Tricks of the Trade

It's not easy to change Jett's diaper. He always wants to stand up, and I end up changing his diaper while he's standing with his arms around my neck. Usually he starts to stand up (by grabbing on to my shirt and climbing up my stomach and chest) just after I've gotten the diaper off but before I can wipe his bare butt, so while it's sweet that he's wrapped his arms around my neck, it's not that sweet. There's always inherent danger holding an unwiped, bare-butted baby in your arms.

But thanks to his cousins Megan and Owen, changing diapers is getting much easier. They passed down to Jett an authentic-looking toy cell phone. It's gray and small, and there is hardly anything flashy about it. It has him fooled. And we're working hard to make things stay this way.

We keep the cell phone just out of his reach. And we always have to make a call on it at the most inconvenient time - every time he needs a diaper change, that is. We can only get in a few minutes of conversation until he has finally reached those little finertips high enough to snatch it away from our ear - and into his mouth.

Then, quick as a wink, we've got him down on that changing table and in a new diaper before he's figured out that wow - he finally got to play with Mom or Dad's cell phone!