What do you do when you look 7 years old, but you're actually a college student in your late teens? For Kathleen's entire life, she had fought against people treating her much younger than her actual age. Feeling obligated to grow up fast to show people she wasn't the age of her size, Kathleen never let her inner child out. Tired of fighting against the world, she explores the adult submissive world. What she finds, however, is an enjoyment of regression. Had she made a mistake? Would life be better if she just let people treat her how she looks, 7 years old?

Friday morning Katie tried rolling over, and it felt like someone was hugging her. Opening her eyes expecting to see Heidi again, she saw it was instead Stacy. That confused her greatly because she didn’t remember her friend coming into her room. Looking in the dim light towards where Tiffany should be lying she saw someone who looked like Stacy’s older sister lying, if she had an older sister.

As on cue, Uncle Brian walked into the room, and woke the girls up, “Rise and shine girls.”

“Ummm, Katie, how did I get here?” Stacy asked when she woke up.

“I was hoping you could tell me, friend.”

Stacy shrugged.

"Stacy, I am told you are quite familiar with this house, can you and 'Lizabeth get ready and dressed in the master bathroom?"

Stacy nodded and headed across the hall with what must be her cousin in tow. They stopped and grabbed the bags Katie's uncle had in his hand first.

"Heidi, can you get dressed yourself or do you need help?"

"Mommies usually wipes my bottom after I take my nighttime padding off," the little girl answered.

"OK, hang around I will help you with that in a bit. Megan, you get a choice," he continued while holding two stacks of clothes out. One had a gray Superman sweatshirt on top, and the other had a pink princess sweatshirt.

The young girl skipped hyperly forward and picked the pink pile. Maybe a little too fast because she tripped and stumbled on Heidi's bed in the process. She was directed towards the bathroom to get ready herself.

Turning towards Heidi, Uncle Brian picked her up and set her on the changing table. Pulling her nightie up, he quickly removed the diaper and wiped her bottom. Setting her back on the ground minus the undergarment that was just removed, he handed her a stack of clothes. "Do you think you can get dressed yourself?"

Getting a nod out of her he turned to the regressed girl, "You are next, princess."

Picking her up like she weighed nothing, she was quickly stripped and her wet diaper joined Heidi's in the pail. Once she was in dry padding she was set back on the ground. Katie was handed a stack of clothes, hers was topped with a pink sweatshirt with Tinkerbelle on it.

In the hall, Megan was joined up with the Bullard cousins. "You look good in the clothes I helped my mommy pick out for you," Stacy told Megan who was dressed in the princess sweatshirt underneath some overalls.

"These yours? They don't look like they fit you?"

"Mine from a few years ago, Mommie seems to have a hoarding issue with my old clothes," Stacy said while rolling her eyes.

"What is your name," Liz asked.

The little girl answered with the name Katie gave her. Liz hesitated with her next question, she wasn't sure how to approach the subject, since she had known this family for a whole fifteen minutes, and ten of that she spent in the bathroom getting dressed.

Whispering in her cousin's ear, she asked, "Does she have hair? The illusion would be better with hair."

Shrugging, Stacy turned to Megan and pointed out, "The only thing missing is some more hair, too bad Mommie could not provide that."

"My hair, I had forgotten that," Megan said with a frown while turning towards the door.

Liz reassured the little girl, "Let's go get it."

When they walked into the room, Megan’s Daddie said, "Great you are back, Katie and Heidi, brush your teeth in the bathroom." It appeared he was currently in the process of dressing Tina.

Megan went to where she had set the wig last night and handed it to the older girl. Turning around as instructed she felt 'Liz set it on her head. She was told to stand still, and the next thing she knew a brush was slowly being run through the wig.

The six girls ranging in age from three to nine, were herded downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Katie took that chance to ask, "Where is everyone and why are Stacy and Liz here?"

"Everyone but your Grandpa are shopping, that includes your parents Stacy and 'Lizabeth. I drew the short straw to get all six of you dressed."

Stepping into the kitchen Megan, leading the pack, quickly stopped causing Heidi to crash into her. Katie looked around her cousins and saw her Grandpa Telgenhof cooking pancakes at the counter wearing her Pink Hello Kitty apron.

The cook turned to the gathered girls staring at him, “Is there something on my nose girls?”

