Logainne and Leaf's arrangement had been going on for several weeks. Leaf would come over whenever he could, they'd drag the backpack out of the closet, and then they'd settle down and spend some quality down time together. Whether it be coloring (Leaf loved coloring), watching kids' TV, or playing pretend, they always found something to do together.
Leaf was very energetic when he was in littlespace. That is to say, ten times more than he was normally. He was extremely curious, and was always asking questions. He was very clingy as well, and didn't like to be alone for very long.
Logainne, fortunately, was accommodating in all aspects when taking care of him. She was always able to answer his questions, even when she didn't know the answers, and never left him alone for more than a couple of minutes.
It was even better when her moms weren't home, cause then they could use the whole house and she could make him little snacks and meals.
Logainne let out a sigh as she continued her homework. She was almost done, but she also needed to finish that research paper she made up for her moms (who wanted to see it, so unfortunately she had to deliver).
That's when she heard a familiar knock on the door. She smiled and rushed to it, almost being tackled to the ground by Leaf as she welcomed him in.
"HI!" He giggled loudly, trying not to lose his balance. "Hey there kiddo! How've you been?" Logainne asked, steadying him.
"Been good!" He grinned, then leaned in and whispered in her ear, "'M really small." He continued giggling, scrunching up in a shy stance.
"Oh, you're really small, huh?" Logainne repeated attentively. Leaf nodded, keeping that full tooth grin. "How small?" She questioned, bending down to his level.
He thought about it for a minute, holding up two fingers in a shrug as he scrunched up even more. They giggled to themselves, Logainne grabbing onto his hands.
"Well, we'll just have to do something about that, won't we?" She stated as she led them to her bedroom, being careful as to not bother her moms.
They closed the door, and immediately Leaf went over to the closet and pulled out the backpack.
He rummaged through it, pulling out Bee, his green pacifier, his blue sippy cup, and his coloring book and crayons. He popped the pacifier in his mouth and hummed with content.
Logainne smiled, sitting down next to him and helping set everything up. "You want me to fill this up?" She asked, pointing to his sippy cup. He nodded enthusiastically. "Milk!"
"Okay." She stood up and headed for the door, but stopped as she heard whining behind her. She turned around to see Leaf making grabby hands, with the biggest puppy eyes possible.
"Oh, Leaf, I gotta go to the kitchen if I'm gonna get some milk for you!" She bent over to him and picked him up. "No! No leave!" He shook his head, grabbing on to her tight. She sighed. "Do you wanna come with me?"
He nodded hesitantly, hiding in the crook of her neck. "Alright, but you gotta leave your paci here, bud." She said. He whined in response. "Come on, you gotta give up something bee." She cooed, putting him down.
He shuffled over to his spot, putting his pacifier with his crayons. "Good job." Logainne praised, holding out her hand. He took it, following her downstairs.
They got to the kitchen, and she took out two cups and filled them with milk, looking around to see if her moms were near. She then grabbed some vanilla extract from the cabinet and put a few drops in both of their cups.
"Can you hold this?" She held out one of the cups to Leaf after putting the vanilla away. He took it carefully, holding on tight with two hands, nodding with determination.
They headed back upstairs, being stopped by Carla mom. Leaf's anxiety spiked, trying hard not to let on that he was in his headspace.
"Hey, have you finished your homework?" She asked sternly
"Yep!" Logainne exclaimed, quickly pulling Leaf behind her.
She closed the door behind them, helping Leaf get settled back into his spot. She took his cup and poured the milk into his sippy cup, setting her own cup out of the way.
He drank happily, smiling up at her. She smiled back, taking his hand. "Now don't drink that too fast, I don't want you getting a tummy ache."
When he was done, he put his pacifier back in his mouth and opened his coloring book. Logainne's brows furrowed. She grabbed his sippy cup, opening it and checking inside, finding it empty. "Leaf! I told you not to drink too fast!"
"Sorry!" He giggled. She sighed, taking her own cup and pouring it into the sippy cup. Leaf gasped. "Oh, no, Lo-"
"It's fine Leaf, don't worry. But don't drink it all at once this time!" She scolded, setting the cup down beside him.
He smiled mischievously, going back to his coloring book. He settled on a page with beetles, picked out a few colors, and got to work.
Logainne watched him as he started out inside the lines, but as time went on became more messy. She smiled, then started to think for a bit, letting her thoughts drift away.
From what she had researched, a lot of littles had set up sets of rules with their caregivers. This was to help set boundaries and give the littles a sense of structure to help them take care of themselves, and help their caregivers take care of them.
This would probably be beneficial for Leaf, she thought to herself. He was quite forgetful, and not very good at keeping a routine.
"Hey, Leaf?" She started, getting his attention. He turned to her, tilting his head curiously. "So, I've been reading some more, and I think it would be good to set some rules. Just so I can take care of you easier, if you're okay with it, of course."
He processed what she said, then nodded. "Could be fun!" He exclaimed, taking his pacifier out of his mouth.
"Yeah, let's make it fun!" She asserted, getting up and grabbing her notebook. She flipped to an empty page and started scribbling down ideas.
"Now, I think we should get the essentials out of the way. Drink eight cups of water a day, eat three meals a day, brush your teeth two times a day, and so on and so forth..."
