Bowman's Top Five (Strangest) Diaper Changes: The First Year

I'm sure every kid has a few of these stories to tell.  (Actually, it would be fun if those of you who want to share yours send them to my Mom at tlccarlson@gmail.com.  I can have her read them to me and post some of the funniest later on!)  Here are five from this year that stood out for me.

1. The One in the Smallest Room 

The first lunch stop of our trek in Darjeeling was at a tea hut, as were all of the subsequent lunch stops.  I hadn't had any experience in tea huts yet, and learned here that they are the homes of enterprising village dwellers who have decided to sell tea and food like vegetable fried rice and chow mien and to serve it in their dining rooms, which are often their bedrooms as well.  At this first stop we ate noodle soup (think Ramen with some chopped up carrots) sitting on two single beds with our knees pushed up against a small board table.  I, of course, had to go after lunch, and therefore was changed right there.  Mom also had to go, and was told when she inquired about an outhouse, "Yes, anywhere."  She found a rock with only a few chickens pecking about. 

2. The One with the Most Observers

I must preface this by saying that many, many Bangladeshis have watched me get my diaper changed in many places.  This one stands out, though.

When we went to Nepal for Christmas, we flew a Bangladeshi airline.  Most of the people from Bangladesh who get to travel outside the country are men, and most are Muslim, at least culturally.  On our return to Dhaka from Kathmandu, Mom was the only woman and I was the only baby.  We sat one row back from bulkhead.  I needed a change, of course, and that walk all the way back to the bathrooms was the two minutes where I have been most stared at in my one year of life.

3. The One with the Scariest Company

I knew when we first landed in Dhaka at midnight last July that Mom and Dad needed to hurry to get through customs.  I just couldn't help filling my diaper right away.  Mom found the first bathroom she could when we got off the plane.  There was soap, but a cockroach was crawling on it.

This picture is from Mormor, who took it in her bathroom in China about 20 years ago.  It looks just like the setting of my first Bangladeshi diaper change. 

4. The One with the Worst Result

I prefer cloth diapers, FuzziBunz or BumGenius.  Still, when we're traveling, I know they're too hard to lug around and wash, so I settle for disposables on the road.  We had an eight hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara in Nepal, which meant I needed a couple of changes along the way.  Dad was taking care of me at one stop and Mom found a box of trash where she put my diaper.  As we ate our peanut butter sandwiches after that, I watched a stray dog run off with my diaper in his jaws.  Oops!

5. The One with the Best Aroma

All of my best changes have been outdoors.  The best was in the balsam scented forests between Quartz and Bowman Lake in Glacier National Park.  Come on, you knew my best one would be in Glacier, right?