Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Tearing My Hair Out

Hey Humble Readers...

I know I have brought this up before, but Pippin is going to drive me around the bend.  I love my wee Mister to death, but there are certainly times when I'm not his biggest fan. 

He has, for quite some time, been taking his clothes at the drop of a hat.  And after the clothes are off, his diaper is quick to follow.  Then we end up with varying degrees of disgusting messes to clean up. 

There are some factors to take into consideration when I think about why he's doing this. 
  • His eczema flares up regularly around his ankles and his waist, so I know that pants aren't his best friend right now.  He rarely wears socks for this reason, but I don't feel I have that option with pants... might not go over well out in public.  Not to mention that it is still winter-like out there. 
  • He has recently gone through a growth spurt so many of his pants and jeans are snug around his waist (and I'm trying not to have to buy him more pants so close to the end of winter). 
  • It almost always happens when he is bored.  This is usually when he's in the playpen or the crib.  I do try to limit the playpen time for him, but I feel forced to choose between keeping him safe and contained when I have to leave the room or am cooking etc, and having a potential mess to clean up.  He always has toys to play with in the playpen, but only a soft book and a stuffie in the crib at naptime. 
  • Sharing a room with Ginny means that naptime rarely includes a nap.  They both need a rest, and if they get a little bit of quiet time that's better than nothing.  But Ginny has been caught not only egging Pip on while he removes his diaper, but actively helping in diaper removal and the finger painting that follows. 

We have been using packing tape on his diapers for months now.  I don't like it... it's inconvenient, not to mention time consuming, and I'm always concerned about the adhesive coming in contact with his skin. 

But now the little stinker has managed to figure out how to take his diaper off, even with a double strapping of tape around his waist.  Hence the tearing out my hair scenario. 

I don't dare say anything about it to my mom because she'll start in on how he's ready to start potty training (and beyond the saga that is my potty training experience with Ginny, and how I'm not interested in starting down that road with Pip just yet, but really, how would I go about potty training a little boy who is only just beginning to communicate in basic form?).  Potty training is also the consensus on most of the mommy message boards I've perused. 

I'm going to try a set of footie pjs put on backwards tomorrow at naptime.  Do any of you have any other suggestions? 

I love my little boy, and I don't want to wish away this age, but man oh man I cannot wait until we are DONE with diapers. 

2 comments :

  1. Ugh, sorry you are dealing with this. Can you put him in a onsie with snaps up the back and none in the legs/crouch area? That way he can't even get to his diaper. You may have to do some sewing to create such a thing for such a big guy. Or put him in pants, t-shirt and suspenders that he can't manipulate to keep his pants on? If you put socks on his hands is he able to take them off?? Handcuffs? (just kidding).

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  2. I wish I had some
    Advice for you!! M has not figured out how to take his diaper off. He's in cloth diapers most of the time and I think the snaps are too hard for him to get off. On second thought, maybe get some cloth diaper covers to put over his diaper and maybe he won't get those off?!?! I think he's too early to potty train too. I don't think M is ready yet either. He's started telling me when he's pooped or peed sometimes so that's a step in the right direction. I figure I will tackle that when I'm off work this summer. Let me know how it goes and if the footie pjs work!!

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