"Sweetie? Are you awake?"
Turning your head, you see your father peering at you from the open door to your nursery. You're completely unable to hide the smile on your face.
"I think you ARE ready for your birthday party." he coos, stepping in and scooping you up from your crib and giving you a snuggle. "But first let's get you dressed up." he adds, carrying you to your changing table as unzipping your snug sleeper. As he undresses you, you feel so happy and cheerful by the kindly look on his face, you find yourself blabbering high pitched jibberish and babble, gumming on your fingers as you're left in your thick, puffy, round diaper on the changing table.
"Looks like you're in need of a change, baby." you hear daddy say. That's quite odd, you think. Shouldn't you be able to tell if you're dry or not? Before you can protest (though you likely wouldn't be able to with your hand in your teething mouth), you find your chubby round legs lifted up and your wet nappy removed, your wet bottom feeling quite cold now. As you wait, still nomming your fingers, you shudder as you're wiped clean and giggle as you're dusted with baby powder, an even thicker diaper is bundled up around your midsection. How are you supposed to learn to walk with your legs bowled apart like this? Looking over your chubby round belly, you see your father buttoning up a thick, violet cloth diaper, slipping a snug, frilly, pink rubber cover over it.
"Since you're back home, let's get you out of those wasteful disposables, sweetie." he coos. Leaving you on the cushioned changing table (the guardrails keeping you safe from possibly flipping yourself to the floor), he steps toward the closet as you reach for your tiny toes and clutch them tight, giggling at how ticklish they've become.
"Ready to get dressed up, baby?" you hear, your pa coming over to you with a cute outfit on a hanger. In a flash, he dresses you up. He clearly knows what he's doing. Placing a floppy hat on your head, he carries you to the mirror. Every time you see yourself as a baby, it feels like you're seeing yourself for the first time. Your cute round face, your oddly full and lush head of shiny brown hair, your tiny button nose and sparkly eyes, but then you laugh happily at how ridiculous but adorable your reflection is dressed. You see a vibrant red dress that doesn't even cover your diaper, with a large, dippy, ruffled hem, shiny, glossy yellow seed-shaped sequins at each dip and on your head was matching red cap with identical sequins and a frilly green addition at the top with a floppy green stem.
"I'm a strawberry!" you laugh at your dress, hearing a squeal erupt from your mouth, clapping cutely.
"Daddy could just eat his little birthday strawberry up. Yes he could." you hear as he slips two thick, round red slippers on your little piggie toes. "Ready for your big night, little strawberry?" he asks, picking you up once more. It always feels so fun getting lifted up and carried. You always feel like you're flying. Cuddling your daddy, thinking dreamily of your future as the smartest baby in the whole wide world, he opens the door and steps out into the house you knew and loved to visit when you were a grown woman.