Adventures in Diaper Changing
Ellie and I split up to buy Vital Supplies yesterday. We had four stores to visit, which would take me about 30 minutes to knock out if I were by myself. With three kids, that turns into an all-afternoon ordeal. The 24 car seat loadings and unloadings alone would take a half-hour.
Realizing this, we decided to drive separately and meet at our final destination. This might sound wasteful, but we needed to take two vehicles anyway. We needed to haul a picnic table, which required the pick-up, and we needed to haul three kids, which required the Subaru.
Ellie has a booster seat in her truck for Abbie, so the girls went together to complete the most intense shopping stop. I took the boys to the two “get in, get out” shopping stops. I also took advantage of the separation to drive-thru the Mexican fast food restaurant Ellie never wants to visit. Afterwards, we met to pick up the picnic table.
I pulled into the final stop, and parked near Ellie’s truck. I knew she’d be busy readying the table for travel, so I finished my drink and listened to the radio long enough to discover that Oregon and Florida were at halftime.
When I emerged to unload the boys, I saw Ellie frantically moving toward me as fast as Abbie’s little legs would move. With no time to explain, she threw open the back of the Subaru and demanded a diaper. As Ellie prepared Abbie for a diaper change, she told me that her diaper was leaking moisture, and she needed a clean one now.
The problem with an oversaturated Abbie diaper is two-fold. One, I had the diaper bag with me. Had we planned better, I would have given Ellie an emergency diaper. Better yet, I would’ve recognized that we’d been sneaking her soda pop earlier, thus increasing the demands on the diaper, and changed her before we left home.
The second problem with a leaky diaper is it wets her pants. We can deal with the embarrassment of walking around with a toddler whose pants have a wet stain on them; considering I forget to comb my hair most mornings, that’s nothing. Unfortunately, Abbie knows when her pants are wet,* and demands removal of her wet pants. Now. And she’ll do it in the middle of the store if necessary. Hence, Ellie, who’d spent the past few minutes fighting Abbie to keep her pants on, was a little frantic when a clean diaper arrived.
Ellie changed Abbie while I loaded the boys into a cart. Fortunately, Abbie’s pants were more damp than wet, and didn’t show a stain as we walked around the store. Ellie had already loaded the picnic table on a cart, so we spent the next several minutes browsing for other Vital Supplies.
We stopped at an outdoor playhouse that was set up on the floor. This one was similar to the one in our backyard, but slightly different, and therefore better. I watched Abbie play with it with an enthusiasm she’s never shown for the one we own, and Ellie leisurely walked the aisles while she was entertained. This was the final stop, and we had plenty of time before the next nap, so there was no rush.
Then Abbie pooped her diaper. The diaper bag was still in the car. We had to leave. Now.
* I wish she knew when she was about to wet her pants, but that’s another post.
Realizing this, we decided to drive separately and meet at our final destination. This might sound wasteful, but we needed to take two vehicles anyway. We needed to haul a picnic table, which required the pick-up, and we needed to haul three kids, which required the Subaru.
Ellie has a booster seat in her truck for Abbie, so the girls went together to complete the most intense shopping stop. I took the boys to the two “get in, get out” shopping stops. I also took advantage of the separation to drive-thru the Mexican fast food restaurant Ellie never wants to visit. Afterwards, we met to pick up the picnic table.
I pulled into the final stop, and parked near Ellie’s truck. I knew she’d be busy readying the table for travel, so I finished my drink and listened to the radio long enough to discover that Oregon and Florida were at halftime.
When I emerged to unload the boys, I saw Ellie frantically moving toward me as fast as Abbie’s little legs would move. With no time to explain, she threw open the back of the Subaru and demanded a diaper. As Ellie prepared Abbie for a diaper change, she told me that her diaper was leaking moisture, and she needed a clean one now.
The problem with an oversaturated Abbie diaper is two-fold. One, I had the diaper bag with me. Had we planned better, I would have given Ellie an emergency diaper. Better yet, I would’ve recognized that we’d been sneaking her soda pop earlier, thus increasing the demands on the diaper, and changed her before we left home.
The second problem with a leaky diaper is it wets her pants. We can deal with the embarrassment of walking around with a toddler whose pants have a wet stain on them; considering I forget to comb my hair most mornings, that’s nothing. Unfortunately, Abbie knows when her pants are wet,* and demands removal of her wet pants. Now. And she’ll do it in the middle of the store if necessary. Hence, Ellie, who’d spent the past few minutes fighting Abbie to keep her pants on, was a little frantic when a clean diaper arrived.
Ellie changed Abbie while I loaded the boys into a cart. Fortunately, Abbie’s pants were more damp than wet, and didn’t show a stain as we walked around the store. Ellie had already loaded the picnic table on a cart, so we spent the next several minutes browsing for other Vital Supplies.
We stopped at an outdoor playhouse that was set up on the floor. This one was similar to the one in our backyard, but slightly different, and therefore better. I watched Abbie play with it with an enthusiasm she’s never shown for the one we own, and Ellie leisurely walked the aisles while she was entertained. This was the final stop, and we had plenty of time before the next nap, so there was no rush.
Then Abbie pooped her diaper. The diaper bag was still in the car. We had to leave. Now.
* I wish she knew when she was about to wet her pants, but that’s another post.
posted by Matt at
11:16 PM
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