"You want to play with Katie?" Jen asked.
Kelly nodded, "it might be fun to be a little kid for a while," Kelly responded, "and Katie doesn't have any kids her age around to play with, so I can be like her big sister and..."
"No!" Katie interrupted.
Both Kelly and Jen looked at Katie, "what's wrong, Sweetie?" Jen asked.
Katie pointed to Kelly, "she no Auntie!"
Kelly felt a little hurt by that comment, "Katie, that is no way to talk to a grown-up," Jen responded.
"She no grown-up," Katie responded, "grown-ups are big and she little."
Instantly Kelly and Jen understood; it wasn't that Katie was refusing to play with Kelly, it was that in her two-year-old mind she no longer understood why "little" Kelly was still being treated like a grown-up.
"Katie, Sweetheart, "Kelly spoke, "you're right, I'm not a grown-up anymore, but I would love to be your big sister until I get big again."
"No," Katie repeated she stood in front of her shrunken Aunt and was indeed a few inches shorter, "me big girl and you little girl, me big sister you baby sister."
"Katie," Jen began to speak, "Kelly is still an adult, and she wants to be kind and..."
"No, Jen," Kelly interjected, "Katie's right, she's a big girl, and she's a good girl too," Kelly went on. "She's moved up to pull-ups, she follows the rules, and she's very polite. But me," Kelly put the Reducer in her sister's hands, "I picked up a strange toy, I came here uninvited, and I probably scared both of you." Kelly switched to a cutesy baby voice, "I a very naughty baby girl."
Katie giggled, "Naughty baby Kelly, she's not even wearing a diaper."
"Katie," Jen corrected, "you Aunty doesn't need..."
"No, Jen," Kelly spoke, "Katie is right again, how could I be a grown-up? I'm smaller than Katie, and she's two. I'm just a naughty little girl who took off her diaper and got into mommy's things."
"Naughty, Naughty baby Kelly!" Katie added with a laugh.
"What are you saying, Kelly?" Jen questioned.
"I'm saying that I must be Katie's baby sister, right?" Kelly asked with a wink.
Jen understood at last that Kelly was playing along, "oh, right," Jen giggled before attempting to look serious, "you naughty little girl," she said trying to keep a straight face, "getting into Mommy's things."
"And now," Kelly continued, "you have to take me upstairs and 'clean me up' right, Jen?"
"Clean you up?" Jen questioned.
"Yeah," Kelly responded, "you have to get me in some 'proper clothing' isn't that right?" Kelly winked again.
"Oh," Jen said realizing what Kelly was saying, "right," Jen then attempted to act like a mother scolding her child as she picked Kelly up and wagged her finger, "you come right upstairs with me young lady, you've been a very naughty girl."
"I come to Mommy," Katie declared as she began walking to the stairs.
"No," both Kelly and Jen said together.
"You stay here and play by yourself for a little honey while mommy takes your baby sister upstairs and cleans her," Jen told her daughter.
"Okay, Mommy," Katie agreed as she sat down on the floor and picked up her Teddy Bear.
"Good girl," Jen remarked as she began to carry her shrunken sister upstairs.
"Don't forget the diaper, Mommy!" Katie called up. "Babies need diapers!"
Jen ran to her daughter's room and placed Kelly in her daughter's toddler bed. Katie's room was typical for a toddler girl; there was a small toddler bed with Disney Princess sheets, a closet full of her clothes, a few dolls and stuffed animals scattered across the floor, a basket full of her favorite story and coloring books, a few drawings on the walls, a changing area, a small table with a plastic tea set, and lastly a large chart on the wall three weeks at a time with each day having a section for both day and night. This chart served as a way of recording Katie's progress in potty training; each day or night Katie got through without an accident was marked with a smiley face sticker whereas each with a potty accident was marked with a storm cloud sticker. Currently, Katie had made it three days with no accidents.
"No wonder she's acting like such a big girl," Kelly remarked, referring to the chart.
"Yes," Jen smiled, "she's so proud of her potty progress, but enough about that," she added, turning serious. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I do," Kelly assured her sister, "I never thought Katie would react like this, but I guess it makes sense she just wants everything to be fair."
"You do realize Katie wants you to be treated just like her, right?" Jen questioned.
"Even less," Kelly corrected, "Katie wants to be the big girl with a baby sister."
"And you're okay with that?" Jen asked.
"It's not like anyone will know, right? It's pretending." Kelly remarked.
"But Katie wants it to look real," Jen pointed out, "which means wearing one of these," she added, holding up a diaper.
Kelly decides to...