diaper-free redux

btw, when i mentioned to Dì 6|aunty 6, our nanny, (more on nannies later, the post is mostly done) that VL has been going diaper-free on the weekends, evenings, and with her Bà Nội, Dì 6 confessed that she wanted to let VL go without diapers too but was afraid of being reproached by me for acculturating the baby to naked butt, cuz once they have a taste of freedom, they don't want to be straight-jacketed anymore. Dì 6 sez VL doesnt pee randomly but after naps, and hourly, etc. so she's been doing her own empirical observation which makes me happy for the care that VL gets. anyways synchronous with this happy convening of observation & values, VL discovered how to pull open the velcro on her wool diaper cover. so it's just as well.

and we are diaperless at night. she was only able to pull off the hold-in-the-pee-all-nite feat twice. but that's not why. i just would rather she was comfortable in her sleep. so i have our wool puddle pad beneath her (thanks, anh Hy!) and put a prefold diaper flat on top of that. so if she pees, the diaper soaks up most of it, and what it doesn't get, weo the wool turns into soap yadda yadda. she does have the unerring ability to scoot backwards off the wool mat and pee directly on the bed. luckily, we have a wool mattress topper on our organic wool & cotton rubber bed. it's been the case that when she's uncomfortable whether from wet diaper of full bladder, she wriggles and grunts in her sleep and refuses to bú (weo, could you eat were that the case for you?). so i sit up, foist her up on the potty between my legs and hug her while gently rubbing her bladder and making the tsssssssssshhhhhh sound. sometimes she does that funny little i've-been-holding-it-in-too-long-shiver before she pees. and then i gently wipe her off and put her down to the bed. so no diapers at nite and only 2-3 cloth wipes. and she doesn't even cry in protest anymore.

so now we are down to a handful of diapers a week. thank the stars because regardless of what cloth diaper zealots tell you, it does stink. urine becomes ammonia which cannot be contained. maybe we should do as Dì 6 suggests and stop trying to contain it and just let it air dry in a basket. is it always the case that the more you fight something, the more it persists?