Derrick Back in Diapers

At the nearly manic insistence of his mother, Derrick was toilet 
trained and out of diapers before his 2nd birthday. I thought this was 
crazy, and as it turned out, my wife was crazy. She ran off with some 
other nutcase and we were divorced before Derrick was four years old. 
When the divorce was official I decided it was time to put Derrick back 
into diapers. I wasn't sure it would work, but I had a plan how to do 
it that summer while we were both out of school.

The first thing I did was find cartoons that I could change a little to 
have the boys in them look like they wet the bed, or their pants, were 
wearing diapers, or at least were talking about wetting and diapers 
(Now I wish I had kept them). I used Calvin and Hobbs, Dennis the 
Menace, and Family Circus a lot. The one that I really liked was the 
picture on the cover of one Calvin and Hobbes book where they are on 
the bed supposedly looking at a puddle of monster drool on the floor. I 
blew that one up on the copier and changed it to have Calvin say, "Wow, 
it looks like we both wet the bed last night." And Hobbs says, "Yeah, I 
think I want my diapers again." Calvin replies, "Me too!"

One evening we were on the couch reading some of the cartoon books and 
Derrick said, "I miss mommy."

That gave me my chance. "Derrick, I do too, and you know what she liked 
best about us? She liked changing your diapers," I lied. "So every time 
you miss her, you should just think about her changing your diapers."

"Really? He said, "Ok."

I told him this the next few nights, until one night he volunteer the 
information. "Mommy liked to change my diapers, didn't she, Daddy?

I said, "Yes, she did." That night I put a vinyl sheet on his bed. When 
he asked why, I said, "You used to have one on your bed when Mommy 
changed your diapers." He still did not ask for diapers.

The next week or so Derrick came down with a pretty bad cold and felt 
really miserable. Even though he was tied, he couldn't sleep because he 
was so stuffed up. That night I gave him Benadryl and a big glass of 
orange juice knowing that would make him sleep. That morning he woke up 
wet! The Benadryl is a diuretic and had made him so sleepy he just peed 
in his sleep. He was upset. I assured him, "That's OK. Mommy would like 
that. Remember she like to change you."

"Yeah, he said, "she did."

That night I gave him another Benadryl and orange juice at bedtime, and 
he woke up wet again. This time he wasn't upset at all, he just said, 
"I'm wet."

That's OK, Derrick," I said, "just like Calvin and Hobbs. See?" I 
brought the picture from his desk where he had been coloring it. "See 
they both wet."

"Yeah, Derrick said, "And they want diapers because they wet." He 
looked at me. "Can I..." and stopped.

"Can you, what?" I asked.

"Can I have..."

I finished the sentence for him, "�diapers?" He nodded sheepishly. 
"Sure, Derrick, you can wear diapers. Mommy would like that, and I 
would too." He brightened up. "Sure, we can go and buy some today."

Right now," he said. I wasn't about to stall him on this, even though 
he was still real sick. We got him out of his wet PJs, dressed him up 
warmly and went off to the grocery store to buy diapers. When we got 
home he was exhausted. I changed him out of his clothes into dry PJs 
and a diaper. I gave him another Benadryl and orange juice, and put him 
to bed. Mid afternoon he woke up and the diaper was wet. I told him how 
proud his Mommy would be of him and how nice he looked in his wet 
diaper. And he ate it up; he like the extra attention. For then few 
days until the worst of the cold was over he was in PJs and diapers all 
the time.

After the cold was pretty much gone I had no reason to give him the 
Benadryl, but I still gave him the orange juice, hoping that would be 
enough. In the morning his diaper was dry. I told him how much Mommy 
liked to change him and that she would be disappointed that he had a 
dry diaper. I did this for the next few days, and then one morning he 
was wet when he woke up. I told him how good he was and how much Mommy 
would like that. And as a present I would buy him a new Calvin and 
Hobbs comic book.

For the next month or so he was off and on wet at night. Every time he 
was wet he got a present and a lot of praise. If he was dry he got 
nothing. By the time school year started in late August and he went 
back for his last year of preschool Derrick was wet three to four 
nights a week. By the time he started Kindergarten the next year he was 
wet almost every night. He is now 12 years old and still wears diapers 
(well, Goodnights) every night. He still thinks his mom would be proud 
of him for being in diapers. I sure am!