Shrunk Myself

The following is, of course, fictional:

I did it! Managed to find a way to shrink myself. Something I've wanted to do since I was a kid. Nine months ago I was a big guy; 6'3", 220 pounds.

Yesterday, my wife measured me at 4'7", 75 pounds. My measurements are: chest, 28; waist 24, inseam 25. I used to have big hands and feet but they've gotton smaller in proportion to the rest of me. I'm wearing a size 1 shoe, but I may need to drop down to a kid's size 13. The shrinking process has made me slimmer and smaller boned; less developed. I only need to shave a couple of times a week now. I have a full head of hair and no gray yet, so even though I'm 35 years old, I get mistaken for a kid all the time. I don't look old enough to carry a credit card, let alone order a drink.

I buy my clothes in the boy's department now. Grown-up lookng clothes are hard to find in my size (boy's medium), so I have my suits and dress shirts custom made. Thank goodness for office casual! I get a kick out being able to shop for casual clothes at Gap Kids. I can still drive just fine, at least with the seat all the way up and sitting on a pillow. But I traded my stick shift in for a car with automatic and adjustable pedals. It was getting to be a bit of a stretch to push in the clutch.

I need a stool to reach anything above the lowest shelf in the kitchen cupboards, and my toes barely touch the floor when I sit down at the table. But I don't mind. I like being small and I'm willing to put up with the inconveniences that come with it. My wife likes my new size too; says I'm more cuddly this way. She's a fairly modest 5'6", but I only come up to her shoulder. She has to bend down when she hugs me. Even the most petite woman usually top me by a few inches. Most adults are giants to me; I'm barely chest high to six footers.

Even kids of 11 or 12 often look down at me. My 9 year old son can look me straight in the eye. My 11 year old son is five inches taller and 15 pounds heavier. He just graduated to a student size 14. I wear a boy's size 10. His size 12 hand-me-downs are big on me! My sons are both on the tall side for their age, but some of their classmates are even taller. My older son's best friend is already 5'5" (his dad is 6'5" and his mom is 6'1) -- he can rest his chin on the top of my head. And these boys haven't even started puberty yet! When I take the boys to the mall, or to a game, they like to pretend that I'm the same age as they are. Even though I'm shorter, I still look a little older than they do. But it won't be all that long before they start looking older than me. My 11 year old likes to joke that I'll be able to pass for his little brother.

Shrinking a little over 2 inches per month was fun in itself. I slowly went form wearing XL tall sizes, to larges, mediums, smalls and short smalls, then student sizes, and finally boy's sizes. As I dropped below six feet, I found myself looking up at more and more guys. At 5'10" I had entered the average range. Around 5'8" I crossed the dividing line between average and short. At 5'5" my wife was an inch taller than me and even average sized guys were 4 or 5 inches taller; enough that I had to look up at them. At 5'2" I had to stretch my neck up to kiss my wife and average sized guys towered over me.

By that time, it was getting rare to see a guy my height or shorter. Even short guys of 5'5" or 5'6" were starting to seem tall. At five feet I had to stand on my toes to kiss my wife. Average sized woman, 5'4" or so, could look down at me and I was dwarfed by most guys, barely shoulder high to a six footer.

As I dropped below five feet, even jockeys started looking tall. At 4'10", I had a serious discussion with my wife about whether I should stop. An adult below 4'10" fits the medical definition of a dwarf. But neither of us wanted me to stop. I've kept on going all the way down to 4'7".

Now I qualify as a proportional little person. I've halted my shrinking for now, but my wife thinks I'd be even cuter if I lost a few more inches. So I may start back up. Maybe I'll go down to a boy's size 8. I'll let you know what I decide.

------------------------------------------------- shrinkingman writes:
Great! Quite similar to what I've fantasized about. Maybe we dream about something like this because we'd like to be "kidsized" again, and yet be adult. Best of both worlds (hopefully). (I also kind of enjoy the idea of someone who is just a bit shorter than usual, who has to stretch to reach things most adults could reach with ease---knowing they're adult in age yet being "a bit too short", as a kid would be.

And there actually are some folks who are short like that--the same measurements you gave. (I've talked to some of them on the Net; guys who aren't much bigger than an 8 yr old...And yes they can get mistaken for being a kid!)

>> says I'm more cuddly this way.

Yup!

> Even kids of 11 or 12 often look down at me. My 9 year old son can > look me straight in the eye.

I see you injected a couple things that I'd found on the alt.support.short newsgroup, like the 4'7" guy whose nephew is about 10 inches taller, etc.! At least one guy I've talked to is 4'8" and only 54 pounds; he says he wears clothes meant for 8 year olds.

>> Even short guys of 5'5" or 5'6" were starting to seem > tall.

Quite true; at 5'9", I might consider someone of 5'5" to be short but they would tower over a 4'7" man.

At > 4'10", I had a serious discussion with my wife about whether I should > stop. Hey, let's take a vote of the group members to see if you should stop or keep going. "Keep going!" ... "Keep going..." ... "Yeah, shorter and shorter!" :) >>>> My 9 year old son can look me straight in the eye. My 11 year old son is five inches taller and 15 pounds heavier.

(if I can put my own spin on it...) I know for a fact that my height is now frozen at 4'7" but I could swear that my sons are getting taller, if only by a fraction of an inch. I stand side by side with them and it seems like the younger one may now be a hair taller than me, and I wonder if the older one suddenly gained half an inch when I wasn't looking. It's bizarre; big (now little) daddy's height remains the same while his sons barely, just barely, increase. Growth spurt. Maybe just a quarter of an inch or so...but how the heck do I seem to notice it?

I grabbed my sneakers and put them on but find that they're a couple sizes too big. Then I realize what happened: it turned out my 9 year old son and I have sneakers that are the same style (bought them the same day). The only difference is he wears a size 4 and I'm a size one. No wonder they seem big on me--I grabbed my 9 year old son's sneaks by mistake!

As for my older son, he's 11 and 5'0" but 5'0" seems like a giant to me now! And I really notice that 15 pound difference. 90 pounds used to seem so scrawny (what was the old saying, "a 97 pound weakling"?). Now he outweighs me, and those 15 pounds difference might as well be 25...