Laura caves. She can’t think of a way out right now, so she might as well have some fun. Laura grabs the teddy bear she’d spotted earlier and plays with it eagerly. She crawls over to a pile of more diverse toys for a better experience.
Laura loses track of how much time she is caught up in playing with the toys, but is brought out of it when she feels a finger in the back of her diaper.
“All dry!” Linda says. Linda is about to move on to check other diapers, when she spots what Laura is doing. “Oh, sweetie, no, we don’t put these toys in our mouth,” Linda scolds. She removes the stuffed animal that Laura had been chewing on. Laura blinks in surprise. She hadn’t realized she was actually chewing on a toy. “If your mouth hurts, you can chew on this!” Linda hands Laura a toy that she recognizes as a teething ring.
“Ba goo,” Laura says, trying to convey that she isn’t teething. Linda merely smiles, pats her on the head, and goes off to continue diaper checks. After Linda leaves, Laura feels discomfort in her mouth. Maybe she is teething. She puts the teething ring in her mouth and chews on it. The discomfort vanishes.
Laura swallows nervously. She’s been regressed to an age at which her teeth are still emerging. Things are going from bad to worse. The chewing of the toy eventually soothes her worry away, however, and she once again gets caught up in playing, until…