Now that she’s a strapping one-year-old, L has decided she’s tired of sitting (or laying) still when Powergirl and I change her diapers.

As such, the process has de-evolved into a sort of baby wrestling match; a game in which she tries to see how many times she can flip from her back to her belly and crawl away, and we try furiously to remove the old diaper and strap on a new one before poop and pee gets everywhere.

Powergirl is far better at this game than I am. My downfall: As soon as the baby starts squirming, I start sweating. Profusely. Like Patrick Ewing used to.

We’ve tried different methods of distraction over the last few weeks. The television remote worked for a while, but when she nearly chewed off one of the buttons, we gave up. Our nanny suggested giving her a bottle before changing her, but after a while she was on to us with that one, as well.

Then, yesterday, my brilliant wife (she does have a Ph.D.) found the Holy Grail: Her cell phone.

The lights! The sounds! The fact that it flips open and closed! The first time we gave her the phone during a change, L was so enraptured by this little device that she lie there motionless for minutes. I could have drawn on her belly with a Sharpie and she wouldn’t have batted an eye.

Since then, we’ve incorporated the phone into every changing session. So far, it’s still as fascinating (to L) as it was that first time.

Sure, the baby has totally screwed up the settings on Powergirl’s phone (sorry, AT&T). And yes, this afternoon, the baby accidentally purchased some weird Tetris-style game (how the girl manages to unlock the keypad, I have no idea). In the scheme of things, these are minor inconveniences; resetting my wife’s phone is a lot easier than grappling with a pint-sized human who squirms like a slippery seal. We’ll take whatever distractions we can get.