2004-05-14, 9:33 a.m.

Poopin' in the Hood

When we first brough Leon home, he was just starting to poop, mooshy black and green poops, with the consistancy of tar. Never had two people been so excited to see poop before, and when we would both wake up to change him in the middle of the night, it was like Leon had his own little pit crew. I could practically hear the neumatic wrenches whirring in the background as we wiped and changed and swaddled. We called him MC Poop, Tres Poopae, and, of course, Poopin' in the Hood.

Since then, Leon's poops have matured. They're still baby poops, but the color and consistancy have evolved. The volume has certainly gone up. We have even had a few of the legendary 'diaper explosions' which you will hear about when becoming a new parent. The first time it happened, we were in Christopher's office, and I had Leon in his Baby Bjorn. Suddenly, there came a loud rumbling sound from the base of the carrier, and Leon actually bounced upwards from the force. I didn't immedeatly realize what had happened, but when I took him out of the carrier a few minutes later, it became quite clear that a completely new change of clothes was required.

The other thing is the smell. Everyone knows that babies who are breast fed have much milder poops that babies who take formula. But still, even breastfed baby poop smells, well, poopy. But compared to the huge and smelly dog poops we're used to picking up, or the little, but equally smelly, cat poops I've been scooping for ages, Leon's poop is simply no big deal. Still, I'm really glad we've got the dog-proof Diaper Dekor, for disposal of soiled diapers. Because as I predicted, baby poop is endlessly fascinating to the dog. Every time I put anything soiled - by baby vomit or baby poop - into the laundy basket, Buster has to take the garment out and examine it thoroughly, which in dog-terms means sniffing and licking. Blech.

But I didn't realize just how laid back we are about our boy's bodily functions until I had the opportunity to change a diaper on the floor at my friend Torie's apartment. Torie is one of my many friends who does not yet have her own charming poop-machine, and as a result was quite startled to discover that Leon's diaper was filled with a relatively bright orange mush. She let out a cry - "Oh!" - as I changed his diaper, and said something along the lines of "Whoa, doesn't that weird you out?!?" And I realized that no, it doesn't, but maybe it should... After all, it is BRIGHT ORANGE.

But although the initial wonder has worn off for us (we no longer tag team him in the middle of the night), we do remain pretty darn enthusiastic. I think this is because the contents of Leon's diapers are one of the clearest gauges we have, day-to-day, that he is healthy and that everything is functioning as it should be: He spit up a whole bunch today? It's okay, because his diapers are wet, which means he's not dehydrated. He slept all day, and didn't eat as much? That's okay, he had 3 messy diapers in the past 24 hours. I have to confess to even worrying a little when he doesn't poop so much, but the pediatrician warned me that sometimes breast fed babies will go A WHOLE WEEK and only poop once, and that's okay. It's a darned good thing she warned me about this, or I might totally freak out.