The post in which I b*&%h and moan...

There have been a few different posts recently that have struck a cord with me and I am going to moan and complain and b$tch about it here and now. Normally, I would probably skip this discussion, but I guess my hormones are making me less complacent right now. I have to get it out.

I read a post a few days ago by my cousin Krystal about potty training her son. She takes a great attitude about it. Her son is 23 months old and whether he decides that he is ready to go on the potty now or not, she will be fine with it. That is the attitude that I would love to take too. However, there are a few people in my life who will not let me rest until they make me feel absolutely horrible. Because, I was potty trained by the time I was 12 months and my son is 14 months already and still in diapers!!! Ohmygod, right!

What those people completely forget is this: 29 years ago when I was an infant there were NO disposable diapers available in the Soviet Union AND 99% of households did not have a washing machine. Which meant daily hand washing of stacks upon stacks of diapers, swaddling cloths, diaper covers, sheets, blankets, etc. You cannot even imagine what that washing was like. The water heater could not get the water hot enough to wash poopy diapers well enough. So before starting to wash the diapers by hand , they had to boil them. I mean we had a huge boiling pot, that covered the entire stove top and took all 4 ranges to warm up. They would put all the diapers, etc. and water in there and set it to boil with some chemicals that helped get rid of the poo stains. Then, they would transfer the diapers to a bucket and carry them to the tub and dump them in there to start the actual washing and rinsing. After that was done, they still had to be wrung out and hung. They used to hang all that stuff out around the apartment, balconies or between buildings. Plus, the doctors strongly suggested that everything needs to be sterilized, so after everything was dry, they ironed everything on BOTH sides! Grandparents visits were not to hang out with the babies, but to help with all the washing. We lived with my grandparents for a while when I was little and my grandma would come home from work and start on the diapers, etc., then wake up at 5am to iron them. Can you imagine such a life!!!

So it probably comes as no surprise that they started to stick babies on the potties as soon as the babies could sit up. I mean I would too, who would not!?! Plus, it was easy to tell how often the child pees since the diaper would get soaked right away. I still do not know how often my son pees, I am down to about 6 diapers a day now and he seems fine. Some people tell me that I am lazy and that is why I do not put him on the potty. I did put him on the potty a few times and he does not mind it, but he is NOT ready to tell me when he needs to go since he does not mind being wet or soiled. He never did. Some babies cry when they need to be changed, but not Daniel, his diaper does not bother him EVER! And never did.

Yesterday I went out for a dinner with my girlfriend and forgot to change Daniel's diaper on time. When I got him out of the high chair his pants and legs were soaked. But he did not care, in fact he objected to the diaper changing!

OK, I am actually gonna stop now. This post started with me complaining and turned into a cultural comparison of diapering babies. I have a few other things that I want to talk about but I am going to save all that for another post.

I need to go to bed now, we came back from Northern Georgia today after three nights in the foothills of Smoky Mountains. I have a million pictures, will post soon.