Realizing she only had a limited amount of time to solve the situation, Kaitlin quickly rushed over to the attendance sheet at the front desk and put down her name as well as Laura’s. After a second, she added a note by their names, saying that their parents worked a very early morning shift, so they would be dropped off, still sleeping, before 8 AM.
Satisfied by this, Kaitlin went back to the spot where she and Laura had been sleeping and laid down, pretending to also be asleep. The door to the daycare opened. Footsteps sounded.
“What- who are these little girls?” a voice asked. Noticing that Laura still hadn’t awoken, Kaitlin followed her lead and continued to pretend to sleep. More footsteps sounded.
“Hmm, I’m not sure,” said a second voice. “Let me check the sign-up sheet. Why don’t you move them to a better sleeping place?”
“Sure thing.” Someone walked over and gently picked Laura up, then took her away. Deciding that she didn’t want to be placed somewhere else, Kaitlin “woke up” when the daycare worker returned. “Oh! Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” said the daycare worker.
“Hi,” Kaitlin said.
“Can you tell me your name?”
“No need,” said someone. Another daycare worker walked over. “You’re Kaitlin, right?” Kaitlin nodded. “And the toddler that Linda just moved to a crib, she’s Laura?” Kaitlin nodded again.
“You know them?” asked the first daycare worker, Linda.
“They’re on the attendance sheet. Must be new additions.” The daycare worker frowned at the sheet. “I’m not sure why we didn’t have someone come in early to be here when the kids arrived, but we can fix that for tomorrow. At least nothing bad happened today.” Kaitlin got to her feet. The daycare worker smirked slightly. “Actually, that’s not true.”
“Oh no, did you have an accident?” Linda asked kindly. Kaitlin looked down. There was a wet patch on the front of her overalls. She blushed. “It’s okay. These things happen. Come with me, I’ll get you changed.” Linda led Kaitlin to a bathroom, where she had Kaitlin undress and then handed her pullups.
“No!” Kaitlin protested. Linda smiled apologetically.
“Sorry, sweetie. The rules here are pretty clear. If you have an accident, you have to wear protection. Don’t worry, no one will be able to tell.” Reluctantly, Kaitlin pulled on the training pants, then the dress that Linda handed over. “There! All better! Now, let’s go and check on your sister, see if she’s woken up yet.”
When they exited the bathroom, Linda walked over to an area containing multiple cribs. Kaitlin followed. Laura was beginning to stir in her crib.
“Aw, I love watching babies wake up,” Linda cooed, gently stroking Laura as she woke. At the touch, Laura’s eyes opened and she sat up. “Hi, cutie. Give me a second to change you, and then-” Laura’s stomach rumbled. “Oh, did you not get breakfast?” Linda asked Kaitlin.
“Our parentth wanted to let uth thleep,” Kaitlin replied.
“Ah. Okay. Well, let me change your sister, and then we’ll get you some food, okay?” Linda removed Laura from the crib and began to carry her away.
“Kait!” Laura called.
“Kaitlin, I think your sister wants you to come with,” Linda said. Kaitlin followed them to a changing table set up near the cribs, where Laura was quickly and efficiently wiped down and placed into a clean diaper. Laura stared at Kaitlin the entire time, confused and scared. Kaitlin tried to smile in a reassuring manner. Laura’s stomach rumbled again.
“Hungwy,” Laura said. Linda poked her nose.
“I know.” She picked Laura up. “Come on, Kaitlin, let’s get the two of you some breakfast!”
“Laura’th not drethed,” Kaitlin said as she followed Linda to yet another corner of the daycare, this one set up with some low tables and what looked like the seat of a highchair, but set on the ground.
“Babies like her don’t need to be fully dressed all the time. And since she still needs to eat, I don’t want her to get any new clothes all messy. Once she’s done with breakfast, I’ll dress her.” Linda buckled Laura into the highchair seat resting on the floor and pulled down the tray. Kaitlin sat on the floor next to her.
“What happen?” Laura whispered to Kaitlin.
“We woke up too late to get out without thomeone theeing uth,” Kaitlin whispered back. “Tho I put our nameth on the attendanth theet.” Laura looked at her.
“We no parent. What happen later?”
“You mean, what’ll happen when we don’t have any parenth pick uth up?” Kaitlin asked. Laura nodded. Kaitlin rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh, I don’t know. I didn’t think that far.”
“All right, breakfast time!” Linda chirped, returning with two bowls of cereal and a bottle of milk. She placed one bowl in front of Kaitlin and the other in front of Laura. Kaitlin compared the two and noticed that while her bowl had milk in it, Laura’s was dry.
“Thank you, Linda,” Kaitlin said politely. Linda beamed.
“What good manners you have!” She crouched next to Laura’s seat and popped the bottle of milk in her mouth. “Drink up!”
Once they had eaten their breakfast and Laura had been wiped down and properly dressed, Kaitlin and Laura were set loose in the daycare to do as they wish. They wandered over to the toys and occupied themselves until...