Short, fair, & adorable

Zoodle will never be tall, dark, and handsome.

Tall? Maybe. We'll see if he's gotten height genes from his six-foot tall daddy, or from me. (It was exciting when I went to my last checkup and the nurse told me, "You're five foot two and a half!" I'd never known about that half inch! But back to Zoodle.)

Handsome? Certainly--doesn't that go without saying?

But dark? No way. His fair skin would have made Queen Elizabeth jealous (no lead-based makeup required.) Thanks to him, sunblock companies should have several good decades ahead, no matter what the economic climate.

His sweet, fair skin is also quite sensitive. We've dealt with baby acne, mild eczema, and cradle cap. But I'd never seen anything quite like the diaper rash he got a couple of weeks ago.

It started as a dry, reddish patch in the front, where the diaper is tight at the top. There was a smaller patch in the back, also at the top. We'd been using Luvs diapers, which are scented. (Side note: I find scented diapers ridiculous. If your kid stinks, that means it's time for a new diaper.) Because of the location of the rash--where the diaper was making the most contact with him--I figured his sensitive skin might not be loving the Luvs. As the rash grew, we switched diaper brands.

But his poor skin was already in that irritated mode, and he developed hives--itchy, red, puffy hives--all over his poor little bottom. It was terrible. He woke up itching at night. He tried to scratch through his diapers. As soon as I took off a dirty diaper, his little fingers were immediately scratching.

He's been gradually getting better. I rejoiced one day last week when I took off his diaper and, instead of scratching, he immediately grabbed...well, what he often gleefully grabs when Mommy is kind enough to uncover it for a minute or two. (Boys will be boys!)

But his skin is having a hard time completely healing, and he still has a minor rash. It doesn't help that he's in diapers all day, and so a couple of times I've followed common diaper rash advice and let him go diaper-free. For airflow, and all that.

The first diaper-free time, he peed twice. Once was on the tile, easy to clean up. The second time was also on tile, while he was playing in the kitchen cabinet full of plastic storage containers. That provided me with a good opportunity to load up the dishwasher with all the containers that had been in Zoodle's general vicinity.

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson. But Wednesday, tired of this rash that won't quite go away, I let him have about half an hour of airflow freedom.

First, he peed on the tile. I counted myself lucky-so far all our diaper-free accidents had been on tile! Not bad, Zoodle!

Until later, when I looked at the carpet next to the coffee table.

And discovered he'd taken the opportunity to unload something much worse than pee. Then he'd stepped in it and tracked it over carpet and other stuff in his path.

So, yes, in the span of four days I cleaned poop out of the bathtub and the carpet.

Short, fair, adorable...and occasionally quite a stinker.