"Caitlyn! Get the scrub brush and wash those marks off your uncle's shell!" Jessica said mortified of her daughter's recent treatment of me. I didn't much care about the slide or the grass marks. It was all in good fun. Jessica was too concerned about appearances.

I could see Caitlyn was conflicted. I used to pull her around in the wagon, push her on the swing set, and catch her when she came down the slide. The dynamic has shifted dramatically. She was a 5 year old human with real responsibilties to 34 year old former adult human. I still had my fully functioning mind so I wouldn't let her do anything too dangerous with me. Caitlyn now needs to understand she was technically in charge now that she was bigger than me. How could I make her understand that she needed to be the one to do the pulling, pushing, and catching now?  

Jessica had told Caitlyn that she needed to be careful with her new "Tio Armadillo" after I first came home from the clinic. Jessica used to get real sad and tears ran down her face when she first held me. Before I changed, I tried to convince her that this was what I wanted. She would still have mostly the same brother but my sister had trouble accepting that I would give up my human life to live this way. She begged me not to do it, but I ignored her pleas to the detriment of our relationship. I am pretty sure I'm the same person, I just don't look like the person she grew up with. Not accepting me as an armadillo stirred up her emotions every time she saw me.  

In my first few day as an armadillo I talked with Jessica's husband Carlos about her. We talked about my change and how accepting change works differently with some people. I wanted to be an armadillo and that was my choice, but Jessica let me live with her now because she thought doing so would prevent her from completely losing the old me. I asked him to build me an pen in the backyard so I could be close but still give her some space to grieve. He was relieved that I came up with a strange but acceptable solution. I think of it as camping away from my true home until maybe someday she would accept me fully and we could live closer again. That's why I live out in the backyard right now.

A few days after Carlos completed my new home away from home, he attempted to convince Jessica that my change wasn't that big of a deal. She wanted to convince herself that she was okay with me also. We attempted visit to her in-laws. She hid me in her purse because she wanted to warm them up to my situation before she reintroduced me as Tio Armadillo to them, but she was too embarressed to introduce me. Whispering that she "was so sorry" and she "couldn't do it", into her purse, and passing me snacks in an attempt to keep me quiet. I rolled over and kicked every now and then to remind her I was still in there.

Jessica eventually managed to make her way to the bathroom, where I asked her to drop me into the grass outside the window, and I would meet her by the car in 20 minutes. I wondered around the yard and found Caitlyn and her brother Hunter playing with some other kids. They were taking turns beating dirt clods with a stick. Hunter saw me, and being a 3 year old that didn't understand the current complexities of the situation, pointed and yelled "Tio!" All the kids turned to look. I just panicked and rolled into a ball.

Caitlyn assumed I did that because I wanted to play. Caitlyn's cousins showed her a game she now frequently plays with me. Armadillo Bowling. I was too afraid to do anything so I just went along with it. The kids each took a turn rolling me back and forth across the grass until Jessica came to collect Caitlyn and Hunter. With a grimace she quickly grabbed me away from the kids and stuffed me into her purse again. "That's enough time playing with your ball! It's time to go home." Her purse felt like it was being swung from a ceiling fan. Some of those kids really knew how to put some spin on their throws. She quickly reached into the purse to frantically poke at me, whispering in a panic, "Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead!" Her final poke hit me right in my belly and it caused me to vomit the snacks she had been feeding me all over the inside of her purse. "Ick!" she shouted pulling her hand out. She held the purse open tears welling in her eyes "I'm okay, just dizzy." I weakly replied "I probably deserve this." she whisped to her dirty hand with a relieved sigh, glad that I wasn't injured.

During the car ride home Caitlyn and Hunter sat in the back seat with me, wiping me with baby wipes from both sides, trying to get me cleaned up. Only succeeding in smearing the mess around. Carlos was driving while Jessica sobbed beside him. Glancing at me in the rearview mirror Carlos attempted to console her "It will be alright Jessica." he said to her. "Armadillos are very durable, right?" He punctuated the statement by looking directly at me in the mirror and then jerking the steering wheel enough to cause me to fall over against Hunter. "Carlos! You're getting his mess on the kids!" My sister reached in the back seat, grabs the corner of the towel I'm sitting on, and furiously uses it to wipe at the spot where I touched Hunter. I miss wearing clothes sometimes, you could spill something on yourself and just change them. Jessica makes me take full bathes every time I get a little smudge now. 

When we got home Jessica emptied out her purse into the driveway and sorted what could be salvaged. Carlos looked over her shoulder and smuggly said "That's what you get for chickening out. I'm sure my family would also love him regardless of what he looks like now." Looking at him with a tear streaked face she replies "I don't want to hear it from you right now. Can you please just take the kids inside and give my brother a bath?" With a wave he calls the kids inside, "Vaminos, amigos!" Hunter comes running and Caitlyn walks behind holding me wrapped in the vomit covered towel.

"Just put him in the kitchen sink and then go wash your hands in the bathroom" Carlos said. Caitlyn instantly replied "I want to wash Tio Armadillo!" "No, go wash your hands and then watch cartoons with Hunter in the living room", Caitlyn hands me to him and glumly walks off. She glances back and her father gives her a stern nod while saying "Go wash your hands"

Carlos's attention finally comes back to me "Just give your sister more time to adjust." I weakly shake my head affirmatively while he places me into the large kitchen sink. Carlos turns on the water, adjusts it to warm, then uses the hose attachment from the back of the sink to give me a quick rinse. He reaches for the dawn dishsoap and a sponge to vigorously scrub the greasy puke from my belly fur. 

"You're liking this too much bud!" Carlos said as I came back from my massage induced daze. I will admit it's nice to have someone bath you and maybe I have dragged my paws through the dirt a few times since then just so Carlos gives me some extra attention. He smiles and gives me a final rinse then pats me dry with a clean dishtowel. "Do you want to watch cartoons with the kids or do you want to go to new home?" I point tiredly to the back door and he nods. Carrying me to door he goes to set me down on the patio and I shake my head. "You want me to carry you all the way, bud? Okay, but just this time" He carries me through the open gate of my new pen, swings open the top of the customized plasic igloo and sets me down on the cushion I now call my bed. He picks up a t-shirt that belonged to my former human self from beside the bed. He holds it up to look at the design on the front. It has a picture of a cartoon armadillo with a cowboy hat. He shrugs to himself and drapes it over me as a blanket. He whispers "Buenos noches" and closes the lid.