Super Soaker

Six months into our Potty-sey, we've reached a turning point: Benjamin can now be diaper-free for small chunks of the day. Let me rephrase: he can be diaper-free as long as he's had his morning poo and pee; he's not suffering from any sort of intestinal distress (such as the kind that Augmentin inflicts on babies - moms, you know what I'm talking about); and I make myself available to him in the event that he does need to go and wants to cue me. I don't have be Helicopter Mom and hover over him, but I do have to be at least somewhat aware of what he's doing. If I'm not, then the whole thing goes to sh*t. Literally.

During those diaper-free times, I put training pants on Benjamin. Training pants have several benefits over diapers when it comes to EC. For one thing, they're much easier to whip off and on when he has to go. Also, I can see immediately if Benjamin does have a miss, which helps me to get a better understanding of his patterns and signals. Finally, the unpleasant sensation Benjamin gets from wearing wet pants gives him an incentive to cue me when he needs to go. Unfortunately, finding training pants that fit is next to impossible. The smallest size available in stores is 2T, which is way to big for the Boo. In fact, he's actually crawled right out of his underpants because they're too saggy. The solution? Custom-knit wool soakers!

A fellow mom in the Diaper Free Baby Yahoo Group directed me to a free pattern for wool soakers. Pattern in hand, I consulted my rather sizeable stash, and found two wool options: Noro Silk Garden left over from my Lady E project and Cascade Wool 220 left over from a bag I knit a few years back. I settled on using the Cascade Wool 220. As beautiful as that gorgeous Noro colorway would look on Benjamin's little bottom, I just couldn't stomach the idea of using a $14/skein yarn for something that would probably be crapped on.

In my pre-Boo life, I would've been able to knock out about three of these soakers by now, but at this point, all I have to show for my efforts is this:

That's eventually going to be the butt part of the soaker. Cute, huh? I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to felt it or not. I think that felting it would probably make for a better soaker, but it would also shrink it. So I guess it depends on whether or not I finish this project anytime in the next year.

One very notable thing about this project is the fact that I knitted a gauge swatch for it. SAY WHAT? Gauge swatches are anathema to most knitters, especially impatient knitters with such as myself. I'd rather just rush into the project sans swatch and risk having to redo the whole thing if it doesn't fit. Perhaps this is why I enjoy knitting toys so much - one size fits all! My gauge swatch was only ten stitches wide and one inch long, but it was a swatch nonetheless - my first swatch, I'm ashamed to say. I guess that motherhood has taught me a bit about patience.