I love this image. Who sticks their hand down the back of a baby’s diaper? How funny.
I’ve thought long and hard about all the things I’ve learned over the course of Griffin’s first five weeks, and I have to say that the one thing I feel most comfortable with is changing diapers. Now, this may seem typical being daddy, the role of the father being the care taker, the take-charge-taker to take care of things that mama is tired of taking care of, which is exactly what I am. When it comes to diaper changing I feel I am swift, exact, focused, and never as grossed out by baby poop as I thought I’d be.
What I learned today about being a father:
In it’s simplest form, diaper changing can be summed up like this; if the poop sits, change it. However, many in the land of Parenthood want to give you a step-by-step instruction, a platform to refer to when you can’t tell if the diaper needs changing, or if you should use baby wipes that are scented or not scented, warmed or just room temperature. There are so many different diaper changing instructions that I could spend hours upon hours of boring you to death with them. But no, I am being daddy 101, the student/instructor for other dads to watch, assess, and then be told how to do it properly. I may not know daddying all that well, but what being daddy has taught me is the art of the Diaper Daddy.
What I think I know:
Instead of the persistent notions that diaper changing is always done in stages or steps, like the blogger of “How To Change a Diaper, for Dummies,” wants us to think, no two diapers are the same. There are mistakes to be made, bad decisions to be had, and lots of big and little messes that will eventually need to be cleaned up twice. So to stress the challenges your babies diapers can create for you, I want to show diaper changing from a completely different point of view; my babies perspective.
Griffin: So I’m sitting here with these two people. They’re familiar, but I don’t like how they keep touching me. Get off me! (flaying hands, kicking feet). Ok, here we go, picking me up again, Ugh! Ok, ok, now she’s shaking me, getting dizzy, holding on, holding on…Ooooo, whatever that was, what a relief. This feeling, so warm and squishy, not so great for my skin, though, and I’ve got nice, soft skin. Oh, she’s saying something, yeah, that’s right, tell him I did my business, though I don’t know what my business is it sends him into a frenzy, makes mama say strange things and get all frantic. Here we go! I’ll cry a little bit, add some tension to my business, make them think this isn’t that cool, cause it’s not, it’s pretty warm. Wait. Wait, why are we going into this room? I don’t like this room…yep. She’s setting me down; I’m down. Uh-Oh. They’re looking at me funny, saying strange things and their voices, they don’t sound like them. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE! Now she’s trying to shove that sucky thing in my mouth and I don’t like what he’s doing down there and here we go! Here we go people! That cold breeze; Ouch! Something sticking to my leg; that’s right mama, you tell him to be more careful because those sticky things hurt. Burrrr, it’s freezing in here! Get this sucky thing out of my face! Hey! You! Big guy with the overhanging belly and strange, hairy face! Put that thing back on me…I’m warning you, uh-oh, you did it, it’s out. Take that old man, enjoy the shower, haha! What? What did she say? No, seriously, I don’t mind the cold anymore. You don’t have to put that thing back on me, in fact, get all these clothes off me, I’m much better that way, serious. Let me breathe a little bit…Ooh, that’s nice, I like that warm wipey thing….yeah yeah yeah, I get it, it’s messy, what do you want me to do about it? She shoves those things in my face and I just do what comes natural…uh-oh…got…to…fight…him…off…come on legs, kick that thing out of his hands…arms, come on arms, twist, shake, hit, slam…dang it, he got it on…Oh well, here comes some more of that hot stuff…Hahaha
Being daddy is all about finding Daddy’s Sway, or your own way of doing things. No diaper changes will ever be the same. Griffin is easy, until I get those diapers off. He crunches his legs into his belly, swings his arms wildly, kicks back and forth, making diaper changing as difficult as it can be. But once I’ve got the little thing latched on, he stops everything and gives me a little smile, his facial expressions changing like he’s having fun and enjoying our little romp. And, more than I’d like to admit, he soils the new diaper just as fast as I could get it on. It makes me think that changing diapers to him is just one big, dirty joke, and he’s the only one laughing.
He’s got his daddy’s sense of humor, that’s for sure.
Being Daddy 101 