All My Mother's Rules

Chapter 64: New Rules

Mom's pronouncement didn't come as a complete shock. As much as she liked to be specific when disciplining me, setting an indefinite timeline was a tactic she used when she wanted to be extra certain that I would be on my best behavior. With the potential for any slip-up to serve as an excuse to lengthen my time in diapers, I had no room for any mistakes.

"Go brush your teeth."

With that abrupt conclusion to Mom's lecture, I was dismissed. I waddled out of the room, crinkling all the way to the sink. As I spread a bit of toothpaste onto my brush, I couldn't shake the impression that the full details of Mom's plan to discipline me had yet to be revealed.

If past experiences were to serve as precedent, I was going to be treated very much like a baby for the next few days. I didn't think I was going to get away with spending just a single day in diapers, but as long as I did everything Mom asked, I doubted it would extend too much longer than that. It was an exhaustive punishment for her to have to enforce for multiple days in a row.

It was way before my bedtime, but with everything that I was now banned from doing, it wasn't like there was much point in staying up any later. At least I wouldn't have to help Mom with getting Emilia ready for bed when help basically meant doing almost everything for her.

But the diaper was dry when I returned to the bedroom. I'd at least had an accident in my pull-up right before Mom changed me into a diaper, so I wasn't going to have to worry about trying to fall asleep in a wet diaper.

Mom was still in the bedroom when I returned. Couldn't I at least be trusted to tuck myself into bed on my own?

"Babies sleep in a crib," Mom said.

I was capable of fitting in the crib, but only if I curled up on my side or scrunched in my legs if I was lying on my back. There were times when I might be able to get away with pushing back against Mom. This was not one of them.

Mom unlatched the gate to the crib, and I obediently crawled in and squeezed myself under a blanket without saying a word. I was going to need to make sure I spent time stretching in the morning with how sore I was likely to be from an entire night of sleeping in this position.

Even Emilia was getting too old for the crib. It wasn't as though she didn't still fit in it, but as a nearly four-year-old girl whose potty training was one hundred percent complete, she was due to have a regular bed. Mom had talked in the past about setting up a bunk bed when that time came, since trying to squeeze in two beds in our tiny room would be nearly impossible. I wasn't opposed to the idea, assuming that I would be on the top bunk.

I didn't respond as Mom said goodnight and then turned off the lights and shut the door.

Even with the lights off, I didn't close my eyes right away. I could hear the water running from the bathroom. Mom was filling up the tub to bathe Emilia before bedtime. I could picture what her reaction would be to learn she would be trading places with me for the next few nights. Hopefully, she would avoid rolling off the side of the bed.

Even if I were to close my eyes and fall asleep now, I was bound to be woken up when it was time for Mom to tuck Emilia into bed, so it made little sense to try to fall asleep.

I normally would have been more comfortable lying on my back, but with how thoroughly Mom had spanked me, that wasn't an option tonight. Might not even be an option tomorrow night, either.

The darkness and silence created a moment of calm, and I was able to take a deep breath and begin to rationally assess everything that had occurred in the past half-hour when my whole world had turned upside down.

What is strange is that I almost felt a bit of relief.

That wasn't to say that I in any way was happy with the situation, with my bedwetting and incontinence, and Mom's attempts to punish and shame me out of it. But after months of struggling to keep everything hidden, of struggling to keep my story straight all the time, this punishment, as bad as it was, at least came with a sense of certainty.