The Littlest Peanut Speaks

Well, okay, the littlest peanut didn't really speak, but his actions spoke volumes!

We started Sam on solid foods last week. Well, let me rephrase that--we started our fourth attempt at solids last week. The first three attempts didn't go so well. He loved them, but they didn't love him. I think his digestive system just wasn't ready for them yet.

But last week seemed to go reasonably well. Sam loved the food we tried (sweet potatoes) and didn't seem overly fussy after eating them (as he did after eating both peaches and rice cereal). So far so good...except that he got rather constipated. In a way, this is a good thing--his acid-reflux medicine gives him diarrhea, so it was actually good to have him bulk up a bit, so to speak. But he went three days with only one small poop, and by midway through the second day, he was pretty fussy. And we were thinking, "Just poop and be done with it, man!"

So on the third day, Sam fussed most of the day. Didn't nap well and just mildly fussed and fussed and fussed all day long. So I didn't get any work done, and when he got home from work, Chris took the boys to the hardware store to give me some quiet work time.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Sam finally pooped on the way to the hardware store. And Chris, knowing he would only be in there a few minutes, debated just saving the diaper change for home. But then he thought, "No, I'll be nice to Cathleen and just get it over with." Because he's a nice guy. Unfortunately, now I pretty much owe him for life! You see, young Sam had a Stage 4 Diaper Blowout of epic proportions. Poop...everywhere.... Here is how it went down, as Chris related it to me:

Upon lifting Sam out of the car seat, he realized the epic proportions of the Great Poop Explosion of 2012. Sam was wearing a cloth diaper, and his legs are so skinny that they don't really fill out the leg holes, so there's gapping. (I'd love to keep him in disposables until his legs finally fill out the cloth diapers, but we're on a budget, so we deal with the gapping....) And so, the poop (a lovely shade of sweet-potato orange!) was all down both of his legs, all up his back, and all over the car seat. Chris hurried to the men's room in the hardware store and set about cleaning up the disaster. Sam, who had been sitting placidly in his mess, decided he did not want to be changed, and he started screaming like crazy. Theo, meanwhile, thought the men's room was a fun place to explore and was turning the light on and off, turning the faucet on and off, and pulling paper towels out of the dispenser to "help" Chris. Chris went through half a pack of wipies (all that were left in my diaper bag) and a bunch of paper towels to clean up all the poop. Sam's pants went into the trash, deemed unsalvageable. His poop-soaked onesie and diaper went in a plastic bag to bring home for me to wash. And after spending 15 minutes changing Sam, redressing him in a new outfit, and attempting to manage Theo in the bathroom, Chris emerged from the men's room to a joking comment of, "What were you doing to that baby, beating him?" from a bystander. He laughed, mentioned the diaper blowout, and headed straight over to the cleaning section, where he bought a $5 pack of shop rags, which he used to line the pooped-on car seat for Sam's ride home.

And so they returned home, battle-weary and without the plants that Chris had set out to buy. But Sam pooped, so life is good!