J Was So Proud

A little over five years ago, my dear friend Erika was pregnant with her son (whose fifth birthday is today!!) and I attended her baby shower.  One of the gifts Erika unwrapped was a product called PeePee Teepees.  All the ladies at the brunch shower giggled over the Teepees and they were passed around.

"What is it?" I asked the woman next to me.

"For when you're changing a little boy," she said, as if it explained everything.

I held the package of Teepees.  I come from a long line of girls.  On my mother's side, we're female babies all the way back.  The male babies have to marry in.  So I was looking that the package of Teepees with the incomprehension of a foreigner.  How are these necessary for changing a little boy's diaper?  I couldn't decide for a moment whether it was worse to feel a little stupid by admitting that I didn't understand their use, or to continue in ignorance as to their use.  Finally curiosity won.

It was explained to me, with a big laugh at my naivete, that boys like to play urine target practice when their little pelvic regions are exposed to the air.  I heard stories that shook my world.  I left the shower feeling a little disturbed.

Five years later, I have brought my own little boy home.  He's been a little dehydrated since the hospital, so there was no need for a Teepee for several days.  (Though, I too, have now received my own package of Teepees, and I have been warned about the need for a wash cloth during changing.)  Yesterday, Grandma M was changing LO on the changing table we have set up in the living room.  LO decided it was a good time to try out the new equipment, and let forth a mighty stream of baby justice that got a good three feet of distance and at least five of height.  The pee made it all the way onto the dog bed where Obie was being long-suffering and patient since we brought something home that seems to have supplanted him.  (Obie, for his part, watched the stream hit his bed, but refused to get up unless and until it came within any danger of actually hitting him.)

Unfortunately, J was not in the room at the time, so he did not get a chance to see his child's performance.  He was, however, quite proud of his son's preternatural ability. "Now we just need to teach him how to write his name," J said.  "He's got the distance down.  Now, for accuracy!"