Dear Cloth Diapers

Watch out Mommy blogs - the Dads are making a splash!  I haven't met Creed but he's friends with my friend @BgKahuna and with a mom friend of mine.  Well, he's married to that mom friend.  Anyway - I think it's pretty cool that Dad bloggers are getting a more noticable voice in the blogosphere.  And this post shows just how in touch Dads are!!  ~Liz

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Dear Cloth Diapers,

We are on the cusp of a major event. We have officially, with the blessing of our son (finally!), begun potty training. The significance of this operation means many things to the rest of us: no longer will I have to play the "Restroom Roulette" game of discovering whether there is or isn't  a changing table in the men's room; I get to remind two youngsters to potty before we go on adventures; I finally get to try the Cosby technique for potty training - Cheerios (sink those ships); and last, but not least, I get to have more incoherent discussions with the kids about the need for a restroom that evolve to disagreements that end with one, or several, of us running to a restroom. I'm okay with all of that, and fully accept the challenge that waits for all of us.

But before I get to that, I feel like I need to take the time to say goodbye. Your time with us is dwindling, limited, set to expire. And before I say goodbye, I need to say thank you.

When I suggested the idea of using you, my wife thought I was crazy. Mind you, I did not have a complete idea of the undertaking, but the thought was that we could save two birds with one stone - errr, something like that. We could do something good for the environment and (my big selling point) we could save money. And save money (and the environment) we have.

People misunderstand you. Yes, there is a time commitment for upkeep, but we gladly donated that time in order to save money, I mean the environment. People think you are stinky, but what they don't realize is that if you are properly taken care of - no one notices you. People think that you are too expensive up front, but like anything else in America, you can be found at the right price online or in stores. A few weeks into our adventure with you, my wife found a number of different places to find you at reduced prices. I joked that she had discovered a black market/craigslist of cloth diapers. She was the architect and built an awesome arsenal of shells and inserts that created a comfortable rotation.

I will admit that I will not miss laundering you, and my wife will not miss stuffing you. My son will miss you when he decides to jump from two couch stories up and lands only to find that you aren't there to cushion him. We will miss your dependable snaps and Velcro enclosures that reduced the chance of leakage and collateral damage from blowouts.

Cloth diapers, 10 years ago (before I ever had kids) I would not have imagined us ever being united. But here we are. For now.

Please know that as we cheer our son on, we aren't dismissing you. We aren't disrespecting you. We are just two proud parents, happy that our son is progressing to the next level. The next level that happens to be without you.

Thank you, Cloth Diapers. You have served us well. Goodbye.

Respectfully,

Creed Anthony

Creed Anthony can be found at TalesFromThePoopDeck.com and BalconyDads.com. He is also the Co-Organizer of the new IndyDadsGroup.

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We never cloth diapered our kids.  But we did use a lot of cloth diapers because they were the best burp cloths.  In fact, we still have a good stack of various cloth diapers that we now use as household rags.  My husband has even discovered that the non-pre-folds can make a great sweat catcher when working outside (yes, my husband has worn a cloth diaper as a 'do rag - which is hilarious and effective on many levels).

Moms - share that Indy Dads Group with your husbands or other dads in your life!  Indy area people can hook up with other dads for playdates (I think they go with the more manly "meetup" though).  You can follow The Captain on Twitter @acjlist. And check out Creed's blog because it's hilarious and real!  Thanks for your post, Creed!