“Now, I guess, I want to go and play in the play area after and I don’t want to leak all over the place.”

“Good then, Beth will you go and check the ladies wash room please, see if there are many people in there and if it empty, we can go and change him now.”

“Good to go Elian, only a couple of teens in there! Take my hand Adam, grab my bag Elian, I think I have everything necessary, this should be interesting, I never changed him when we were out before.”

“Beth I hope you don’t mind that I put a disposable change pad in your bag this morning. You don’t know what he could pick up on the change table and Adam, if you need to wet some more this is the time to. It will all be absorbed into your diaper by the time we get to the ladies room.”

We waited a minute or so as he had a squinty grim on his face and then a smile and we knew it was time to get him changed. I took hold of one hand and Elian the other. He seemed ok with it until we got to the door with a lady on it and then we could feel him pull back.

“It’s ok dear your with us and nobody will say anything. Let’s go on in and get you up on the change table. The faster we go the sooner you will be changed.

Elian walked in first and went over to the table and undid the latch and dropped the cover down showing the diaper changing instructions with a big caution sign saying that all babies must be secured when on the table with the strap that was provided. Elian held out her hand to Adam and then bent down and quickly undid the flaps covering the ends of the crotch zipper. She lifted him up on the table. I got the changing pad out and slipped it under him. With the crotch zipper undone I pulled his shorts all the way back and up covering his chest and revealing his yellow plastic pants bunched up between his legs.

“Ok buddy, time to lie back and let us pull down those baby pants and get your wet diaper changed. Beth will you fasten the safety strap and then I’ll pull his baby pants down to his knee’s and undue his wet diaper.

If you could have that plastic bag open so I can put wet diaper in it, for me please. My, your diaper is still warm Adam, took our advise, didn’t you? See how the print on the diaper really stands out when it is wet Beth?”

All of a sudden a lady walks by and says “My what a cute baby, Make sure you use lots of powder!” She gave Adam a tickle on his tummy and she was gone. He looked quite a sight with his legs wide open and draped over the end of the table and his fluffy yellow baby pants stretched out between his knees. Elian took the pins out of the diaper, gathered and pulled the front of it up and toward Adams knee’s. Adam lifted and the wet diaper came lose and into the waiting bag it went. I stored it away as Elian started the cleaning process.

“I wish we had these wipes when Jeffery was his age!”

Adam was very nervous as the changing continued, with ever open and close of the door, a fresh brise of cold air entered the room, this causing his thing to react in a predicable way leading to more embarrassment. Elian took the dry diaper from my bag; it had a denim cover and just like the last one, was thicker in the front than the sides. The inside was made of soft terry, Elian held it to my face to see before she slipped it under Adam. He was more than happy to fee l the softness of it under his bum. Elian asked me to hold up Adams legs so she could coat his rash area’s with cream. After that I put his leges down and he opened his legs as wide as he could as she splashed on the baby oil on his front. With his open leges dangling over the table with his baby pants down to his knee’s he looked quite a sight. Just at that moment two teenaged girls walked in and he tried to cover up. Elian put her hand over his privates but this only lead to his thing becoming even more excited. I looked at him and told him to settle down and Elian told him that she was sure that he would make someone very happy on day and then she looked at me still grinning while taking her hand away exposing his oiled parts. Elian took the powder and turned his thing into frosty the snow man. The girls glanced over and remarked that they would never use cloth diapers on their babies. Giggling as they left and with a parting word, they said how much they liked the smell of baby powder and if he needed another change just call them. Elian pulled the front of the diaper up and over frosty and pinned it at both sides and at the legs. I asked her if she was going to change his baby pants and if she wanted me to take out his new blue ones.

“There, Adam, soon we will be finished, I bet that that feels better!”

“I think it will be better if you stand up now. We can reuse the baby pants that he has on, any wetness in them will be absorbed by the dry diaper and the leg binding are rubber and they won’t wick any moisture. Sorry Adam, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to try out your new blue baby pants.”

She started to slip his baby pants back up into place as I undid the strap and helped him off the table.

“Up and over they go”

When they were up she snapped the JOE BOXER waist band and pulled the shorts back down in place.

“I want you back up on the table, Adam, so that I can do up your crotch zipper, open your legs again and I’ll get the ends together. There, all done! Now that wasn’t so hard was it? Beth, Adam and I are going to wash our hands; will you grab the change bag and fold up the table?

