My Husband is a (Cloth Diaper) Savant

Tonight Lukas was entering inventory for the diaper biz – a process that is still very much an experiment (writers really aren’t known for their math skills). Usually, as he enters sales (yes, we’ve been getting some!) the process goes like this: He picks up a receipt, studies it intensely for about 20 seconds, then turns to me and says “What is this?”

I can’t really blame him. The lingo is complex. It’s vast. I think they’re developing a specialty in this at Yale’s language department. And of course everything is abbreviated, so diaper-savvy moms can talk faster about more diapers in chat rooms and at busy play dates. OS, AIO, organic cotton velour prefolds, AI2, pocket hybrid, SWW froggy pond….

I do have to say that Lukas bought into the cloth-diaper idea right away, when I was preggers with Punkernoodle #1. He grew up with Hippie parents. But it was I who delved into the world of cloth, figuring out the difference between fitteds and contours, checking size ranges, crunching numbers and reading up on the dozens of companies putting out good dipes. Lukas mastered the diapering itself, while not necessarily knowing the name or details of the items he was covering the babies’ bums with.

Until I came up with the crazy idea to sell them. Which leads us to the breakthrough tonight, when Lukas read a receipt that said HH OS red. “Happy Heinys One-Size?” he said casually, typing quickly.

Is the surge of pride I felt a little weird? Maybe. It’s not like this makes him a cloth diaper genius. But I do feel like, compared to most other dads out there, my girls’ papa is a diaper savant of sorts. He thinks cloth diapering is cool, and rightly so. He cares that we make a good choice for our kids and their planet every day. He can say “Mums Bums” without blushing. He coined Punkernoodle Baby, so he can tell other parents that it’s not a scary, freaky choice.

After this, he’s going to the Diaper Olympics. And I’m dressing him in a pink medium GAD with a KN loopy and a side of testosterone.

Too big for your diapers? Accidents happen…

Punkernoodle #1 had a rough night, and all because of a certain accident. The trauma, the drama. It was a sight. She had to go potty, but first she had to take her shoes off, and she wanted a snack. Suddenly it all happened too fast, and she peed. All over her clothes and on her stool that she uses to climb up to the toilet. She was devastated. She’s been fully potty trained for months.

All this time I was in the other room encouraging her to go potty on her own, one of the things we’ve been working on with her lately. From where I was, I heard an anguished cry, like something really bad had happened. I rushed in there, saw her pants down and her squatting there sort of half folded over. I couldn’t remember what she was saying. I wanted to laugh so bad, but it was all very serious and I was really trying to support her. Something about new panties, I think. I stripped off the wet clothes and tried to talk her down. She was adamant about keeping her socks on, which thankfully were dry.

The rest of her evening was an emotional roller coaster with her hanging on us all night, breaking down with another bout of crying at each slightest thing. It’s amazing what can set your children off when they’re almost 3. Little emotional firecrackers, that’s what they are. It must be absolutely gut-wrenching to live life so on the edge emotionally.

The whole episode reminds me how hilarious it is that we start a cloth diaper business and then Punkernoodle #1 goes ahead and potty trains herself early. No diapers for her. She won’t even try them on to model. It’s all about being in the “Underwear Club.” And she’s not afraid to mention that, after three months of her not wearing diapers, the rest of her class at daycare is not yet trained. And she says it with a little smirk. Such pride, such ego, for such a young age. What is that they say about pride? Oh yes, it goes before the fall…

- Lukas

Family poo-poos cloth diapers

So we’ve been planning this start-a-new-cloth-diaper-business thing for months, and just days from finally launching our new business (look for us at the Green Power Baby Shower at the downtown Seattle Shearton on Saturday, May 3), we started to realize how much of an uphill battle selling cloth diapers may be. Family came into town with their 6-month-old baby in tow. One parent was curious about our business and cloth diapers and the other was adamantly against them. He had done his research and concluded that disposables are better.

We showed them colorful pocket diapers, trendy wraps, the works. Tubs and tubs of them. They were impressed but unconvinced. They were hanging their concerns on how much water it would take to wash them. We were talking about not using petroluem-based products that would go to a landfill. Advantage us. Ease of use? We’ve been washing cloth diapers in our washing machine for three years. No problems, easy. The only tough part is having to use a sprayer to occasionally wash the poop off. No big deal. It’s hooked up to the toliet, just spray and drop the diaper into your diaper can. Smells better than a stinky plastic diaper. You already have to deal with the stuff anyway, so what’s one more step.

They agreed to try one. It was a tester and probably too small. Time ran short and they left without any of our diapers. Doing the right thing may be harder than we thought. We’re ready. We’re game. We think there are people who want to do this. There has to be because it’s the right thing to do. Maybe they’ll call us later and ask us for some cloth diapers. We can hope.

Punkernoodle is taking the cloth diaper world by storm!

Hello world,

Punkernoodle is just about ready to start selling cloth diapers and much more in Seattle. Check out our booth at the Green Power Baby Shower on Saturday, May 3rd. We’ll be there making our world debut. It’s at the Sheraton in downtown Seattle. It goes from 10-4. Hope to see you there. We’ll also have organic onesies, organic cotton toys, handmade quilts, and tons of hemp and bamboo products.

Natalie and Lukas