your bonnet doesn’t catch fire”, she warned giggling.
But it wasn’t his birthday! “One year a baby in nappies!” Norma announced. They all laughed and Robert’s cheeks flushed. “Blow out your candle” his mummy told him. He was still suc-king on his soother. She pulled it out. He blew out the single candle and she popped it back in immediately as they all clapped.
The other mums had been carrying balloons which they tied to the four corners of his high chair. They were baby pink coloured with a big ‘1’ on them and they hovered all around him. They stood back and took photos on their phones. “I must send it to Rita”, Angie said. “She can forward it to his friends.”
They cut the chocolate cake into slices and distributed it around on plates. Baby Bobbie watched, suc-king on his soother. Wasn’t he going to get a piece? “Nnnnggghhhh!” “Don’t worry”, his mum assured him and placed one slice in a plastic bowl which had a plastic spoon to feed it to him. She took a large spoonful and popped his soother out. “Open wide!” Everyone was watching. Robert opened as wide as he could but the spoonful was too big and chocolate was smeared around his mouth.
They all laughed. His mother posed for photos holding another spoonful of chocolate cake up to his chocolatey mouth. They found it hilarious. But Baby Bobbie’s face crumpled into a very sad face and he started blubbering. “Oh now, we’re just having a little fun.” His mum took a tissue and wiped his face. “There, all better now.” She popped his soother back in and he suc-ked until the tears went away. His mother took a more reasonable spoonful, popped his soother out and properly fed him the rest of his portion.
When she was finished she said “won’t you thank Monica and Norma for the cake and balloons?” Robert clapped his mittened hands together and tried to smile at them despite being mortified having his horrendous year in nappies and baby dresses celebrated.
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Topic: Shoulda gone to camp (Read 23440 times)
