The diaper service war

This man better get his new diapers.

Since Max's last encounter with Louisa, he's put himself on a sumo-wrestler diet. It's had repercussions.

First, he's on Zantac twice a day. I was a little disturbed by this. However, babies apparently have more trouble with acid reflux, and it probably doesn't help that Max fills himself up, I believe, to his gullet, on every feeding, which is very often. We all noticed Max becoming happier after Zantac was brought into his life, but this certainly doesn't include the administration of said drug. During a moment when Max and Mommy are looking at each other, I put a plastic syringe in his mouth filled 0.3 ml of pink liquid that, at best, tastes like Robitussin. Then the syringe is inserted quickly in his mouth and squirted, which is where the fog of war begins. If Max is fast enough, he wrenches his head out of the way and the Zantac streams down his cheek. Smart move - I'd rather give him too little than too much, so he avoids most of the pain. If he's not fast enough, he gets the full dosage and we watch helplessly (okay, helplessly isn't the right term - we did this to him) as he glares at me and makes angry sounds as if, umm, he was forced to take medicine. We follow this up quickly with feeding to minimize whatever permanent emotional scarring we are giving him.

Max before and after Zantac. Delia gave him the Zantac while I took the photo. Max glares at Delia for a long time after the Zantac administration, clearly navigating the icy waters of revenge.
Max pondering judgement.

Second, we use a diaper service that takes our used cloth diapers somewhere and replaces them with washed ones. They are very environmentally conscious and don't use bleach, which helps explain the occasional yellow stains on the diapers and perhaps some infections. This is Grass Valley - we are lucky to even have a diaper service, and they otherwise are very nice and professional.

Nonetheless, they also need to make money, which perhaps explains this awkward conversation with them.

TODD: Hi, we tried out a couple larger diapers and now we need to completely switch over.
SERVICE: OK, are you sure? I think smaller diapers are right for newborns - we usually give our larger diapers to babies over 3 months old.
TODD: Yeah, I'm sure.
SERVICE: (Hesitantly): OK, so you want 60 diapers, then?
TODD: Ummm...We get more than that, don't we?
SERVICE: (Pause): We usually give 60 diapers a week when babies get to that size.
TODD: How many diapers are we using now?
SERVICE: About 120.

Now ponder, if you may, 120 diapers per week. First, there are 168 hours in a week. Considering that Max uses disposables during the night - at least 8 hours per day - we go through one diaper an hour. Now, there are times when we use several to clean up, umm, Max's tailings, but it takes an impressive combination of binge eating and fussiness to require this record-setting number. We are now paying a diaper surcharge.