Page 56 of Learning Little Lizzie

A knock at the door interrupted them, and the laughter bubbling in Eliza’s chest died. “Is that Dr. Denten?”

“I believe it is. Why don’t you go grab your bear while I let her in?”

“Okay, Daddy.”

Because it gave her an excuse to put off meeting the doctor a little longer, she raced for her room and grabbed her bear off her bed. It occurred to her then that maybe sleeping with a stuffed animal every night should have been a clue that she was more Little than she’d been willing to admit.

“All right, General Fluffypants.,” she said, finally giving him a name other than “my bear”. “Let’s go meet the doctor.”

Hugging the bear to her chest, she dragged in a deep breath and forced her feet forward. Daddy was standing in the middle of the living room, chatting with a pretty woman with short brown hair. When she turned, her eyes lit up, as though she was genuinely delighted to see Eliza standing there.

“Well hello, Eliza. Aren’t you just adorable? You know, my Little girl Pippi loves to have her hair braided like that. Did you do it yourself?”

“No. Daddy did it for me.”

“Of course he did.” Dr. Denten winked. “Any good Daddy knows how to braid pigtails. Would you like to have a seat with me on the couch?”

“Um, sure. Can my… can Samuel stay?”

“If you’d feel more comfortable that way, he can absolutely stay for right now. Maybe you’d feel better if you sat on your Daddy’s lap?”

She sorta felt like this was the kind of thing she should be “Big” for. But she was still feeling very Little, despite herself, so she nodded. “I think so. Yes, thank you.”

Daddy sat on the couch and held his arms out to her while Dr. Denten settled on the opposite end. Eliza crawled onto his lap, with the General still clutched tightly to her chest.

“I know you’re used to hearing me called Dr. Denten, but the Littles usually call me Mrs. Cat. You can use whichever name makes you feel the most comfortable. Would you prefer I call you Eliza or Lizzie?”

“Eliza. Only Daddy calls me Lizzie.” It felt important, for reasons she couldn’t explain, to make that clear.

Mrs. Cat sent her a beaming smile. “Good job setting that boundary, Eliza. That makes me very happy to hear.”

“Thanks.” Frowning slightly, she plucked at a loose thread on her pajama pants. “Daddy said he was proud of me earlier. For using my safe word and setting a limit. But I don’t really understand why.”

Daddy’s arms tightened around her, and for a moment she thought she was in trouble. But Mrs. Cat’s smile didn’t falter. “I might be able to explain, if you’d like.”

“Sure.”

“Sometimes people think of boundaries as bad things. Like… something you only need if you’re really scared of someone or if someone is mean to you. But really, boundaries are just like the rules your Daddy has for you. They help people know what behaviors you’ll accept and what you won’t. So if you don’t set a boundary, someone might do something that upsets you without realizing it, because they didn’t know it was a boundary for you.”

“Oh.” That made sense, in a way, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d somehow failed her Daddy by setting a limit.

“You still don’t seem quite sure,” Mrs. Cat said, her expression turning sympathetic. “It can feel a bit uncomfortable at first, especially if we’re not used to setting boundaries with people.”

“I guess. I just… it doesn’t feel good. It feels like…” she trailed off, struggling to find the words. “Like I let Daddy down because I couldn’t do what he wanted me to do.”

“Ah. I understand.”

“You do?”

“Mmhmm. But let me ask you something.” Clasping her hands together, Mrs. Cat leaned forward. “Would you rather your Daddy give you a very clear list of rules, so you always know exactly what you’re allowed to do and what you’re not? Or would you prefer for him to not give you any rules and just surprise you with punishments even though you didn’t know you were doing anything wrong?”

“The first one. Definitely. The second one makes my tummy feel sad.”

“Yeah, it would make my tummy feel sad, too. That’s why I set boundaries with people. So they know what I’m willing to accept and what I’m not, and there’s no surprises for either of us. You’d be letting your Daddy down a lot more if you let him be surprised by something that truly hurt you because he didn’t know it was a limit or a boundary for you.”

“But, what if I don’t know something should be a limit? What if it’s a surprise to me, too?”

“That happens, especially when you’re just starting out. When it comes to your Daddy, I think the best thing is for the two of you to take things slow. Try out new kinks and new ‘Little’ things one at a time. So you have a chance to really learn whether you like something or not. And now that your Daddy knows he can trust you to be honest about your limits I think you two will have much more fun trying new things.”

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