Diaperless

Lately I've been feeling like maybe I'm done with changing diapers. Not indefinitely, by any means (I'd have 3 more babies if my wife felt so inspired), but done with changing Zeben's diapers. I think my current misgivings about diapers are at least in part a reflection of Zeben's equally unenthusiastic feelings about having his diaper changed. There just comes a time, when you're chasing your naked toddler around the house and then pinning him down with your leg so that you can use both hands to fasten the diaper, where you have to wonder, "is this really necessary? Can we be done with this yet?" Perhaps one of the downsides of elimination communication (which we've practiced very loosely with Zeb) is that it can feel like you've been working towards the diaper-free goal for years. Progress is sometimes painfully slow.

Since we've moved, I haven't been using cloth diapers much at all. Mostly because of the diaper change struggle (our cloth diapering stash is currently limited to prefolds, which aren't the easiest diaper to put on a wriggling toddler), and also because it was just easy to let cloth diapering slip when we had so much going on with packing and unpacking. But while the sight of my sweet little one with his cloth bum brought me joy and made me enjoy the art of diapering, I just can't seem to feel as inspired about the disposables we've been using for the past couple weeks.

Sweet cloth bum

Of course the timing is pretty rotten, what with Zeb just having started nursery school and the colder weather fast approaching. But I'm trying to follow his lead and instead of chasing Zeb around the house to diaper him, we're experimenting with more and more naked time. "No diaper!" he says, and I say, "okay. But you tell me if you have to pee." And he'll give me a little preview of how it's going to go: "Mo-om, pee-ee!" But, so far he has yet to really grasp the advanced warning part of the plan (usually I get informed as the pee is making its appearance).

Sometimes I wonder if he thinks that potties are actually for sitting on and reading books (rather than peeing).

He seems to prefer to actually pee on the big toilet
(which makes sense since he doesn't see anyone else peeing in the little potties).

But the best place of all for peeing is on the grass outside.

We have yet to brave the world of pants, but things are going pretty well here in naked diaperless land. At the very least, there are fewer struggles over diapers. Hopefully it will all click in Zeb's head sometime soon. Until then, I will be like Joshua's mother in "Once Upon a Potty," and keep on changing him.