Katie thought very hard about how to answer that while looking at Megan. Answer it wrong and Megan might be scarred. Finally, she decided to ignore the pink elephant or apron and jokingly said, “We were just shocked by the fact you aren’t burning the pancakes, Grandpa.”

“I will burn that bum of yours later, cheeky girl! You girls have a seat at the table and we will bring some pancakes over,” Grandpa instructed.

After Katie sat down, she was shocked to find one of the pinafores dropped over her head. Turning towards Megan on her left, she watched one be dropped over the younger girl's head. She continued watching Uncle Brian go around the table, doing Heidi, Tina, and Stacy in turn. He finally turned to nine-year-old Liz and asked her if she wanted to be treated like the rest. The visitor thought hard and long on that one, looking at her cousin in her own white pinafore, before whispering yes. The regressed girl wasn’t sure where all of these pinafores came from. Once Liz’s clothes were protected, a precut-up plate-sized pancake covered in syrup on a plate was soon placed in front of each girl.

The two men soon returned to washing faces and hands with wet wipes, starting with the youngest. Who happened to be the only two with syrup on their faces. But you could consider them clean compared to Bobbie’s face in her highchair. Once clean the pinafores were removed, before turning to the next girl in line to repeat the sequence. Katie and Liz were the last to get the same treatment.

“Girls, go play while we clean up this mess, please,” Uncle Brian told the group.

Katie grabbed the nearest two girls’ hands, which happened to be Liz and Megan, and aimed the girls towards the playset outside. The six giggling girls ran through the leaves for the swings and trampoline.

Auntie Sara walked up what seemed like hours later, but probably was just a short time. She said, “You girls having fun?”

“Yes, Auntie” … “Yes, Mommie” … “Yes, Aunt Sara” … “Mrs. Bullard!” … “Yes” … “Yes, Miss” rang out with six voices. Megan’s teacher walked up to her, “Yes, Megan?”

Still not used to being treated like a girl, the young crossdressed boy was blushing deep red looking at her tennis shoes, well really Mike’s shoes. “You know my name?” she asked.

Mrs. Bullard asked, “Shouldn’t I know my student’s name?”

The little boy-turned-girl just stared forward processing that one. Katie laughed, “I think you broke her Auntie.”

“I am sure I will see you all more this weekend, and Megan, I will see your brother on Monday,” Auntie told the group. She continued with, “I came to gather up Stacy and Elizabeth.”

The two Bullard cousins and Katie combined pouted and went, “Aww.” Two voices rang out, “Can’t we stay longer?”

“Unfortunately not, you are expected to socialize with your family, not the neighbor's family, during this holiday.” Stacy’s Mommie told her and her cousin.

The three of them walking away must have been a cue, because at that moment Auntie Alexa shouted, “Girls, come inside.”

That evening the two grandmas gathered up their charges. They each had two Christmas-themed gift-wrapped boxes. After each child received one, the girls opened them up to review matching Christmas-themed flannel nighties. Megan’s also included a package of panties.

“Let’s go upstairs and get into those girls.” Grandma Olsen instructed. Once upstairs, she herded Megan into the bathroom. “Tell me if you need any help, sweetheart.”

Continuing with the three other girls, Grandma picked up Tina and set her on the changing table. “Youngest first,” she said. Once Tina was dry, and in her nightie, she picked up Heidi, “Middle next,” she said before placing her nighttime diaper, and nightie on. “Last but not least, the oldest,” she continued, after picking up Katie.

Once all four girls were gathered in the hallway, Katie could see that Megan’s nightie was not identical to the other girls. It was close, but not identical. Almost like it was not purchased at the same time and or place. From a distance, you couldn’t tell that, but up close it was obvious.

Herded downstairs, they found ‘Santa’ sitting in a rocking chair. All of the girls could tell that this was obviously Grandpa Olsen, especially since this Santa wasn’t wearing a beard. He spoke, “Gather around girls and listen to a story”

“Thank you Grandpa for the story,” four youthful voices rang out before hugging him. “Now up to bed with you four,” He instructed.

Saturday morning Daddie woke the five girls sleeping in Katie’s room. Tiffany ran for the bathroom like she was very much in need, with some clothes. Grandma Telgenhof took charge of getting Heidi ready for the day in their room. Tina was the first one to go onto the changing table before being sent downstairs. That just left Katie and Megan. The latter choice the girl stack when she was offered a choice.

