Sprite and the Case of the Missing Diapers

(Ooh, a mystery!)

It all began on an dark,overcast morning (Maybe a Monday. Those are usually spooky days, right?). Jen, an unsuspecting mother, brought her toddler Sprite to daycare. Thunder crashed overhead as they made their way into the one year old room. Jen opened the door to the classroom, the hinges squeaking angrily in response, as she motioned Sprite inside.

The teacher stood at the changing table, a sinister smile on her lips. "Good morning, Sprite. And how are you on this sunny day?"

Jen smiled back uncertainly as thunder continued to roll outside. "Good morning." She walked over to Sprite's cubby and placed Sprite's bag inside, then looked for her little girl.

Sprite was standing by the door, her hand reaching up for the knob, a look of foreboding on her face. I have a bad feeling about this..

"Come over here, honey," Jen said, gesturing to the blocks nearby. "Let's play for a while before I leave for work."

Sprite made her way over slowly and joined her mother, still looking back toward the door.

As they played, the rain began to pour and lightening continued to flash, enhancing the eery quiet of the room. Where were the other toddlers?

The teacher walked over, her hands clasped in front of her. "There seems to be an issue with Sprite's diapers."

Jen looked up, her brow furrowed. "Oh? What's wrong?"

"She's out." (Mwa ha ha ha!)

Jen thought back to roughly two weeks before when she had brought in 2 packs of diapers, about 100 total. Surely, Sprite could not have gone through that many diapers in just 10 days... Could she?

"But I don't understand, we just replenished-"

"She's out."

"Did you check the storage closet? I mean, we brought in 100 diapers. I don't understand how she could have gone through it so quickly. That should have lasted her for a month."

The teacher continued to stare at Jen, the smile on her lips not reaching her eyes, which seemed so cold. "She's out."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so maybe that's a bit dramatic. (But it WAS raining that day. so some parts are true. And the dialogue is verbatim, practically, so I only took liberties with the adjectives, verbs, nouns, and mood, and not much else was changed.) (My blog. MINE!)

But seriously, we are missing, like, one whole package of diapers! Those dang things are expensive, people! And I don't like looking like the schmuck when I know exactly how many I dropped off and when I did. It stinks when I have to schlep myself out somewhere to replenish the kid's stock when I actually planned like a good girl and shouldn't have to schlep for another 2 weeks.

I actually stopped in and spoke to the director about the missing diapers and she promised to look into it. (Which basically means I still have to schlep to the store to replenish, because the director will do absolutely nothing about it and then bring it up to me 8 weeks later about how they looked and looked and turned the one year old room upside down to find the lost diapers and still can't find them and I'll be looking at her with a blank look like, "What diapers?")

I've spoken to other mothers about it since this happened this morning and they're giving me similar stories. One mother even brought up a conspiracy theory of how the daycare could be stockpiling diapers and then selling them underground to make even more money. Imagine that. Now, it's quite out there, but think of the ramifications if we were to bust that ring wide open. Huggies and Pampers would offer us free lifetime supplies (I really hope I don't need a lifetime supply...) and we would have major media coverage...at least in the tri-county area! And the daycare would have to cut their tuition budget and all because of the work of those meddlin' parents.

It could happen.

Comments

[Baba]

They did that when you two were in daycare. I found out that they sometimes use them for other kids when they ran out. That's what a worker told me. And yes you have to go and get more becouse they will not replace them.

[Jen]

And now we have meddlin' grandparents! You know, Mom, I totally believe that. They mark the diapers with the kid's initials and I'm always wondering if I should check other tushies for "SC".

[John]

I think we should attach a small camera to Sprite to see where these suckers really go. Bet we'd get some interesting footage and solve all of the mysteries of daycare.

[Jen]

Ooh, a hidden camera investigation? Can we get Brian Hansen to cover it? Gotta go, Dateline's on my other line...

[Nicki]

I used to work in a day care center and I always heard parents saying they'd just brought in diapers when day care workers said the children were out. I think maybe when one kid is out, some people just take another kid's diaper and deplete that child's, while they wait for the other kid's parents to bring new diapers! Or someone misplaces the package of diapers with the extra diapers, or something like that? If your daycare people have to write it down every time they change your baby's diaper, you could try keeping track of the number of times they say they changed her, so if they claim you're all out, you can point out that it can't be right!

[Sprite's Keeper]

Nicki, both John and I like the way you think. He suggested it himself that the daycare account for every diaper used or we just start bringing in daily supplies to make sure our kid is covered for the day. I gotta say, the teachers are actually really nice people, I'm just making fun of the situation and my frustration at disappearing diapers (This should be on the SAT's: Diapers are to Daycare what Socks are to Dryers.)
Oh and to correct myself from my earlier comment, I meant Chris Hansen, not Brian Hansen. My apologies to Brian Hansen for any offense taken. :-)

[Jonny's Mommy]

So glad I have a local lady who watches my children and not a day care center. She's dropped hints to me about bringing diapers for my son, but I'm not taking the hint because I have a feeling my diapers will disappear too for some other child's tushy. Although, almost all of the other kids are potty trained now. Mine is a little far away from that just yet.