~~~~~~~~Ethan's POV~~~~~~~
The days leading up to Christmas Eve have built up a whirlwind of excitement in me. Each passing day I've grown more and more excited to open my presents under the tree. It makes me feel like a little kid again and has made it extremely hard not to slip in front of my mom, even if I have had a few close calls. The excitement only grew when Mom came home with several more wrapped gifts for me, curiosity swelling as to what she could have gotten. The night before Christmas Eve, Daddy had a lot of work on his hands to calm me down and get me to sleep, having to gently read several stories out of my dinosaur story book until I simply couldn't keep my eyes open and I drifted to sleep.
Slowly I woke to Daddy gently shaking me, my eyes fluttering open as I groaned, rolling over wanting to sleep more. Daddy shook me a little more as I whined. "Baby, it's Christmas Eve. Don't you wanna open presents?" He said, getting me to shoot up in bed, nearly squealing in excitement before I caught myself.
Daddy helped me up and out of bed after checking and changing my diaper, making me smile as he gently cleaned me up. After I was freshly padded and all my little stuff safely hidden we left my room to join mom for breakfast. She made blueberry pancakes that Marcus absolutely devoured, asking mom for her recipe, which she happily said she'd write down for him. Soon after, we gathered around the Christmas tree, Daddy and I sitting on the floor.
"You ready to see what Santa got you for Christmas, honeybunch?" Mom asked with a warm smile, ruffling my hair.
"Honeybunch? You haven't called me that since I was ten" I laughed.
I let Daddy go first, opening his presents from Mom and I, getting two in total, which he didn't mind as it was more than enough for him, he said, appreciating the thought. After he was done I set out to open mine, tearing through Daddy's presents, which he'd only gotten a couple, saying that the rest he had for me were at his parent's house, for obvious reasons, but the shirts he'd gotten me were still awesome! Then finally were the presents mom had gotten.
I tore into the first, getting a pack of fuzzy socks that looked like dinosaurs. The second was an oddly childish dinosaur t-shirt that looked oddly familiar. Once I tore into the third, panic and confusion set in. At first I thought Daddy had accidentally brought one of my other presents, but looking at him he was equally confused. As I pulled the gift from the box I could see that it was a dinosaur themed, adult sized pacifier.
"I....wh-what?" I asked in confusion, double-checking the tag to find that it was infact from my mom!
"Do you like it, sweetie?" She asked, smiling down at me.
"I-I...Oh haha, mom. Very funny" I said, taking it for a joke.
"Baby, you don't need to be shy about it. I know that you're an age regressor" she says, absolutely flooring me.
"HOW!?" I asked, starting to shiver and shake, feeling tears start to well up.
"The first night you two were here I overheard Marcus reading you a bedtime story and then heard you call him daddy" she started to explain. "Then when Marcus went to the bathroom I confronted him and got the full story."
"I-I...mom I can explain, I-" I start to say before she cut me off, crawling into the floor next to me and hugging me.
"Sweetie, you don't have anything to explain. I'll admit, it took me by surprise at first when Marcus told me what was going on," she said, rubbing small circles on my back. "But the more I looked into it the more I understood what it was and why you do it. Sweetie I don't think I've ever seen you as happy as you've been the past couple weeks. I don't care how strange it may seem, nor how the world may look at it. You are my son, and if this makes you happy, then I will support you one hundred percent" She says, kissing me on the top of my head.
"I-I.... y-you mean it?" I ask, wiping tears from my eyes.
"Of course, baby. I'm just so glad you've found something that makes you happy" she says, holding me tight and pulling me on her lap.
"M-mommy!" I wail, burying my face into her shoulder as I hug her back tight, Daddy joining in on the hug.
She rubs my back, holding me tight as I sob from pure joy. We sit there for a few minutes before mom breaks the hug, looking me in the eyes. "So, why don't we finish opening your Christmas presents, my little man?" She asks with a warm, genuine smile.
We sit in the floor with me still sitting in Mom's lap, something I never thought I'd do again as I opened more of her presents, getting some stuffies, a bib, toy cars, and...
"Diapees!!!" I say through my paci, my mom had Daddy go wash it so I could use it, and my words came out slurred like a toddler.
"I bet they'll look super cute on you" mom said, kissing my head.
"Tank chu, mommy" I say, hugging her tight before bolting up, starting to play with my new toys.
"I never expected all of this, Mrs. Price. You've really taken this better than I ever imagined" Daddy said as he smiled at mom.
"Like I said, I haven't seen Ethan this happy in so long. And seeing him now, running around playing with toys like a little boy, it absolutely melts my heart. I have my happy little boy back" she says, happy tears in her eyes. "I can't tell you enough how thankful I am that Ethan met you."
Daddy starts to tear up a little, looking over at me. "And I'm thankful to you for bringing such a sweet boy into the world. Knowing him has made my life so much better" he says.
The rest of the day flies by as I play with my new toys and watching some Christmas movies with Mom and Daddy. At the end of the day mom comes in to my room, giving me a kiss on the forehead, my new paci bobbing as I snuggle up to Daddy, slowly drifting off to sleep.
"Goodnight, my precious baby" Mom says as she ruffles my hair.
"Nini Mawmy" I yawn in return.
The next day we head out to Grandma and Grandpa's, where we are met with Jay and Liz, as well as Liz's sister Jen and their parents. Under the tree were so many presents for both Jay and I and we were absolutely over the moon at all the amazing toys we got! I even got the roaring T-Rex toy I'd been wanting for weeks now since I saw it at our last visit to Little Dayz. Jay and I played the whole day, running around like the kids we are, playing with our new toys, building pillow forts, and watching Christmas movies with everyone. After everyone else left it got pretty late, so we decided to stay the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, Daddy bringing me to his room, cuddling me tight as we drifted off to sleep. This truly has been the best Christmas ever!