On this walkathon of a trip, I feel like I’ve toured D.C. by diaper change. I have changed my son’s diapers in or around many of the major monuments and historical places in D.C.
Is it sad that my sister-in-law and I started early on keeping a running list? It actually sort of helps me to keep all of our sightseeing memories together. I don’t just have a memory of seeing the Vietnam Memorial, I have the memory of the Vietnam Memorial AND the unprepared diaper changed from you-know-where on the sidewalk behind it…
Here’s a short list of our (or just my?) D.C. Tour by Diaper Change:
– Union Station – Shell and I tag-teamed this poopy diaper change in a tiny, crowded bathroom in Union Station. I couldn’t have done it without her.
– CIA Headquarters– I changed Gabriel’s diaper in a bathroom near the walk-through spy museum at CIA headquarters in McClain.
– A bench at baggage claim in Dulles – My first D.C. diaper change! A heavy double number affair on a bench in baggage claim.
– Vietnam Memorial – Michael and I walked to a secluded sidewalk behind the Vietnam Memorial to take care of a terrific stinker. The nearest bathroom was dirty, crowded, and didn’t have a changing table, hence the sidewalk idea. When the cold air hit Gabriel’s bare nether regions, giggles and fountains of baby pee erupted for about 30 seconds. Michael and I weren’t prepared for the extent of the poopy or pee fountain, so we ended up just having to let it run its course. We had to put on the now-drier outfit that we originally dressed him in because he had peed through that first outfit and had now peed through his emergency outfit from the diaper bag.
– A sidewalk off Pennsylvania Avenue – a particularly loud and somewhat embarrassing episode in which we had to change him on a bench off Pennsylvania Ave. while heading to the Supreme Court building. He had a terrible diaper rash from me accidentally feeding him strawberry baby food the day before (strawberries and blueberries don’t agree with him), so he cried and cried.
– St. Patrick’s Cathedral – We had to change him on an old pew in the back of St. Patrick’s Cathedral after mass last Sunday. The bathroom line was too long and everyone else was anxious to get going to see the monuments.
– U.S. Capitol – Gabriel peed through another outfit just before our tour of the Capitol. Shell and I rushed to the bathroom, changed him into his emergency outfit, and ran back. The tour had started without us, but the kind usher thankfully snuck us in the back.
– Mount Vernon – I did a quick diaper change before we went in to the 25 minute movie presentation visitors can choose to see before walking the grounds. Thankfully, this was not a very eventful one.
On another note, I am overwhelmingly grateful that I am not still nursing Gabriel. I was very upset when I had to wean him a few months ago (I didn’t even blog about the process), but on this particular trip, I have another reason to be thankful. Not to underestimate myself, but I am pretty positive that I wouldn’t have been able to handle this trip with a younger, still nursing, baby! (OK, make that, I am pretty positive that I would never have scheduled or wanted to schedule this kind of sightseeing trip at all with a younger, still nursing baby.)
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