It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Famous last words, right?
Well, chalk another one in the parenting book up to "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Today, I decided to buy Sam some Pampers diapers instead of Luvs, because I had a coupon. For the record, I hate Huggies, and I think it translates to "cleaning up pee for hours" or something like it in Klingon. We buy Luvs because they're cheaper than Pampers but I figured with a coupon, I'll try the other "best" brand and just see if they're better. Luvs work great, but they do smell disgusting and chemical--I'm immune to it now, but it took months for my nostrils to adjust.

It wasn't until after the Pampers were in our cart that I realized they had an Elmo on the box, and remembered that Pampers diapers have Sesame Street characters on them. When I asked Sam if she wanted to wear Elmo diapers, to say she was excited was an understatement. The kid was stoked. She loves her some Elmo, but you already knew that from last week.

I thought her excitement about the new diapers was a plus--silly Mommy!
She was so happy about her Elmo diapers, that we opened the box right away to look at them, even though we still have some Luvs left. Since her diaper was wet, I figured she could have one right then and there.

What I did not count on was Sam spending the entire day obsessed with trying to look at her diaper's artwork--which is of course, unfortunately placed. She didn't want to wear pants to cover them up (luckily we were home in the evening and her clothes got dirty at the park, so I didn't care about an afternoon in diapers). Once she figured out there was a teeny Abby Cadabby on her backside, she nearly made herself dizzy trying to check out her own tush. After I asked her to stop yanking on her diaper while it was on, she tried to take the diaper off to get a closer look (apparently the tabs covered Big Bird). That met with major Mommy resistance, so she settled for finding a stash of clean diapers, and taking out every last one to carry them around. Finally, the topper came when Daddy came home and Sam greeted him by pointing at her crotch and yelling "Daddy!!!! Cookie!" to proudly display her Cookie Monster.

It would seem that one lousy coupon has opened a box of worms I rather regret. Not to mention, it's going to be a bloodbath when I have to switch her back to the cheap diapers after this box is gone. She doesn't give a flying fig about Blue's Clues, and she won't give up her Elmos without a fight.

Thank you very much, diaper-character marketing guys, you're absolute geniuses. You've turned my toddler into a weapon of brand-power. Now back away from our house slowly--I'm a Republican, so you know I've got weapons too.