She continued listing off her ideas, her speech turning into rambling. Leaf tried to keep up, but soon he started to mentally tap out, the dissociation soon kicking in.
Logainne's rambling faded as she noticed the empty look in Leaf's eyes. "Sorry, I'm probably going too fast for you, huh bud."
Leaf's attention snapped back to reality. "Hmm?"
She sighed, smiling fondly. "What do you think about eight cups of water and three meals a day, hmm?"
Leaf thought about it, biting his lip. Logainne noticed, remembering how hard it was to get him to eat sometimes. He was a small boy, and there wasn't a lot of meat on his bones. "What about seven cups and two meals a day?"
Leaf was a lot more receptive to that, nodding his head. Logainne smiled, jotting those two points down. "Okay, who about brushing teeth twice a day?"
He nodded, although knowing that one would be hard to keep up. She wrote that down as a point too. "What about bedtime? What do you think would be a good time?"
Leaf thought about it, then smiled mischievously. "What about, no bedtime?"
"No." She scolded gently. "Come on bud, you have to go to bed at sometime. What about 8?"
He shook his head. "10!"
She sighed. "Okay, okay, we'll compromise. How about 9? Please?"
He hesitated, but eventually nodded his head. Logainne sighed with relief. "Thank you."
They continued building their list, agreeing on most things, having to compromise on some, but in the end reaching a solid ten rules.
"Alright, let's go over everything." Logainne's eyes skimmed over the list.
Seven cups of water a day
Two meals a day
Brush teeth twice a day
Bedtime at 9
Take a shower every other day
Clean room every Saturday
Take medication every day
Do classwork every day
15 minutes outside every day
Tell Logainne everything that's wrong
"Now this last one is very important!" Logainne pointed out. "I wanna make sure we communicate with each other. If there's anything, and I mean ANYTHING you need to tell me, you gotta do it, okay bub?"
Leaf nodded, looking at all those big words, but not entirely processing them all. But he understood the gist of it. He just had to take care of himself; something that was a lot harder than either of them would anticipate.
Logainne hummed in thought. "Now, we should have some rewards set in place, you know, positive reinforcement and all. I was thinking about a point-based system, how does that sound?"
Leaf tilted his head in confusion. "Huh?"
She smiled. "When you do something good, you get a point, or a few points. All those points will add up to get you a reward! Is that better?"
His brows furrowed. "Kinda?"
"Here, let me give you an example. If you brush your teeth, you'll get a point. Once you get, let's say, five points, you'll get a reward, like a cookie or some new crayons." She explained, making sure to go slow enough for him.
He thought about it, letting himself process all the words. "So, points make cookies?"
"Yes! Or candy, or crayons, or whatever you want!" She exclaimed, happy to be getting through to him.
He smiled, the words finally clicking for him. "K, so how many points for no bedtime?"
She laughed. "Come on, you know I can't do that kiddo! How about ten points for a later bedtime?"
He gasped. "Ten?! That's a lot..."
"We'll work it out." She reassured.
They spent the next half hour discussing point worth and rewards, and updated their list to fit as such:
Seven cups of water a day = 1 point
Two meals a day = 1 point
Take medication every day = 1 point
Brush teeth twice a day = 2 points
Bedtime at 9 = 2 points
Take a shower every other day = 3 points
Clean room every Saturday = 3 points
Do classwork every day = 4 points
15 minutes outside every day = 4 points
Tell Logainne everything that's wrong = 5 points
5 points = Extra sweets
10 points = Later bedtime
20 points = More technology
50 points = New crayons
100 points = New stuffie
They looked through the list a few more times, before deciding they were finally satisfied.
Then Leaf realized something. "What if, what if I do something wrong?"
Logainne hesitated. Right, punishments, those were a thing. "Let's, let's not talk about that right now. We'll figure it out later, when you're a bit bigger, okay?"
He nodded, figuring that was a lot better. He really wanted to get back to his coloring anyway.
She sighed with relief. They'd have to discuss it sooner or later, but right now just wasn't a good time. She didn't want to bring down his mood, she wanted him to be as relaxed and comfortable as possible. Besides, they did enough work and thinking for one day.
She then turned to see what he was coloring. There was a big, mean-looking beetle that he was coloring a bright red, and a smaller beetle he had colored blue. "That's so good Leaf!"
"Thanks!" He said, putting his pacifier back in his mouth.
Watching him methodically go over the paper with his crayons was almost hypnotizing. Logainne could feel herself drifting off, as she hadn't been getting much sleep as of late. She then perked up when Leaf got her attention. "Logainne?"
"Hmm?" He eyes widened, trying to get herself to stay awake
"What should I call you?" He asked. "I mean, you call me all this cute stuff, so what should I call you? Cause Mama would be kinda weird..."
"Yeah, that would be a little funny huh." She agreed, tapping her chin in thought. "Well, my name shortened would be Lo, that might be cute."
"Lo? LoLo!" He exclaimed, trying it out, and it seemed to fit. They giggled, then Leaf finished up the little coloring he had left, signing it to her and tearing it out, giving it to her. For LoLo!
She smiled, heart melting. "Come here." She said, pulling him into a cuddle. They stayed in silence like that for a while, enjoying each other's company. Leaf listened to her steady heartbeat, eyes fluttering closed.
"Love you, LoLo."
"Love you too, honeybee."