Diaper crisis!!!

We are operating in crisis mode. Cloth-like Pampers -- you know, the good ones imported from Saudi Arabia -- have virtually disappeared from the Egyptian market. Seriously, if I have to go back to using the plastic diapers I am going to be very unhappy. And I hope Maya is ready for a crash course in potty training.

So last weekend we casually went to the supermarket (the big one in Maadi) to get some diapers. We had noticed that they'd been a bit difficult to find recently, so we thought we'd try a different place than Alpha Market, where we normally go. But no luck, the cloth-like Pampers were nowhere to be found. But we figured, no big deal, they would be back soon. We did notice there are new Egyptian-made Pampers that are being all hyped up in the store, but alas they are plastic and no good for us.

So this weekend we went back to Alpha in Zamalek, and there were NO Saudi Pampers to be found. Instead, there was a girl in the diaper section with an open Egyptian-made Pamper on a silver tray pouring water into it to demonstrate to customers how absorbent the new and improved Egyptian Pampers are. Well, they may be absorbent, but they are still plastic. Yuck!

While Mike was checking out at the supermarket I decided to run across the street to a little pharmacy to see if, by any chance, they had Saudi Pampers. They looked up on their upper shelves and found three packages of Saudi Pampers -- not in Maya's size but in one size larger. I told them I'd take all three, ran back across the street to get some money from Mike, and bought the Pampers. I had to pay 117 Egyptian pounds for three packs of 16 diapers each -- that's $20.78 for 48 diapers -- ouch! That's kinda pricey, probably because they are pull-up type diapers. But at least I have staved off plastic for another couple weeks.

Meanwhile, we are stepping up the potty training. Maya is pretty much going regularly on the potty in the mornings and evenings when we put her there. So hopefully soon we won't have to worry about finding diapers anymore.