The other night I checked on Hazel and found her curled up completely unclad,with all her bedding soaked. We’d already known she loved removing her pajamas, so removing her diaper was the next logical skill progression–but I’d hoped she wouldn’t be so talented.
This is my attempt to prevent a repeat incident:
I put a keychain ring through the hole at the top of her zipper pull, stitched down one side of a piece of ribbon, sewed a button hole in the other end of the ribbon, and sewed a button on the other side of the zipper. (My first plan was to have the ribbon running straight across, but that made the zipper pull poke out too much. Having it diagonal does mean she can open the zipper a couple of inches, but not enough to get the pajamas off–I hope.)
We’ll see if it works. So far, she can’t seem to undo a button so near her neck. (But I’ve underestimated her before.)
Mabel pointed out that if this works I’ll have to do it to all Hazel’s pjs. Or maybe Hazel will just have to wear this one pair until she learns to put her diaper and pajamas back on.
My Imaginary Blog 
Patent!! And then put us down for two sets of Hazel Houdini PJ’s.
I know I’ve told you this before, but we had to put Ellen’s footie P.J.s on backwards for a good long time. After the trauma of the many times she removed her diaper, I wouldn’t even put her down for a nap without getting her into some backwards pajamas first, even in the summer. You put them on so the zipper’s in the back, and you twist the legs 180° so the footie part is still facing frontwards. Make sense? They never seemed to be too tight or binding, even with the twist in the legs — maybe because the fleece has a good bit of stretch. I remember demonstrating the technique to a fair number of babysitters. 🙂 It was a lifesaver.
Ha! I definitely knew that Ellen was the original pajama/diaper Houdini, but I’d forgotten your method for dealing with it. That ould have saved me some time today. 🙂 (This is another example of how I do everything the hard way.)
This was going to be my suggestion. Maybe for summer you can cut the legs and arms off of the pajamas.
You are so clever!
We had one kid who would disrobe in the nursery at church every week.
Proud parenting moments for me.
We also had one who could wiggle his way out of anything! The most memorable was when he figured out how to get out of his carseat. We were about an hour and a half away from home and I spent the entire way facing backwards in my seat so I could hold the straps tight enough that he couldn’t escape. (fortunately, I wasn’t driving. I just thought I should point that out)
Brilliant, only I’m upset I didn’t read this post two years ago when we were having this problem.
I see an economic opportunity here, Zina. Colored rings, cute buttons, $3.00 kits? Very clever idea. If you fold the ribbon over and put the button hole and button “inside” the foldover the button might be even harder for Hazel to slip. (Kind of like the fold that sometimes is down the front of a blouse to hide the button/buttonhole.
Aunt Ginger
Just stumbled across your site. Wicked funny. Much cuter than duct tape, which was my solution! I’m with Josh– you should patent it!
Little Keeper Sleeper solves all these problems, check them out.
Our solution worked well enough that after a few nights our daughter stopped trying to get out of her pjs, and now we’re able to put her even in non-secured pajamas (as long as we don’t leave her in her bed after she wakes up long enough for her to get bored). But the Little Keeper Sleeper looks like a good solution for more determined kids.