One of my best friends is having her blessingway this week. I wanted to make her something special so I sat and meditated on what was my favourite part of babies. Then it came to me: the butt! So I made her a whack of reusable baby butt wipes and wash. My second favourite baby part might be the head because once that makes an appearance the rest is easy squeezy so I knit her a hat too; the Pointy Elf hat from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I dyed and then spun some merino I had on hand into a super soft soft spun. It has greens, blues and just a splash of pink for good measure.
And this butt wash is the cat's baby butt. I received the recipe from a naturapath that was taking the same Birthing From Within course Craig and I took when I was pregnant with Edie. The recipe makes a big whack of wash that lasts for almost six months. The recipe is super clean and the smell reminds me of newborn. And toddler. And almost school-age kids (yes, boys seem to take longer to potty train; in this household anyway).
I had a few meters of terry cloth on hand to make Edie and Kale matchy match beach cover ups so I used a yard of that, cut it up into eight inch squares, sergered around all four corners, et voila, a basketful of reusable wipes. To use, we warm up a towel in hot, hot water and then cool it off with a spray of the butt wash, then throw soiled wipe into a bucket and just dump those in the wash when the bucket's full. The recipe is above (hope you can read it okay!) but sometimes I like to add a drop of German Chamomile in there because it leaves cool little blue drops in the wash and apparently is the best essential oil to chill out fussy babes. Now I'm all nostalgic. Think I'm going to wipe Kale's butt now!