Ollie grabbed the T-Rex and, making growling, roaring noises in imitation of the lizard king, ran around the room indulging his imagination and getting some looks from a few of the other kids.
Marco simply chuckled and saw to some of his other duties as the four-year-old boy adapted to the daycare center's regimen.
After 15 minutes of running and roaring, Ollie came to a stop and realized he was parched. He wiped his brow with the plastic dinosaur and gazed around the room. He saw a table with stacks of plastic cups and a large plastic pitcher with some sort of juice. He toddled his way to the table and gazed longingly at the pitcher of juice. Fortunately, one of the staff saw him and poured him a cup from the full pitcher.
Taking the plastic cup into his hands, Ollie chirped a polite thank you and carried his drink over to a plastic picnic table just his size. He gulped more of the juice, enjoying the tangy taste. He had just finished the juice when Marco and two other staff members gathered around the snack table. In his loud voice, Marco boomed out the announcement that snack time was about to commence and that the children should put away their toys and line up. Ollie finished off his cup of juice and got into line behind a couple of boys who looked very similar to each other.
Marco addressed the boys as Peter and Parker and Ollie realized they were brothers – twins, in fact. The two boys took their cookies and juice and made their way to some tables.
"How are you liking it here, Ollie?" Marco asked as he poured Ollie another cup of juice. At the same time, one of the assistants handed the boy a small paper plate with two small cookies.
"It's great," Ollie said.
Ollie made his way over and sat at the table with Peter and Parker. He shyly announced that his name was Ollie. Peter said hello but Parker opened his mouth and showed off the mush of one pulverized cookie. His brother thought the action was hilarious and laughed in approval.
Peter quickly chewed up his own cookie and then opened his mouth wide, giving Parker reason to guffaw. Both brothers looked expectantly towards Ollie, who took a cookie and popped it into his mouth. After chewing for a moment, he opened his mouth and turned to the brothers. They both giggled in a silly fashion.
Ollie laughed, too, but he felt different from the two silly, nearly brainless twin boys. Exhibiting bad table manners was not exactly his idea of fun.
Parker then gulped down his juice and produced a sizable belch for a five-year-old boy. Ollie frowned, but Peter was reduced to a giggling fit. Ollie finished his second cookie and then downed all the juice. He felt relieved when snack time ended and Marco told everyone to pick a sleeping mat. "We will have a nap and when we wake, we will go outside to the playground and play before lunch," he said.
Ollie unrolled an orange plastic mat. He reclined on the matt on his back, hands behind his head, and must have been more tired than he realized because he fell into a deep slumber.
He woke from gentle clapping. He rubbed his eyes and saw Marco standing across the room while clapping his hands to rouse all the sound sleepers.
Ollie remembered the promise of a playground and started to get off the mat when he felt the warm wetness in the front of his little pants. Looking down, he saw a damp spot on the orange sleep mat. His face burned crimson as he realized that he had had an embarrassing accident during his nap. He remembered all the juice he had downed before the nap and realized he should have asked to go to the restroom.
Now, he stood, mortified, as the other children began to line up to go outdoors. What could he do? He didn't want anyone to know he had wet himself just like a mindless little boy.