All My Mother's Rules

Chapter 32: Two Strikes and You're Out

The remainder of the ride home went much faster now that I didn't have a full bladder slowing down the clock. No sooner had I taken off my shoes inside the front entrance had Mom requested that I take my jeans off. Having spent almost the entire day away from home on a Saturday hadn't thrown her off her toilet training routine.

"But Mom, it's cold in here."

"Of course it is cold. I'm not going to pay to heat the house while we are gone. It will warm up again in a bit."

"Then can I wait and take my jeans off when it is warmer?"

I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but I did think it was at least a reasonable enough request. If I could keep Mom from seeing the wet pull-up, just maybe I would be able to sneak into a dry one for a change without her noticing that an extra diaper had been used. That was not to be.

"You know the drill, young lady. Pants down."

I paused for as long as I could to delay following through on her request, but I at last unbuttoned the front of my jeans. The wet pull-up bulged out unmistakably as I unzipped the front of my pants. What I would give for a brand of diapers or pull-ups that you could wet without them blaring out that you've had an accident. I tugged the jeans off and left them in a pile near the front entryway. Mom rested her hands on her hips and gave a sigh of resignation.

"Let's get you cleaned up," she said, grabbing me by the hand and leading me into her bedroom.

As unnerving as her exasperation was, I was glad to have been so far spared a lengthy lecture about my toileting. I kept my eyes closed as Mom changed me. Instead of ripping the sides off of the pull-up, she grabbed it and pulled it all the way down my legs till it was past my feet and off of me.

"Two accidents in one day. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with you. You need to be setting a better example for your sister. What's she supposed to think when you come back home with a wet pull-up on?"

I didn't answer. I knew it was a rhetorical question. I shivered as Mom wiped me clean. I had yet to get used to the feeling of baby wipes. They weren't so bad when you were using them on yourself, and could anticipate the cool sensation against your skin, but not having control of when the wipes would touch you almost made it a form of torture.

Mom stepped away from the bed, presumably to toss the used pull-up in the garbage and return with a fresh one, but she was away longer than it should have taken to do that. I held my feet together, waiting for her to slip the pull-up around them and slide the undergarment up my legs. Instead, Mom grabbed hold of my legs and started to push them back to lift up my bottom.

"No NO! Please, no."

I tried to get up from the bed, but Mom pressed her hand firmly against my chest, preventing me from rolling over or sitting up.

"You know exactly how the rules work, Sarah. Two accidents in one day means you're going to spend a day taking a break from toilet training. I'm not changing the potty-training rules I'm using for Emilia, so you're going to have to follow them as well."

"But Mom, the accident happened while I was in the car. I would have gone to the toilet if I had one to go to."

"That doesn't matter. Part of being toilet trained is being able to hold your bladder when a toilet isn't immediately available."

I gave up my resistance, letting my body go limp on the bed. Mom grabbed my legs and rolled me slightly backwards to make room under my bottom as she slid the back of my nighttime diaper beneath me. The rest of the diapering passed by in a blur. I closed my eyes again. I didn't want to look ahead to see Mom's hands as they pulled the front of the diaper up over me and positioned the tapes on either side. At last, she was finished. The fit of the diaper snug as always as Mom grabbed my hands and helped me off of the bed and onto my feet.