The Big Y
Elsa has yeast. Gah! You know, if she hadn’t had the most horrendous diaper rash I’d ever seen after wearing disposable diapers for 24 hours I’d think cloth diapers were a crock of . . . well. . . you know. Is the pun too obvious?
But she did have that horrible diaper rash, so I can just imagine what her poor little butt would look like if she was my first child and I wasn’t in a cloth mind-frame and had no idea that moving her to cloth would make her life a lot better. As it is, she has patches of eczema all over. They aren’t the worst I’ve seen, but I know that she has a long, long road of sensitive skin issues ahead. I’ve had eczema on my hands since I was 16 years old. That’s 20 years of a continuous rash. Sometimes a lot (like right now) sometimes a little. Always there. I think I find cures and solutions, but none ever work long term.
I think I can get the yeast rash under control for her, but not without a major pitfall: disposable diapers. Gross. So so so gross.
I used disposables with Erik and I never understood why cloth users were all “ewwww! Disposables are gross!” I thought they were just being. . . superior? Silly? Melodramatic? Uninformed? I don’t know. I didn’t think most of them were being rude or malicious or anything, but I just didn’t believe them.
Now that I know the wonders of cloth, all I can say is “ewwwwwwww!” She’s already had a major poop blow-out today. So gross. You just don’t get those in cloth*. I remember having them daily when Erik was an infant.
And the stench. Oh my god. Gag me with a spork.
I’m not even being melodramatic. I promise. It’s not like changing cloth diapers are all sunshine and roses. They provide a very necessary function, but even with cloth diapers it isn’t fun or un-gross.
Anyway, she needs to be in disposables for two reasons: 1) The rash cream will cause the diapers to repel instead of absorb and 2) Yeast is a monster to get rid of, so I have to treat all her diapers to try to kill the yeast. We’ll never get rid of it if she is re-using the yeasty diapers.
This has got to be one of the most boring posts. I’m sorry, but that’s my world right now. Diapers and yeast, oh my!
At least the weather has been nice the past couple of days! We met up with one of our neighbors yesterday and she said I should just send Erik to her house whenever I want because her son is really bored and needs a playmate. Her son just turned five and has never been to any type of school (not even homeschooled or anything like that). I thought he was a lot younger than Erik because he seems so immature, but I guess he just doesn’t know how to act around people. I don’t know. He has two much older half-brothers and I think they coddle him, so maybe that plays into it as well. He’s a very nice kid and the mom is really nice so I hope we can help each other out with some babysitting swaps. She doesn’t let him play outside by himself (and I can see why), so we knocked on the door today and had him come out and play with us. I watched the boys for about an hour then she came out and watched them for another hour. It was really nice. There’s a one in four chance the boys will be in the same class next year so it will be nice for them to get to know each other. I think the mom was really shocked to think about kindergarten starting in a few months and totally panicked about her son not knowing anyone. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. So far I know of four kids on the street starting kindergarten next year.
We had a little kindergarten Q&A in my MOMS club meeting today and it was really interesting to hear the different perspectives. I am just incredibly grateful for my neighborhood and all the kids who make it a great place to grow up. I may not have my dream house, but I do have my dream neighborhood. In some ways that is more important than having all the space of a dream house. If I could just entertain here, I’d be golden.
Anyway, I am so pleased that Erik will have a whole cadre of friends looking out for him on the bus and at school. I’ve overheard several moms in the preschool pick-up line really worrying over the fact that their kid will be riding the bus and won’t know anyone because they don’t have friendly neighborhoods. I can totally understand that worry. What if there are bullies on the bus? What if he gets lost? What if????? So many things! But Erik will have Elmer and Carlos and Jamie and Rania and Romeo and Ember and Jayquon and Lucy and so many others to help him and defend him. Are they all perfect? Of course not. But they all have kind hearts, I think. There’s only a couple of kids that are mean and the other kids, especially Elmer and Jamie, don’t tolerate their behavior.
On the agenda for tomorrow: call the school and get Erik’s name on the enrollment list. I don’t know if I am going to laugh or cry on the first day of school. It seems completely ridiculous that I am old enough to have a child in kindergarten. But you know what? I’m old enough to have a teenager. And I wouldn’t have even been a teen mother.
*We’ve had two poop blow-outs in cloth, but both times it was with an unprepped diaper so it was my fault.