Jim carefully kneeled down next to the tub. Testing the water coming out of the tap, he found it was getting to the right temperature. A happy squeal drew his attention to the side. Cece grinned up at him and waved her arms.

“Glad you’re having fun,” he said to his daughter as he plugged the tub and it began to fill. Reaching over her, he set her baby tub in the main bathtub.

Steeling himself for what was to come, he reached for Cece. Unzipping her onesie immediately filled the bathroom with the smell of a dirty diaper. Jim sat Cece up to peel the piece of clothing off her back. The smell grew stronger when he saw the amount of stool that had exploded out of the back of her diaper to stain the cloth. For her part Cece kept smiling and waving at her father.

“Dear god child, what did you eat?” Jim coughed.

Once the onesie was completely removed Jim also took off Cece’s diaper. He used twice as many baby wipes to clean off the worst of the mess from the diaper blowout before throwing it all in the trash. Gingerly he set Cece in her infant tub and used a scoop to fill it with warm water. Cece kept giggling as Jim used liberal amounts of soap to scrub her clean. While he was scrubbing, Cece chewed on a bath toy shaped like an octopus. Jim whistled some children’s songs as he bathed her which also helped calm down the frustration that had been simmering in him.

Pam had woken up early that day, since she had promised to get donuts for the office. She had kissed Jim goodbye as he stayed in bed. Cece still hadn’t woken up yet and he enjoyed the rare treat of being able to sleep in longer than normal. An illusion of peace shattered by the sight that waited for him when Cece finally woken up. Counting himself lucky the diaper blowout had been limited to Cece’s pajamas and her crib bedding, he gathered clean clothes for Cece and took her to the bathroom for an immediate bath.

“There we go, all clean,” he said as he lifted Cece from the tub and wrapped her in a towel. After drying her off and putting her in clean clothes, Jim set her on her playmat in the living room. When she was happily batting at a stuffed moose Jim made the hike back upstairs to her nursery.

He opened a window to start airing out the room. Carefully he pulled off the soiled sheet and mattress protector and brought them to the laundry room. Checking that Cece was still playing on her mat, he also added the dirty onesie to the load of laundry and turned on the washer.

Returning to the living room Jim heard a metallic rattling. Eeyore was up on his hind legs pawing at the bars of his cage.

“Guess you want out huh?” Jim said to the rabbit as he bent over to open the door. He also added a scoop of pellets to Eeyore’s food dish and a handful of loose hay for the rabbit to munch on. Eeyore dug into his breakfast with gusto. It was then that Jim noticed Eeyore’s litter tray was also full.

“Coffee first,” Jim said to himself as he stood up.

The automatic timer on the coffee machine already had a full pot waiting for him as he entered the kitchen. Pouring himself a mug he walked back to the living room to keep an eye on Cece and Eeyore.

The rabbit had hopped out of his cage and wandered over to investigate Cece. His nose was twitching as he stepped closer to her. Cece let out a laugh as Eeyore’s whiskers brushed against her forehead. Jim let out a deep breath and sat down next to Cece. Eeyore hopped away at first, but then walked back over cautiously. Jim set his mug on the coffee table and started rubbing Eeyore behind his ears while shaking a stuffed octopus above Cece’s face.

After about an hour Cece started yawning and rubbing her eyes. Jim breathed a sigh of relief as he recognized the signs that she was ready for her morning nap. Lifting her up, he brought her to the small cradle he and Pam had set up downstairs, so he didn’t have to carry her up and down the stairs as often. She soon fell asleep.

Taking the opportunity, Jim threw out Eeyore’s old litter in the outside garbage can. After filling the new tray with fresh litter and putting it back in the rabbit cage, Jim finally got a chance to sit down. He pulled his laptop to him and looked around the room. Cece was still sleeping comfortably. Eeyore was chewing on a paper towel roll they’d left out for him. Jim grinned as a new thought bloomed in his mind. He opened Facebook and started to type.

Journals of a Stay-at-home-Dad. Day 9. At first I thought Small Rabbit was jealous of Small Human. Alas no, they're working together! I think they're having a contest of who can create the most toxic waste for me to bring outside. Seems like a fairly even contest at this point which is odd as I'm not sure what the stakes are. They must have some odd Bunny-Baby ESP thing going on. Probably a side effect of the space-time vortex of dishes. This will require pondering whilst I track the latest sighting from the game trail. Chunky Soup always makes for a good hunt.

Jim finished publishing the new journal entry when the door to their guest room opened.

“Morning,” Johnathan said as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. “Is that coffee I smell?”

“Yup, in the kitchen.” Jim nodded in the direction of the pot that was still half full of coffee.

Johnathan quickly filled himself a mug and returned to the living room. “Hope I didn’t miss anything important this morning.”

Jim just gave his cousin a smirk and laughed before telling him of the adventures he and Cece had already had that morning.