When they got to the kitchen, Anita took the booster seat she had bought him that morning and put it in his customary chair at the kitchen table. Then she hoisted him up to the chair to sit on it. While she made sandwiches for the both of them, Howard looked at the seat she had bought him. It was bright yellow and made of contoured molded plastic that seemed to fit his bottom exactly. It made him feel as if he was an infant in a high chair. She placed his plate and cup of milk before him and sat down in her chair to eat. When she was half done, she said, “Howard, I’ve made a decision. You’ve gotten too small to leave all alone by yourself while I’m at work. Look at you, you’re too small to even sit at the table without a booster seat! You can’t even wipe your bottom by yourself when you go to the potty much less wash your messy hands after you eat. Now that you’ve started peeing yourself, I can’t even trust you to stay dry while I’m at work. I wish I could afford to hire a babysitter for you, but the cost would be prohibitive.”
“Babysitter!”, Howard yelped in surprise, “Surely you don’t mean you’d let someone come in and see me like this?”
“Hush, Howard. Don’t interrupt while I’m talking. Little boys should be seen and not heard,” Anita chided, “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I can’t afford to hire a babysitter for you, so I’ve thought of something else. I’m going to send you to daycare.”
“Daycare!”, Howard squealed.
“Howard! This is your last warning! If you interrupt me one more time, I’m going to spank you and stick your nose in a corner for a timeout! Do you understand me?”, Anita said.
Howard stared at his plate and said quietly, “Yes, mam.”
“I’ve enrolled you in the daycare center where I work. Starting Monday, you’ll spend your time at the daycare until I get off. I’ve told them that youíre my nephew and that my sister has become ill. I explained that my sister has given me custody of you until she’s out of the hospital. They won’t know what’s happened to you and you won’t tell them. Will you, Sweetiepie?”, Anita asked in a threatening tone.
“No, mam,” Howard responded humbly.
“You’re going to have to pretend to be a toddler so that I can keep my job. I don’t want anything to interfere with my upcoming promotion. With you being unable to work, I’ve got to be careful about endangering my job. I should be hearing some news soon about my promotion. In less than two months, I’ll know for sure whether I’ve been put in charge of research. Once I get the raise that comes with the promotion, I can afford to hire a babysitter or governess for you. In the meantime, I want you to work at sounding like a toddler. We don’t have to worry about the way you look. I don’t think anyone could tell you’re not four years old.”
Anita chucked and said, “You seem to have gotten childish ‘accidents’ down pat and you suck your thumb without thinking about it. You shouldn’t have any problems with the TV shows they have there. They’re just your cup of tea; cartoons. It’s your other behavior that worries me. You have the high pitched voice of a toddler, but you don’t talk like one. Fortunately, that can be easily remedied. You can start by calling me Mommy.”