I finished folding up the table and washed my hands and followed them out into the restaurant. As they left the washroom a lady in her early twenties said to Elian that she thought that Adam was a little old to be in there, to which she replied “He needed his diaper changed.” Our place was still there and Adam went and sat in the booth and we went and ordered. I was always amazed that the combo’s came with sixteen oz drinks and then they asked you if you wanted to up size them! Now, of course, I didn’t worry about that so much with Adam in diapers. It was nice to sit and eat with Elian, sort of a family outing. Adam just devoured his burger and fries and you’d think he had been stuck in the Sahara Desert, the way he sucked back his drink.

“Can I go to the play area now?”

“Aren’t you a little old for that Adam, the sign says only kids nine and under!”

“Well I am sorta ten, but I still like to play in those tubes and I don’t feel too old for that.

“Ok Adam you can run along and enjoy yourself and Elian and I will finish our food and talk a bit more. Don’t forget that we still have to go and shop for your surprise dear!”

“I know, just call me.”

Elian and I watched as Adam ran to the play area trying to beat a couple of other younger children to the door. I called out “Adam” and he let them pass first. We watched as he made short work of passing through all of the tubes. When sliding down the last tube and out back onto the soft matt his yellow baby pants were clearly visible as I had forgot to tie his pant leges closed. One of the other mothers in the enclosure noticed this too and stopped him and offered to help him tie them up. Adam just stood there as she did, giving him a little pad on the bum when she finished. She looked over at us and I gave her an approving smile back. It’s funny how mothers notice if an older child is still in diapers and fathers don’t! We sat here and watched him as we eat our food. I asked Elian where she got all her information about diapering.

“Well Beth it has been an interesting time, you know with Jeffery, and some very interesting things have happened along the way because of his diapers. I think it’s best to start the story with maybe a discussion about diapers in general. Diapers come in many different shapes and sizes, all are supposed to do the same job, but don’t. There are a few basic types, cloth or disposable, tape, pin or Velcro, pull-up or belted. A few years ago the diaper manufactures realized that they were just a little too successful making there diapers comfortable. Babies wanted to keep on wearing them so they created a feel wet, an uncomfortable diaper. Now kids go from diapers to pull-ups and then on to disposable training pants and then on to disposable absorbent underwear. The whole diaper thing revolves around the disposable theme. The cloth baby diaper has made a come back in the form of an all in one wrap, polyester waterproof exterior with an absorbent lining using a snap or Velcro fastening system. Great, hard to clean and dry because of the waterproof layer doesn’t allow the wash water to fully flush the diaper.

The two piece system is by far the best because you can adjust the absorbancy as required and the type of pants to be worn over it by application and activity. When I diapered Adam this morning I told you that I thought that I had aced his change. The word “ACE” stands for something when you use a diaper. “A”, stands for “Activity”, what the diaper wearer is going to be doing, playing, sleeping, swimming or any other of a hoist of activities. “C” stands for “Capacity”, a calculation of how soon the next diaper change will occur and the expected amount of wetness in order to avoid leaking. “E” stands for what type of “Exposure” that the diaper wearer experience. If you are at home and he’s just running around there is no reason for it not to be total, baby pants and diapers visible, but if you are out and about, a discrete diaper may be in order. The thicker the diaper, the more absorbancy, less changes required. The thinner the diaper, the more changes required. At night time you need coverage on the sides. Daytime requires more thickness in the crotch area. It’s time to go shopping or we will never get there! I’ll go get Adam and I’ll meet you at the door.”

“Adam, dear, come please, did you have fun in the play area? I saw the lady tying your pant legs, did she say anything?”

“Not really, just that she thought that I was kind of old to be in diapers! But then she said that I must have a good reason. I told her that I just wet myself a lot with out knowing it.”

“That was a good answer Adam. Now where is the toy and baby store, I need to get some more powder for your bum.”

Elian was waiting at the door for me, firmly grasping Adam’s hand. I grabbed the other and we walked and looked into every store and at all the people. The mall had a huge toy store and it was all lit up. Elian bent down and told Adam that his surprise was any thing his heat desired as long as the cost was less than twenty dollars. At the same time she undid the gather cords holding his pants legs tight and loosened them up. Adam put is arms around her neck and gave her the sweetest kiss on her cheek and he whispered something in her ear. With her both hands at the same time she felt under the front pockets on his pants and I imagine she felt under the rubber binding of his plastic pants to see how wet his diaper was. She did this without anyone noticing right out in the middle of the mall concourse with that she gave him the twenty and told him to go for it and with a pat on his bum, Adam ran into the store with a certain waddle of anticipation. I asked her what he had whispered to her.

“He thanked me for understanding about his diapers”