Swimming without diapers

     I learned a lesson in penny pinching and practicality this past summer. After the hundredth diaper went swimming in our little plastic pool because Meira told mommy she didn’t want to swim (but then really did), I decided it was far more efficient to let her swim in the buff.
     I had a big box of Dora the Explorer swim diapers and an adorable swimsuit just waiting for those picture perfect moments of joy in the water. And it was cute, that first day.
     Then, mommy didn’t always have time to change an anxious toddler from normal to swim diaper, or said toddler didn’t have time to wait for mommy to go get it. Or the toddler wasn’t really going to go swimming at all, until mommy’s back was turned and that water looked far too inviting.
     Either way, I gave up swim diapers some time in June. They’re going to have to wait for public pools, where birthday suits are frowned upon. This works well if you live 20 miles from nowhere, as I do. I don’t recommend it to suburbanites or anyone who has neighbors close enough to see that {gasp} you are letting your kid run around naked.
     I also learned it’s far more efficient to spray down a wiggling toddler with sunscreen when she’s naked than asking her to stay still while I get each individual limb. (I absolutely recommend this!)
     This lesson was apparently more obvious to my husband. When he kept coming home to a naked child frolicking in the pool (or on the play set, or in the sandbox...) he did ask, once.
     I might’ve launched into a righteous explanation of how “normal” diapers are .35 cents a diaper, and the swim diapers are more than that, and why should we watch our money expand into 10 pounds of diaper fill or be wasted on that third wet, dirty diaper when she was perfectly happy without it?
     He casually observed, “It’s just easier that way.” (I was hoping the mathematical explanation would make it seem like I was being economical and not just lazy, but he was right.)
      And for a moment, I questioned if perhaps not putting our toddler in diapers and clothes would teach her that clothes are unnecessary. Lucky for me, there hasn’t been any change—she already hated getting dressed!