Chuckie vs The Potty
"Hey Chuckie, come here." Chas said, holding out his arms. "I'm going to miss you but I'll be back in a few days. You have fun with Tommy and his family, okay?" Chuckie hugged Chas back, pressing his face into his shoulder. "Don't worry about the potty, okay? I know you can do it. I love you." He pulled Chuckie away and the boy managed a smile before Chas set him down and turned to Didi, who walked him to the door. "He's using training pants right now… Drew suggested them… but do your best to get him used to the potty."
"I will. This'll be good practice for Tommy in a year or so."
Meanwhile Chuckie was sitting in the corner, upset. "What's wrong?" Tommy asked.
"It's horrible!" Chuckie whimpered. "I'll never be potty trained."
"Potty trained?" Lil said. "What's that?"
"It's where you go to the potty like a big person."
"You mean not in a diapee?" Phil said, shocked.
Tommy got indignant. "They can't take your diapees away, Chuckie! We'll stop'em!" He turned to storm off but Chuckie caught his hand.
"I wanna be potty trained."
"…why?" Tommy asked, utterly confused. "Having a diapee is the best! You can go whenever ya want, don't gotta worry about having to stop playing or watching tv or eating lunch…"
Chuckie shook his head. "But if you're potty trained then you don't have ta sit in a messy diapee. No more rashes or waking up cold and smelly. No more getting pulled away and everyone makin' a big scene!" Chuckie sighed. "It's so much easier but I'll never get it!"
Tommy had never thought about that. Diapees were the best thing ever. At least… he had thought they were…
"What are ya babies doing?" Angelica asked.
"Chuckie wants to be potty trained by he keeps having problems," Phil said.
Angelica considered this. In the past she'd have made fun of Chuckie. Told him that he'd never use the potty. That he was just going to be a dumb baby forever. And if Tommy tried to claim that diapees were great she would have embarrassed him too.
But… Dr. Jasper and her had been talking and he'd pointed out that while the babies were, well, babies right now… some day they'd be kids like her and a lot more fun to play with. Angelica didn't quite know about that… but it did make her think how much better things would be if Tommy and his friends weren't around her with stinky diapers.
"Alright Finster," Angelica said, sitting down next to the playpen, "Let's go over how to do this!"
So Angelica actually gave Chuckie advice. And by the end of the weekend Chuckie had managed to go on his own.
And while the other babies were happy about that Tommy couldn't help but think. He'd always thought he'd want to remain a baby forever. But… Chuckie was growing up.
Did that mean he had to too?