I didn't want to leave the RPOD with just that big old pile of out-takes. Plus, I have a jarring story to tell.

Reid took off his diaper last night.

Twice.

If you closely monitor the Hardly Born, you'll note that we've been pretty lucky with illness. Reid gets colds, Reid gets fevers which are disconcerting right up until the fever breaks, Reid keeps hitting his head and doesn't care, etc. And we've been very fortunate with diaper rash. Reid has had a couple of bad cases, but for the most part it hasn't been terrible. The hardest part, as is the case with all most all of Reid's maladies, is being his parent when this happens. You can't make him feel better. His behind is burning and I'm agitating it with a diaper and some messy ointment.

So the other night, Reid came home from daycare with one heckuva case of diaper rash. After an evening of meanie shouting and bad behavior, we went on up to bed. After a rash-shortened bath, we went to bed. I put Reid down with a pajama top and just a diaper to keep pressure on his behind to a minimum. This was my first mistake.

This was at eight o'clock. Listening on the monitor, I noticed he struggled around for a while before falling to sleep. This isn't unheard of. However, when I went into to check on him at midnight, I noticed in the half-light a disturbing sight. Thrust in the air was Reid's behind, diaperless. I was panicked. I carefully reattached the diaper to his bum. I was proud of not waking him. I don't understand why I wasn't worried about the peeing that had occurred between about 9 and 12. This was my second mistake.

At 6 when Reid woke up, he was stripped from the waist again, and the crib wasn't pretty. Nothing terrible, but not pretty. But, there was an upside. His diaper rash was almost gone. Apparently, the best and only cure for diaper rash is...air.

Tonight, Reid played with his favorite toy. A box.