Discovery has been the theme at our house recently. Charlie has figured out where Mom hides the remote control, how to turn on his crib aquarium at 5:00 in the morning and appears to be close to working his way into a sitting position. I have to say the most entertaining and perhaps concerning breakthrough, though, has been the discovery of his wienie. While that particular part of the mail anatomy goes by many terms (Jason can rattle of an alarming number), I think we're going with wienie at our house. Penis is too clinical, and everything else sounds dirty.
So, as I was saying, Charlie has discovered that he is in fact a boy and that one of the benefits is an easily accessible toy whenever his diaper is off. Now, he had actually grabbed ahold a time or two during diaper changes in the past, but never seemed to think anything of it.
As of this weekend though, he is enthralled. The second the diaper comes off he reaches down. Luckily, I'm a good blocker and pretty fast with the wipes, so I'm not too concerned about his exploration during diaper change. Now, if he figures out how to undo his diaper (like he tried this afternoon) we'll be in trouble, but for now we're fine.
Bathtime was an even bigger adventure for him. Due to the fact that he's still in a baby tub, the angle allowed him to see his new toy. Again, at this point I feel like it's normal to be figuring things out, so I wasn't too worried about bathtime exploration.
It's the grabbing of the diaper that has me worried. While playing, he'll just randomly reach down and grab the front of his diaper -- just like an adult male with very bad manners. Is this something he'll get over once he realizes he's effectively blocked by the diaper? Or is he going to be one of those unfortunate men that doesn't seem to be able to avoid adjusting on a regular basis? I've always believed that rather than "adjusting" they were in fact just entertaining themselves. I'm very hopeful that this is a learned habit and a mother's active disapproval will prevent Charlie being one of "those men".
This is definitely a developmental stage I hadn't anticipated. I think I've decided that through the years issues of a similar nature will fall in Daddy's court.
