Now that I am enjoying life with 4 children, including a 16 month old and a 1 month, my life includes a lot of diapers. Mountains of diapers...piles, scads, and oodles of diapers! And of course a lot of diaper changes. Tons, gobs, an abundance, and a plethora of diaper changes. Yep, I spend a lot of time wiping bums. One sweet tiny newborn baby bum and one cute chubby toddler bum. The toddler bum is definitely harder to keep in one place long enough wipe. The other day as I was using all my tricks to keep said bum from wiggling away, I realized again what a valuable diaper changing lesson I had learned from my mom.
In case you hadn't figured it out by now, our mom is awesome.
Anyway, early in my diaper changing days, some 2.13 million diapers ago (give or take a few :) she taught me how to use those diaper changes as everyday teachable moments. A few simple question and answer activities and not only will your toddler hold still, she'll even learn something!
So, here are my go-to Diaper Changing Activities:
1. Animal Sounds! This has always been a favorite. All you do is simply ask what different animals say. Right now at our house it sounds like this, "Anniston, what does a {dog, cat, duck, lion, monkey...} say?" At first you will also supply the sounds, but pretty soon your little one will be doing that on her own. There is nothing cuter than a little growl and 10 or so animal sounds later that bum will be clean!
2. Body Parts! For this activity you just ask where different body parts are. "Anniston, where's your {tummy, hair, mouth, nose...}?" Then of course you point to said body part and tickle. Eventually your child will be pointing on her own and laughing before you even begin to tickle. This one makes diaper changing slightly more difficult, but at least you aren't chasing a running naked bum across the room.
3. Who Loves You? This activity also evolves over time. At first I ask "Does {Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Cameron...} love you?" And then nod and say, "Yes!" Eventually I just ask, "Who loves you?" and enjoy the responses.
These 3 basic activities have gotten me through a lot of bum wiping! And, by the time my two oldest were potty trained they knew a ton of animal sounds, could point to all their basic body parts, and hopefully felt very loved. Totally worth the smell.
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Thanks for sharing those info! Your post really gives insight to the reader especially to all parents. I do appreciate with your post and I’ll definitely refer this to my parents also. Keep on sharing.
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