From the day he was born, it was obvious that Bryin was smart and that he was going to be easy to care for. His proud parents, June and Henry Bistwick, marveled at his inquisitive spirit and his quick intelligence. Bryin was their first child so it might be thought that their pride was unjustified; but, Bryin was quite above average in intelligence. By the age of two he had learned the alphabet and had mastered the logic of games written for six and eight year olds. He was so adventurous that his parents constantly worried about what he might do next. When his older cousins dared him to do things he never hesitated to take up the challenge. All in all, he gave his parents and the people who knew him a lot of pleasure.
This is why it came as such a shock when his potty
training started falling behind schedule. They had made early attempts at 20
months, 26 months but were not too surprised when these failed. They knew they
shouldn’t push too early so they waited and subtly began to encourage him along
the road to being dry. A short while later, June became pregnant again (The
family didn’t know it yet, but these would be the twins Cyndi and Raymund.).
She and Henry were tremendously excited as they bought and moved into a larger
house and took care of the hundreds of things that expectant parents need to.
As a result, Bryin’s training got more or less overlooked. June and Henry felt
that now that Bryin had new playmates in the neighborhood he would eventually
get enough peer pressure to want to become dry like them.
“Bryin, come into the kitchen for a minute,” June called to him one afternoon while he was watching cartoons in the den with his friend Kahrl. “Do you need to go potty?”
“No.”
“How about pee?”
“Uh, uh.”
“Let me check… Oh, Bryin, you’re soaked. Why didn’t you tell Mommy you needed changing?”
“I forgot.”
“Bryin, these are things you don’t forget,” she scolded. “You have to tell Mommy or Daddy when you’re about to wet.”
“Ok, I will” he merrily agreed, as he started back to the den to watch cartoons.
“Wait a minute, young man, you need to be changed.”
“But, Bugs Bunny is about to….” he protested.
“Well, Bugs will have to do it without you. Come, let’s go get you changed.”
Walking past the den, June wondered how much of their conversation Kahrl had heard. She was secretly hoping that he knew why she was taking Bryin to his room. Peer pressure from Kahrl might motivate him to become dry.
As she picked him up to place him on the changing table (Boy, he was getting heavy.) she wondered again about his lack of interest in potty training. She couldn’t understand how he could sit in a wet diaper and not feel it. “No,” she thought, “he’s intelligent and knows his surroundings very well. He is aware of his wet diapers, so why doesn’t he protest more? It is true that he practically never suffered from diaper rash even though she insisted on using cloth diapers. She was an attentive mother but was she too attentive? Should she “neglect” his changes a little bit and let him get an uncomfortable diaper rash? Would this prompt him to ask for changes and then lead him into training pants?” While she sorely wanted him to move along and to become dry she couldn’t bring herself to deliberately inflict pain on a small child. No, she would have to think of something else. But what?
“Mommy, what are you thinking about,” Bryin wondered. She had removed his shorts, plastic pants, and diaper and was just standing there looking down at him.
“I’m thinking about how big you’re getting. Why, you’re even taller than your cousin Ty who is thirteen months older than you. Pretty soon, I won’t need to change you anymore. You’ll be a really big boy and will go potty all by yourself, all the time.”
“Oh,” was Bryin’s only answer. June thought she also sensed disappointment in his voice. “I must be imagining it,” she thought to herself.
Bryin felt his mother’s practiced hands gently cleaning him and pinning him into fresh diapers. In just a few seconds (or so it seemed to Bryin), his mother was handing him his plastic pants to put on. Bryin had noticed that his mother was having him do more and more of his own dressing when she changed him. He dutifully pulled the plastic pants up while his mother checked that the diaper was tucked in properly. Her fingertips tucking in the edges of the diaper always made Bryin giggle.
“Here are your shorts,” said June as she handed them to him.
“Don’t need them, Mommy” was Bryin’s reply and out he flew from the room to settle down on his stomach next to Kahrl on the den floor.
June was shocked. Bryin had never been particularly shy, but he had never done anything like this before. How would Kahrl react? What kind of teasing would Kahrl give Bryin? Would Kahrl say anything to the other boys Bryin played with?
June discreetly watched the boys in the den while she pretended to read a magazine. Only at the next commercial break when Kahrl turned toward Bryin did Kahrl notice that Bryin wasn’t wearing any pants.
“You look funny in just diapers and plastic pants. What happened to your shorts? Did you wet them?” giggled Kahrl.
“No. I don’t want to them; they’re too hot and itchy. And your face is funny.”
“Bryin, don’t talk to Kahrl that way; it’s not polite,” his mother reminded him.
“But he started it; he said I looked funny.”
“That’s enough, Bryin. Go get dressed. It’s almost dinner time and we have to take Kahrl home.”
“Aw, do I have to? Can’t I ride in the car like this? It’s too hot for pants,” whined Bryin.
For the second time that afternoon, June was shocked. “OK, but the car is parked in the driveway. Are you sure you want to go outside without your pants? Don’t you at least want to put on a longer shirt that will cover more of your diaper and plastic pants?”
“Noooo, I want to go like this,” insisted Bryin.
“All right, let’s get in the car.”
June noticed that Bryin hesitated for just a second before walking through the door. Was he having second thoughts? Was he forcing himself to do this? But, why? June’s thoughts were interrupted as she heard Bryin call out a greeting to his friend Lucas across the street. Was Bryin really trying to have all his friends see him in diapers? What did this all mean? From that moment forward, she knew that potty training was going to be a big issue.
***
Bryin knew that he had made an important decision today. A long time ago he had decided that he didn’t want to give up his diapers and with all the logic of a 4 1/2 year old, he was sure that his parents would understand. Of course he couldn’t express these feeling in words, but he knew that today he’d done something important. Little did he know how this would affect events years in the future.
***
June discussed these events with Henry later that evening, but he thought she was exaggerating their importance. This was how the situation stood a few weeks later when the twins, Cyndi and Raymund, were born.