Lesson Learned: Why You Should NEVER Teach a Toddler How to Remove His Diaper

We’ve been teaching Jack how to get dressed and undressed. He loves feeling like a “big guy” and it is helpful to us when he is able to get ready for his bath or take off his jammies to get dressed for the day. As part of this, we taught him how to take off his diaper. I know, I know, what were we thinking?  But in our defense, we thought that this would be helpful to us because it would be one less thing that he’d need to rely on us to do for him. ROOKIE MISTAKE. BIG TIME.

Today I put Jack down for his nap in his shirt and diaper, just like I always do. He didn’t go to sleep right away, which is normal—he usually likes to sing or play in his crib for a while before falling asleep. About 10 minutes into his nap, I hear him crying out for me and saying, “uh-oh.”

I walk into his room and discover him standing at the edge of his crib, no diaper on. Still oblivious I say, “oh, you took your diaper off.”

To which Jack says, “poo poo, mommy.”

I look down in his crib and see poop. Everywhere.

Jack is a mixture of grossed out and proud. Mostly proud. From that moment on, things are a bit of a blur. There was a lot of cleaning up, showering, and explaining to Jack why you don’t take off your diaper when you have to go potty.

I suppose every parent has at least one poop story about their children. Here’s hoping this is my only one.