Dirty Diapers
I was dead asleep.
"Mommmyyyyyyyy!!!! Maaaaawwwwwww-mmmmmmmmeeeeeee!!!!!"
I tried to pry open my glued-shut eyes and blinked to look at the clock.
3:46 a.m.
I looked on the monitor and saw my daughter poised on the side of the bed.
"Mommy...I POOOOOPED."
She was wide awake. I was not but her update now sprung me out of bed.
I made my way into her room and she declared her news yet again.
"Mommy, I pooped."
"Okay, let's get your diaper changed," I said as I picked her up.
I laid her on the table and grabbed a diaper and some wipes and started to make the diaper change in the dark. She sleeps in just a diaper - her choice and something we've stopped fighting - so I figured it would be quick and simple. I could tell this mess hadn't "just happened" so I needed more wipes. She also sleeps in complete darkness. No nightlight or anything. I was struggling to fully see all I needed to clean so I closed the door partially and flipped on the hall light. I wasn't prepared for what I would see.
Brown streaks everywhere - her chest, under her arm, her hands, her foot. She was covered in pooh.
"Violet, what happened?"
"Um, I waked up and put my hands in my diaper and see if I pooped."
Um. Yeah. Ya did. You sure did.
It looked like she had finger painted herself with her diaper's contents. Bless.
It's one thing to be awakened from a rock-solid sleep. It's another to be awakened to a literal dirty diaper explosion.
I managed to get her completely cleaned up and surprisingly she was ready to go right back to bed. I, on the other hand, was wide awake.
I laid there thinking about the repercussions if I hadn't turned on the light. I've changed a million diapers so I can practically do it in my sleep. I've wrangled babies that resembled alligators and won the battle with a snug diaper in place. I've put diapers on in less-than-ideal situations (can we say bathrooms with NO changing table?!) and I've changed her many times without her lying down. I've even slapped a diaper in place on a moving kid, which I feel is more than worthy of an award. No matter how much of a "pro" I consider myself, in this case I needed the light to reveal the full extent of what I was dealing with. It wasn't just a dirty bum. I needed the light to expose the things I would have missed if I had just done what seemed second-nature.
You know where I'm going with this. The light wouldn't have ordinarily been necessary for something so typically mundane. However, this instance required full exposure of the light to reveal what would have been missed if I had just changed the diaper and put her back to bed.
Speaking of bed...I had to double check to make sure that didn't also need to be wiped down. Thankfully all clear.
What seems familiar to you? What can you do in your sleep? What don't you even need to open your eyes for? My challenge to you is to flip the light on. Open your eyes. Look around and get the FULL picture. You never know what you might be missing - what may not be suspected or predicted but what may be something you ought not overlook.
"Mommmyyyyyyyy!!!! Maaaaawwwwwww-mmmmmmmmeeeeeee!!!!!"
I tried to pry open my glued-shut eyes and blinked to look at the clock.
3:46 a.m.
I looked on the monitor and saw my daughter poised on the side of the bed.
"Mommy...I POOOOOPED."
She was wide awake. I was not but her update now sprung me out of bed.
I made my way into her room and she declared her news yet again.
"Mommy, I pooped."
"Okay, let's get your diaper changed," I said as I picked her up.
I laid her on the table and grabbed a diaper and some wipes and started to make the diaper change in the dark. She sleeps in just a diaper - her choice and something we've stopped fighting - so I figured it would be quick and simple. I could tell this mess hadn't "just happened" so I needed more wipes. She also sleeps in complete darkness. No nightlight or anything. I was struggling to fully see all I needed to clean so I closed the door partially and flipped on the hall light. I wasn't prepared for what I would see.
Brown streaks everywhere - her chest, under her arm, her hands, her foot. She was covered in pooh.
"Violet, what happened?"
"Um, I waked up and put my hands in my diaper and see if I pooped."
Um. Yeah. Ya did. You sure did.
It looked like she had finger painted herself with her diaper's contents. Bless.
It's one thing to be awakened from a rock-solid sleep. It's another to be awakened to a literal dirty diaper explosion.
I managed to get her completely cleaned up and surprisingly she was ready to go right back to bed. I, on the other hand, was wide awake.
I laid there thinking about the repercussions if I hadn't turned on the light. I've changed a million diapers so I can practically do it in my sleep. I've wrangled babies that resembled alligators and won the battle with a snug diaper in place. I've put diapers on in less-than-ideal situations (can we say bathrooms with NO changing table?!) and I've changed her many times without her lying down. I've even slapped a diaper in place on a moving kid, which I feel is more than worthy of an award. No matter how much of a "pro" I consider myself, in this case I needed the light to reveal the full extent of what I was dealing with. It wasn't just a dirty bum. I needed the light to expose the things I would have missed if I had just done what seemed second-nature.
You know where I'm going with this. The light wouldn't have ordinarily been necessary for something so typically mundane. However, this instance required full exposure of the light to reveal what would have been missed if I had just changed the diaper and put her back to bed.
Speaking of bed...I had to double check to make sure that didn't also need to be wiped down. Thankfully all clear.
What seems familiar to you? What can you do in your sleep? What don't you even need to open your eyes for? My challenge to you is to flip the light on. Open your eyes. Look around and get the FULL picture. You never know what you might be missing - what may not be suspected or predicted but what may be something you ought not overlook.
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