When it was just Katie and Daddie in the room, she was strapped on the changing table. Her soaked nighttime diaper was removed before a pullup was put on her. Her binder soon was removed before one of her bras was put on her.

She was handed a stack of clothes to dress herself as he walked out of the room. Once dressed in jeans and a pink girl’s Susquehanna Valley Zoo sweatshirt she headed downstairs for breakfast.

Walking into the kitchen she found the kids sitting around the children’s table all wearing the pinafores that had been a staple this weekend and eating eggs and bacon. The adults were sitting around the normal kitchen table, except Grandma Olsen who was cooking.

“Sweetheart, since you are an adult today, your plate with your pill is sitting at the adult table. You however are welcome to join the kids,” Grandma told her.

Without a word, Katie grabbed her plate and headed to the kid's table. As she was getting ready to eat a slice of bacon, she felt the pinafore dropped over her head. Looking back it was Grandma Olsen smiling at her.

“Here you go Tiffany,” Adam said, tossing Tiffany the car keys. “I have preprogrammed the address into the Garmin for you.”

Tiff said shockingly, “You really trust me with your SUV? I thought you would be coming too.”

"No it will just be you two going," Adam told her.

At the Escalade, the normally regressed girl stopped at the back door before realizing that probably wasn't a good idea going to 'Hanna Zoo. She struggled to open the front door to find the pink booster seat sitting there, with her normal car activity bag sitting next to her.

After Tiff got behind the wheel she exclaimed, "This is so high up", continuing with "Oh that is how to adjust the seat" … "Well we are off sis."

Pulling into 'Hanna Zoo, Katie directed Tiffany towards the Education Building where there was a semi-trailer parked in front of it.

After they parked Katie told her friend, "Remember I am nineteen, Tiff."

Tiff nodded before helping her friend down. Katie saw her boss holding the door open for them.

"Mr. Cooper, this is my dorm mate, Tiffany," Katie introduced as Tiffany hung their coats up.

Mark Cooper was waiting for the last one who told him they would be there to show up. His favorite volunteer Kathleen and her promised helper. He had already sent a crew out with a bunch of Christmas lights.

"Oh great, here is an SUV I don't recognize, that must be her," he thought.

He watched a college-age girl get out of the driver's seat before going to the passenger side. The mystery girl helped Kathleen out of that side.

He continued thinking to himself, "Is Kathleen really wearing a pink polka-dotted coat? That is obviously a girl's coat. Is she really wearing light-up tennis shoes?"

While holding the door open for the two, Kathleen told him, "Mr. Cooper, this is my dorm mate Tiffany."

He watched Tiffany help Kathleen take her coat off like she was a little girl, and the girl was smiling while it was happening.

"Hello Tiffany, I am Mark Cooper, you can call me Mark. No matter how many times I tell Kathleen that, she still calls me Mr. Cooper," Mark told Tiffany.

"Is Kathleen openly wearing one of our girls' sweatshirts, this is new. The girl who usually wore clothes a few sizes too big is wearing clothes that fit her," he thought to himself.

"Now you took your jacket off, I thought that Tiffany and I would empty the truck, and Kathleen could put the items on the table so the other teams can easily grab them,"

In the truck with Tiffany, he quizzed the girl. He found she was from California, which made him confused since Kathleen was from Clearwater, who is in Riverview.

"Is Kathleen not spending Thanksgiving with her family?" He asked.

"No Katie is, along with her … … boyfriend's family," Tiff said, "There were fifteen of us in the house."

Mark stated the obvious, "She seems happier."

Tiffany nodded, "Katie is."

"There is that Katie again," Mark thought.

They walked into the building with another set of boxes. Kathleen had set a bunch of stuff on the table including a girl's elf costume.

Mark picked it up and remembered when Suzanne wore it two to three years ago, she must be nine or ten now. Looking at the size he saw it was the same size as Kathleen's uniform. He set the costume down and followed Tiff out to the truck.

Mark thought out loud, “Kathleen would look very cute in that elf costume.”

“You know she was looking at it while you were holding it, longing to wear it,” Tiff said. She continued with “No matter what age she is appearing to be, she is still a kid at heart in both her ages.” With the last statement, Tiffany turned bright red and slapped her hands over her mouth.

Mark looked at Tiffany, “Both of her ages?!?!”

1: A Visit From St. Nick, Clement Clarke Moore, Public Domain

Author's Note:Comments and questions are always welcomed -- Thanks Becky