As the winter turned to spring, it was time for more adventure. The Fiat had gotten us around well, but after that trip to Hawaii and renting the Jeep, I must have one.
“So I know we talked about getting a Jeep, but what are you going to do with the other two cars? You have two already.” Max said
“Well we talked about gifting the Cobalt to Riley and David, do you think that would go over well with them sharing it?” I asked
“I don’t know, mom said neither of them started Driver’s Ed yet, and she was not sure that Riley could even get his permit with his epilepsy. I sometimes wonder if they want to drive or not. I will say they do get along better than they ever used to. If you had asked me 4 years ago, it would have been a quick No, but now they get along so much better.”
“I mean if your folks don’t want them to have it, I’ll sell either the cobalt or the Fiat, or both” I said as I looked back from my computer desk that I had been sitting at for a couple hours getting some final editing photos and videos before starting the uploads. Those will take close to 8 hours to upload, so I left my Mac alone and grabbed the MacBook and moved to the sofa with Max. It was barely 1:00 pm at this point.
As soon as I sat down, Max got up and went to the kitchen and came back. As soon as he sat down he grabbed the MacBook from me, and closed it up. “You’ve had enough screen time today.” He said as he pulled me into a laying position in his lap; followed shortly by the nipple of the bottle of chocolate milk being put in my mouth. I just lay there and sucked my bottle while Max slowly stroked my hair.
I must have dozed off, as I awoke to max lifting me up off his lap and replacing his lap with a pillow as he got up and went to the bathroom.
When he came back he said “Whew, I thought you would wake up sooner, sorry to wake you but I had to go. Your mom texted and invited us over for dinner, meatloaf night. I told her we would be there, so somebody needs his pants changed, and a shower.” Max said as he pinched his nose and directed me to the bathroom where he already had a towel out, and my bath stuff ready.
He reached into the shower and started to fill the bathtub and squirted some bubble bath in, before turning to me and starting to undress me like a toddler; leaving me standing there in a pair of printed plastic pants and a cloth diaper. He made quick work of stripping me from my diaper before lifting me into the awaiting bathtub.
A bath is such a treat, as I always have to shower when we are on the road, as most places like the RV do not have a bathtub. After playing for awhile, Max came in and grabbed the handheld shower wand and started the water and then proceeded to wash my hair before having me stand up so he could rinse me off and have me step out into the awaiting towel.
I was soon dried off and led back to the nursery where a diaper awaited me, which max got me all lotioned, powdered and diapered up before grabbing a cute outfit that I had just gotten in the mail.
“OK, get what you need to show your parents the photos packed up, and I’ll get your diaper bag packed, and start a load of your diapers in the washer.” Max said as I hopped off the changing table and waddled to the living room to pack my MacBook and the hard drive that had the edited files on it, before checking the progress of the file upload, still 5 more hours to go.
We drove the 10 minutes to my folks place and mom was waiting on us as we came up the driveway. “Aww don’t my little boy look so cute” she said which made me blush.
“Ok I got meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans, and for dessert a cherry pie” She said.
“Where’s dad?” I asked
“Oh in his workshop working on another project” She said
Just then I noticed that at the kitchen table was a portable high chair like I had in the RV. “Did you get that out of the RV?” I asked
“No, your dad built a couple extras, and this is the one for here.” She said
“Ok…” I thought, thinking that they are embracing this stuff a little too much, but what the hey.
Dad came in for dinner and we all sat down. I sat in the high chair, as I assumed that is where I was expected to eat. Though I was allowed to eat like an adult, but I still had a bib on and the tray was fastened in place.
“So what ya been working on lately?” I asked dad, wondering what his next project was.
“Oh you know top secret stuff, spice racks, shelves, and the whatnot” He said.
“Uh huh sure” I said smiling, knowing that he was up to something.
“Might need your two’s help in a week or so loading up the truck and taking this stuff to the customer. In between checking on the progress at the campground. The workshop is all up, wired and heated. The lodge should be ready this summer, they just need to finish the insides, then it is time for furniture; which with all the projects you have going on out there, I have no time to make.” He said
“We will find some and buy some if needed” I said “No biggie”
The rest of the small talk over dessert was us talking about the trip, showing some photos and videos. Then it turned to playing cards, skip-bo. After the second game I was getting tired, but those 3 were still going. So I went to the living room and laid on the couch and watched some tv, which quickly turned into me falling asleep.
Next thing I remember is a finger slipping into my plastic pants and feeling my diaper. “Oh I think he will hold until we get home” I heard and then felt myself picked up, to which I wrapped my arm around the neck and my legs around the body of Max as he carried me out to the car.
I remember being put on the changing table and getting changed and then put in my crib, next thing I realized it was the morning. I knew it was morning as I smelled coffee. Even though the door was shut to the nursery the smell of coffee permeates the air. I just rolled over and hugged my teddy bear some more, knowing that Max would come get me when he was good and ready. I smiled because I knew that those around me cared for me and I was truly loved. I think I fell back asleep, as I awoke as max opened the door and unlatched the crib.
“Hey there sleepy head, did you have a nice sleep?” He said as he tussled my hair. “Let’s get you some breakfast and then get you changed. You wanted to go look at Jeeps today. Remember we are LOOKING not buying, understand?”
“Yes Daddy, I understand. I knew he was looking out for me, and making sure his little one obeyed and did not get taken for a ride.
When I went to the kitchen he had the tray off the high chair, sitting it on the counter. I climbed up and assumed my position awaiting breakfast, a bottle of chocolate milk (I wanted coffee) and oatmeal and a banana cut up. Max insisted I wear a bib as he fed me my breakfast before cleaning my messy face up and directing me to the nursery where he had me up on the changing table and changed with ease and we were ready to go.
Luckily he allowed me to dress somewhat normal. Granted I still had a plain onesie under my polo shirt and jeans. Off to the local dodge dealer we went. I perused the various models and options. We priced out what we wanted and got a quote. Then we moved onto the next lot, this time looking in the used market before heading into the big city to check the other dodge dealers for prices on what we wanted.
I swear that buying a new vehicle is one of the hardest things to do, it is so much easier buying other goods… it seems they all want to talk you into things you don’t want or need. Like proximity door locks, which we did not want due to the security risk. Basically if the vehicle will be able to be unlocked anytime the keys are within range by just pulling on the door handle that will be a problem, as we are in a 32 foot RV, the keys are almost always in range.
We got all the paperwork to look over and think about. Thank God I gave them all my google voice # that screens calls, as they were blowing up my phone for the next days.
We decided to work with the local dealer, they were a little cheaper, and we were able to work them down a lot. Sadly their finance manager almost cried when I turned down everything they offered and then pulled out the trust checkbook and paid cash. We ended up buying a hydra blue 2021 Jeep Wrangler. Got the soft top and the 3-piece removable hard top too.
Max didn’t know it at the time but I had seen him eyeballing a used 2018 wrangler. We had looked at it and it checked all the boxes he had.
“Max, You need a vehicle of your own, you’ve been so good to me these past years, and you don’t have a vehicle of your own. How about you get that green one you were looking at, we can finance it for a year or so, I’ll set up the payments and then after that time pay it off. But it would be in your name and yours.” I said, being impulsive.
“No baby, daddy is just happy being with you, he don’t need shiny things to keep him happy.” He said
Now to figure out what to do with the other 2 cars. We had talked it over and decided to sell the cobalt for what we could, so I put a for sale sign on it, and put an ad in the local classifieds paper. It sold within 5 days for what I was asking. Goodbye old friend.