Flats Challenge Part Deux: Day 1

Well readers, it's been a long time! Nice to see you again after my blogging hiatus! As many of you know I spent the winter trying out the working mom bit at a local cloth diaper store and this spring I brought my talents over to Softbums. But as a mommy of four, my working days end when the school year ends. Unless a position opens up for brain surgeon with no experience required, I don't have any marketable skills that would pay for daycare for four kids and still have some paycheck left over for me. So home I go for the summer, and I'm happy to do it. I love the laid back rhythm of summertime.

So, for my grand re-entry into the blogosphere, I am participating once again in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. For 7 days I will be using only flat cloth diapers and handwashing them in an effort to show that cloth diapering can be affordable and accessible to all. You can learn more about the rules and why this challenge was started by visiting the link. It was great fun last year so I was excited to see that it was happening again this year. You may recall that last year I made it into a Walmart challenge, getting all my supplies at my local Walmart. Over the last year I've really found the flats love so my personal diaper stash now includes quite a few high quality flats. Since I've already got everything I need pretty much, I'm just going to work with my own stash this year.

Besides my collection of flats, my stint at Softbums has also left me with quite a few lovely Softbums shells, one of the perks of working for a diaper maker. They pair perfectly with pad folded flats, so I'm all set.

Now I'm a sucker for cloth diapers, so anything diaper related is right up my alley, but there is an even greater reason that I'm participating in the challenge this year. Ivy is our last baby (fingers crossed!) and she just turned two last week. So of course, potty training has been on my mind. My other babies all potty trained late, between 3 and 4 years old, but I did find that the age at which they trained was directly related to how many months they had been in cloth diapers. Now Ivy has not only been in cloth diapers from birth, but we've also practiced some casual elimination communication with her. So she's no stranger to the potty. I've been watching her lately and I think that she is ready to make a go at ditching the diapers. She can get her pants down herself, she frequently wakes up dry from naps or bedtime and uses the potty upon waking, and she is fiercely independent. She wants to do everything herself and wants to do everything the big kids do. I think that given the opportunity, she would love to start using the potty just like everyone else. I just haven't really given her a ton of opportunities lately for a variety of reasons. With working so much, I've been pretty busy, and haven't really wanted to tackle the whole potty training thing. And there are other factors, like cold weather, daycare, and several long daily car rides to and from school, that really weren't conducive to successful potty training.

My little maestro in her Softbums and flat

So, I've been putting it off even though Ivy seems like she has been ready for a while now. But it's time. School is ending, the weather is warm, and the potty is calling. So the Flats and Handwashing Challenge seemed like the perfect capstone to our cloth diapering days. I'm packing away the pockets, fitteds, prefolds, and all-in-ones, just leaving out some flats and covers for this week. And next week, we'll stash those in the pajama drawer for nighttime use only and fill our diaper basket with fresh little undies.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that I could be back here in July sharing more fluffy bum shots because Ivy didn't share my diaper-free vision. But I'm optimistic. I'm ready. And she seems ready too. So we'll go for it. But first, some fun with flats!

Tomorrow I'll go into detail about the stash and supplies I'm using this year, but for now if you want to read more, check out some of my posts from last year or check out all these links from the other bloggers participating in this year's challenge.



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