Career choices

Whenever I read about someone who is highly paid and performing disastrously I always think "well I could coach that football team and do at least that poorly (and hey, maybe better) for half that $3 million salary." And now I'm thinking that about whoever is in charge of programming at TLC. Did you know that the show "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant"isn't just a one-off thing, it's a SERIES?? This is happening with enough regularity to churn out episode after episode of "I had a stomach ache and next thing you know - baby in the toilet." Even worse than being the unwitting new mom re-telling the story are the sad actors re-enacting the story. This surely is a sign that the world is ending, don't you think? But just in case the apocalypse is still a few years out, I've come up with a few new shows for TLC. We should have no problem casting.

• I dropped my ____ in the toilet - Dramatic stories of heroism and bravery from those forced to reach deep down inside (the toilet) and retrieve a cell phone/blackberry/keys/hamster.
• What's that smell? We will follow a "real housewife" around for a day documenting her efforts to discover what that smell is and where the hell it is coming from. Occasionally this series will have an arc with "I dropped my ____ in the toilet." Obviously.
• The utterly worthless parenting advice show We'll have experts - moms and professionals alike dispensing the kind of advice that fills perky news segments and parenting magazines. Show topics include: Sleep when the baby sleeps! Kids won't be picky eaters if you only serve them broccoli and fish!
• My child ate ____ Harrowing re-enactments of children and the stuff they eat. My child will star in 3 episodes: crayons, hand sanitizer, and shampoo.

Today I leave you with a little something that doesn't suck. Circling back to potty training which went well for a while and now we've regressed. Everyone I know said it's normal, my friend who taught pre-school said it happened all the time so we're just dealing with it. No biggie. The only thing is that I was using the Gerber waterproof training pants and while they do a decent job of containing accidents, they are bulky which makes wearing shorts or pants a big challenge and they are hot. And we've had like 20 days over 100 degrees here already so I'm trying not to cook the poor toddler's bum. I happened to see an ad on a site for something called Antsy Pants. They're like a cross between a training pant and a cloth diaper. They have a pocket that you can use to add some extra absorbency, they've got a waterproof lining, and they have snaps on the sides and go on like underwear. We've been using them for over a week and I really like them. They are as good as the Gerber pants at controlling leaks, I just bought some cloth diaper inserts and doublers to use in the pocket so I'm still experimenting (I have a heavy wetter apparently). But they are slimmer than the Gerber pants, not as hot, and the snaps on the sides are awesome when you have a poop accident. They are somewhat pricey but I think they are worth it. And from what I can tell it's a small company started by a mom, and I like that element. It also made me realize that a pocket style cloth diaper probably would not have been the pain in the arse I thought - I'm doing a lot of laundry now and it's kind of a hassle but not overwhelmingly so. If I ever have another kid I might try the cloth pocket diapers.