Naked Babies

Several times in the past couple of weeks, I've seen pictures of friends' naked babies and television shows where parents of newborns are walking around with their naked babies cuddled up to them. It's all so very sweet. And I'm well aware that "they" say that babies generally love to be naked, and that it's good for their skin to be in the open air every once in a while.

I can honestly say that I don't remember EVER allowing Ivie to be diaper-less for more than the time it took to swap out the wet/poopy one or to get her from the bathroom to her room (while wrapped in a towel). Not even the photographer in me (who is well aware of how adorable naked baby pictures are) could overcome my very strong desire to have control over where Ivie's urine or "BM" (as daycare calls it) might end up. So Ivie didn't wander around naked until she was potty-trained, or at least old enough to know that if she went potty on the floor she was in big trouble.

And, with Macie, I'm headed down that same path. The only time she walks around naked is if she gets loose from me after I pull her out of the bath to dry her off. And when she DOES manage to squirt out of my wet hands, she takes off full-steam ahead, knowing that she's only going to get a few seconds of freedom before I wrap her up and head straight to her changing table.

So I've been thinking that maybe I've deprived both of my girls from that apparently liberating experience. Maybe I'm too Type A and need to take a chill pill and get over it. It's too late for Ivie, but maybe I can still salvage Macie's childhood.

So tonight, before bath, I took the leap. After cleaning Macie's bottom after her nightly poop, I let her walk around in my room while the bathwater ran. Now, it was only going to be a max of 5 minutes that she would be naked, so it's not like I was totally over my fear, but at least I was taking the first step!

And she loved it. She was all smiles, walking around the room, giggling, dragging her and Ivie's towels behind her. I was patting myself on the back for letting my guard down and "living a little".

And then, 3 minutes into her 5-minute frolic, when she was one step on the bedroom side of the bedroom-bathroom door, and, therefore, one step onto the CARPET, as opposed to the TILE, she paused.

And she peed.

There goes any chance you have of walking around naked again, Mac. I mean, I didn't even have time to go get my camera!