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Sapnap had to run out to do some grocery shopping, so Punz was really on caregiver duty in case the two slipped into regression. Punz wasn’t sure it would happen, but he kept an ear out just in case. He was currently cleaning the house, making sure that the house wasn’t a complete mess. He heard footsteps on the floor above, and he glanced up, seeing Dream slowly coming down the stairs.
“Dada,” he said slowly from the second step.
“What’s up, punkin?” Punz asked.
“Gogy’s cwying,” Dreamie whispered, and Punz set down the blanket he was folding to follow Dreamie up the stairs and into George’s room, his main room.
Georgie was, in fact, crying in the middle of the room. “Baby, baby,” Punz whispered, kneeling down next to him. “What’s wrong?” He asked, slowly getting Georgie to look at him.
Georgie opened his mouth to speak, but nothing more than cracked noises came out, and he coughed. “Hey, hey it’s okay,” Punz whispered. “Are you hungry?” Georgie shook his head. “Thirsty?” George shook his head, then nodded, but shook his head again. “Okay, let’s go downstairs, get you something to drink, and then we’ll work out what’s going on, okay?”
Georgie sniffed as he nodded, lifting his arms to be picked up. Punz lifted him into his arms, carefully picking him up and carrying him downstairs. He set Georgie down on the couch, and Dreamie appeared behind him, handing Georgie his elephant and sitting next to him and wrapping his arms around him. Punz got Georgie a sippy cup of apple juice, and quickly returned to Georgie’s side. The little sucked the drink down quickly, knees brought up to his chest. He coughed a couple times, drinking too fast.
“Slow down, baby.” Punz said gently, petting Georgie’s hair out of his face. When he was done, he took the sippy cup and set it on the coffee table. “Can you identify what’s wrong?”
George opened his mouth again to speak, but his lips trembled again and nothing came out. “Papa,” he finally croaked, curling and pushing into Punz’s chest. Punz gently held him, rocking him back and forth.
“Are you tired?” Punz asked, and Georgie hiccuped. “Is it Mama? Do you miss him? He’ll be back, sweetheart.” \
Georgie hiccuped again, curling closer into Punz’s chest. Dreamie was pouting, curling up. Punz kissed Georgie’s head and looked at Dreamie. “Did he fall?” He asked softly, and Dreamie shook his head.
“I no nos,” Dreamie whispered. “I wens to pway and he’s cwying,” he explained softly.
“Okay, punkin. It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Punz promised, and Dreamie nodded. “Would you mind handing me that blanket? Let’s just lay and watch some cartoons.”
Dreamie nodded, grabbing the blanket Punz had been trying to fold and handing it to him. Punz covered himself and Georgie with it, adjusting so Dreamie could lay with them. Dreamie curled up on Punz’s side, nestled between him and the couch. Punz grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, quickly putting on Bluey for them to watch until Georgie calmed down a bit more or Sapnap came home. George stayed latched to Punz’s chest.
Sapnap came home within a half an hour, and in that time both littles had fallen asleep on Punz, who was now just playing on his phone.
“I see there was a slip while I was gone,” Sapnap whispered, and Punz nodded.
“Yeah, it wasn’t… a long one. Really Dreamie came down, told me Georgie was crying. I tried to figure out why, but he just… couldn’t verbalize it. I do think he might be more nonverbal when he’s regressed, but I think that just ended up hurting him rather than helping him. He was trying, really hard, and it just wasn’t… it wasn’t working. I think that’s what really made him upset.”
Sapnap nodded, “Well you seemed to handle it well,” he said gently as he sat down on the other end.
“I really just distracted them until they fell asleep. I didn’t know how to help him, and Dreamie looked just as lost as I did.”
“It’s okay, we’ll learn,” Sapnap promised.
“Maybe we should learn sign?” Punz suggested, and Sapnap nodded.
“I think Karl can help with that. He knows a little bit of sign,” Sapnap suggested. “And we wouldn’t really have to tell him why we’re trying to learn it. Plus resources online and stuff. We’ll learn, and we’ll figure it out.”
Punz smiled, and nodded, rubbing Georgie’s back gently.
-
“Those are really just some basic signs,” Karl said. He and Punz had been talking for a while, George coming in after a while to sit and talk with them, and ended up practicing with them. Dream and Sapnap were recording a video, so they were preoccupied. “So, why’re you trying to learn all of a sudden?”
“Just trying to learn a new skill, Sapnap said you knew some sign so I figured I’d talk to you for a bit, got a few other resources lined up, couple of meetings with some deaf people online to help me learn, things like that.”
“Well it’s good you’re going to actual deaf people. One of my aunts is deaf, and so’s her son, so that’s why I know so much. I could have you talk to her too, if you want.”
“Sure, that’d be awesome,” Punz said, glancing at George. He smiled, nodding as well.
George was now more aware of how little he spoke when he was small, so he enjoyed the idea of learning ASL if it would help little him communicate better. They chatted for a while longer about other things before Dream let them know that he was ordering food, so they said their goodbyes to go downstairs.
When George regressed again, Punz reshowed him a couple of the signs that Karl had shown them, and some he found through other resources, and the little did he best to copy them. “Very good, baby, very good,” Punz praised, and Georgie giggled, clapping gently before climbing into Punz’s lap.
Sapnap smiled at him, and Punz returned it as he slowly rocked Georgie back and forth in his arms. Dream had regressed, yet, so he was carefully playing with Georgie’s fingers as he laid on Punz. “He’s so cute,” Dream chuckled.
“You are too,” Sapnap said as he sat down next to Dream, pulling one of his knees up. Dream chuckled, glancing at him. “I’m serious, you’re just as cuddly and cute when you’re small.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dream mumbled, continuing to play with Georgie’s fingers a little bit, smiling warmly at little George.