Page 22 of Deciding for Little Dallas
Dallas' eyes were still full of tears, but she nodded anyway. “I can be brave.”
“You can, you’re such a brave girl,” he reminded. He straightened her Frankenstein dress before kissing her cheek. “You and I will have a yummy breakfast together and then you will go to the nursery for just a tiny while. Then Daddy will come get you and we can go swim again,” he promised. Dallas had loved swimming in the big pool yesterday. She’d begged to staylonger, and Pike knew it would be a wonderful reward for her when she tried new things.
“Swim?” she asked.
“If you’re a big brave girl, after your nap, Daddy will take you swimming again.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” Pike said, holding out his pinkie. “I’ll even give you a pinky promise.”
She wrapped her much smaller pinkie around his and nodded. “Okay, Daddy.”
“Good girl,” he praised.
Standing, he grabbed her backpack and tossed it over his shoulder. “Let’s go get some breakfast and then we’ll go see all your Little friends.”
She obediently held his hand as they walked to?the elevator and took it?down to the main lobby.
“We’re going to eat in the cafeteria again, Bitty.” Once she’d settled into the nursery, they would try a new place, but Pike didn’t want to overwhelm her with too many new things at once.
Dallas toddled behind Daddy as he fixed their plates, not even paying attention to what he was putting on it. Pike was pleased to see she seemed to be looking for her friend Sadie and that made him smile.
She obediently grabbed his pocket before he even asked. “Good girl, Bitty. You’re making Daddy really proud.” She brightened a bit under his words. They parked in their normal spots, and he gave his usual command to sit right there and not to move.
Pike set their cups on the table, pulled a bottle from her bag, and filled it with orange juice and powdered laxative. Dallas frowned. “Nu, Daddy,” she whined.
“Yes,” he answered firmly. “Daddy will never play around with your health.” She knew that. She often had trouble with herbowel movements due to her asthma medication, so the laxative wasn’t new to her but having it while wearing a diaper definitely was. He understood it was hard on her to be in a younger headspace in public, but he really felt like she was thriving, and he wasn’t going to let her nerves or tummy issues hinder that for her. “It will take a few hours to kick in and you will be back with me by then,” he reminded her. They’d already talked about letting the nursery staff change her and Dallas had been uncomfortable with the idea, so he had sent Miss Phoebe an email letting her know he would be popping in to change her diaper. He would tell her at drop off as well.
He set the bottle on the table in front of her before cutting up her pancakes and strawberries.? He added a bit of syrup.
After putting a jack-o’-lantern bib on her, he forked up a bite of pancakes and held it to her mouth.??
Dallas took the bite and he praised her before scooping up a second bite.
“Teefs wants a bite bite,” Dallas said, holding the lovie up. Pike offered Teefs a bite, making Dallas giggle.
“Now, Baby Dallas’ turn.” He held another bite to her mouth. By the time Pike had fed Dallas, Teefs, and himself, Dallas was much more relaxed and sitting in his lap, drinking her bottle while he finished his coffee.
Pike’s heart beat rapidly in his chest and more than half of him wanted to take Baby Dallas back to their room and not share her with the world. New headspaces were hard on Daddies and Mommies too and he didn’t feel like it was talked about near enough. He was sending the most important piece of his heart into the world and he could only pray they were kind to her.
Dallas squeezed his hand, causing him to look down at her. “It’s going to be okay, Daddy. I’m gonna have lots of fun.”?
He stopped, knelt down beside her, and pulled her into his arms. “You’re right, baby. Daddy’s just going to miss you.”
“Is only for a little while, Daddy. We can do it,” she said, nodding confidently. “It will be a super magical day for both of us.”
He chuckled. “You’re such a smart girl, you’re right. We can do it.” He stood and took her hand again, leading her to the Caterpillar Room.
“Good morning, Dallas!”
“Good morning, Nanny J,” she said, shyly.
“Good morning, Teefs,” Nanny J said.
Dallas giggled. “Teefs said good morning too!”
Pike handed the diaper bag over to Nanny J. “I will be back in about an hour and a half. She shouldn’t need anything before then, but she has a bottle with water inside her bag. We aren’t ready to let new friends change her diapers yet, so I’ll be popping in to change her during her time here… probably not today because it’s such a short time frame, but you have my number if I need to come pick her up sooner. It’s in her cell phone in her diaper bag too,” Pike said. He felt like he was going to throw up.
