Out of diapers, now what?

I feel rather foolish today because I set my daughter up to fail.

First off, I need to address that we are rather unflinching when it comes to cloth diapers. We've probably purchased disposable diapers three times in the last two years. We feel pretty special about it, until of course we don't have any clean cloth diapers on hand, nor any disposable diapers as a backup.

Today was one of those days where all of Michelle's diaper covers were in the wash, and the diaper she had on was, how shall I phrase this, soiled to the point where putting it back on her would have been abusive. So instead I thought it would be fine to have her run around without a diaper on until the diapers were clean.

To back up a little bit, we've been passively trying to potty train our daughter. Her little training potty is out and about, and when she expresses that she needs to "pee-pee" we encourage her to sit on the potty. She is great at sitting on her potty for about 2 seconds, but will never ever let out a drip until she has a diaper on. I marvel at her ability to hold her pee for as long as she does. She won't let out anything until she must.

Today, there was just too much time between removing my daughter's diaper and the diapers getting clean. She sat on her potty probably 17 times, but never let out a drop. She finally made her way to our bedroom and decided that would be a more appropriate place to relieve her bladder. I guess daddy deserved that one.

Someday soon, she's going to decide that peeing on the potty is actually much better than peeing either in a diaper or on the ground. I'm hopeful. Though I confess that there's few more satisfying things than peeing on the ground.

A double standard

Our daughter has recently begun telling us when she soils her diaper, which is a pretty exciting time for parents. So naturally, we bought her a training toilet. At this stage of the game, we aren't exactly trying to potty train, but we're just introducing the idea to her.

Silly me, yesterday morning I was cleaning the kitchen and I said "Michelle, let's take your diaper off, just to see what happens." I then pointed at her potty and asked if she was interested in sitting there. After a scorching glare, she tore off in the opposite direction.

Not five minutes later, she came running from her toy corner, screaming and panicking about the gross stuff stuck to her feet. (Insert the knowing head nod here). After throwing my distressed child in the tub and washing away all her troubles, I couldn't help but chuckle as I proceeded to clean up a stinky pile, and foot prints that fled from the scene. This was a great way to spend my morning.

It was then that I discovered the double standard of poop on the carpet. If my dogs ever have an accident in the house, I get mad at them, even though it is usually my fault for not taking them out when they've expressed adement interest. But the baby poops and I laugh at my own mistake. I really felt wise.

Later in the afternoon, I took Michelle out to play, and when I returned, the dogs had gotten into our garbage, and had shred stinky debris all over our apartment. I was livid, even though I knew that I had pulled the garbage bag out to take it outside, but forgot about it in the kitchen.

It's quite a double standard. I don't feel wise anymore. Maybe there's a lesson to be learned here: poop on the carpet stinks.