Jack and the case of the mysterious Diaper Champ

Our pre-baby research revealed that the Diaper Champ and Diaper Genie are similar products. They both provide for the disposal of diapers (usually used) in an odor free manner. Both products achieve this by providing a gateway, or an air lock if you prefer, between the outside world and the internal bowels of the device in which the diapers are disposed.

The device operates as follows:

• Feed baby
• Wait for baby to poo – this may be instantaneous, so be ready
• Remove diaper. (If there’s not a diaper, then you will need additional help which exceeds the scope of this article)
• Put diaper in diaper disposal unit
• Rotate the top of the device, on the y-axis, 180 degress

You will be rewarded with the sound of a weighted piston pushing the soiled object into the storage unit. I speculate that this will not work well in space due to the lack of gravity. Nor will it work at the bottom of an ocean or within a volcanic flow.

We chose the diaper champ because you can use any plastic bag that you like. Diaper Genie requires you to use their super special bags.

The device does work exceptionally well. The room is stink free… that is, until it comes time to empty the device. Then its simply outrageous. We end up having to repaint the second floor every time we empty the stupid thing.

But most of that is irrelevant. As long as you understand the basic operation, we can at least get to the point of our story.

Jack, who is now a hair over 11 months old, has recently developed a certain fascination with the Diaper Champ. Maybe he likes it because its a staple feature in his room. Or, maybe he understands that most of what he eats ends up in there at some point (while the remainder ends up on my shirt). I don’t know, but I choose to believe that he thinks its a giant toy. Like most things, he wants to understand it.

Here’s his abridged routine: he stands (assisted by a wall or random piece of furniture) and walks over (unassisted) to the diaper champ. He flips the tumbler about 90 degrees. Then, he walks to the other side of the diaper champ. He reaches in and pushes the piston to the other side. Then he squats a little and turns his head to the side and looks in. He studies it for several seconds, then moves on. He walks back to his original position, pushes the piston to the other side, then squats over to look at it from the new perspective. He may do this multiple times, mood permitting.

The “squatting”, “head tilting” and “extreme interest” are all pretty funny.